Shoaling fish discussion

[jgraz]

With my upcoming 90gal I have been thinking as to how im gonna stock. I currently have a hippo, yellow eye kole, and a blue spotted watchman that will moved from the smaller tank. The two clowns will be moved to my sons nano. They will be replaced with two more clowns(varients of true or false percs). I do want to get some type of shoaling fish and originally was leaning towards a trio of bangaiis, or pajama cardinals. Then I started looking at the Chromis they had on Live Aquaria.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15+1634
If I do Chromis I really want to stay away from the usual Blue/greens, but some of these particulary the Acares Midget http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15+1634
And the Agile http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1634+3148&pcatid=3148 caught my eye. I like the Blue Reef also. What are the the thoughts on Chromis in general. I know they are Damsels at heart right? Also what other suggestions does everyone have for some shoaling types in a 90gal. Thanks everyone.

 

[andylee]

I had this same question a few months ago. I just went with green chromis. They were fine, but my school of 6 has dwindled to 2. Now thinking of starting a new school (I guess technically "shoal"). Most people recommended some type of cardinal at that time (bigeye, pajama).

I will follow your thread and see what you come up with.

 

[jgraz]

I was just doing some reading on R.C. This is what I came up with. Chromis will eventually kill each other off. Bangaii's will eventually form a pair, then the rest will be killed. Pajamas and other types of cardinal not bangaii may shoal. Anthias may be best bet but have to be kept to 1 male and a few females. but then te bioload would be higher cause of frequent feeding.

 

[Dre]

Why people have problems with the Blue Green Chromis is because they don't feed them enough and give them enough room to swim.

 

[KathyC]

Why people have problems with the Blue Green Chromis is because they don't feed them enough and give them enough room to swim.

I sincerely have to disagree with you on this. IMO it has nothing to do with the feeding of the fish, it has everything to do with their attitude as they mature.
IMO if a person is lucky enough to get them young enough - they may get 1+ year of them actually surviving until you get down to the typical "I have one or 2 chromis left", for everyone else, they kill each other off sooner than that.
After sitting here year after year reading posts about them, I cannot suggest these as a good schooling fish.

Our tanks are not large enough (think 1000+G) for any fish that schools that will not either kill off the others, or as mentioned with the anthias - a fish that needs to be fed endlessly to the point of keeping a tank on the edge of a huge algae bloom.

IMO a better choice for the OP who would like an active tank (at 90G) would be to keep some a pair or two from the flasher Wrasse family as they are active swimmers, and extremely colorful and exciting to watch when they flash, and they don't get to be a large size.

 

[Arati]

TY Kathy

no fish "shoal" in 90 gallons of water. there are fish that will in larger tanks think 1000+. even then Chromis are not the best choice. The idea of a shimmering shoal or school of fish is a sweet one and I tried it like many others with the same 1-2 fish result in time.

the suggestion of choosing a variety of low aggression fish is the best option imo.

 

[Dre]

This 90 gal was setup in mid 2006, picture taken in mid 2009.

I upgraded to a 120 gal in 2010. Picture taken in early 2010.

I broke down and sold this tank and fish one year later. I've kept 33 blue green chromis from 2002 in a 125 gal. When we had the block out for days i lost four Chromis, my only lose which i had bought the previous day. A 125 gal. is more suitable and they look better because of the length. Their schooling behavior is more noticeable. I guess i should consider myself lucky...

 

[KathyC]

This 90 gal was setup in mid 2006, picture taken in mid 2009.

I upgraded to a 120 gal in 2010. Picture taken in early 2010.

I broke down and sold this tank and fish one year later. I've kept 33 blue green chromis from 2002 in a 125 gal. When we had the block out for days i lost four Chromis, my only lose which i had bought the previous day. A 125 gal. is more suitable and they look better because of the length. Their schooling behavior is more noticeable. I guess i should consider myself lucky...

You are the exception to what normally happens to them. Perhaps yours were too busy watching their own backs - due to those other fish in there - to be bothered bumping each other off

 

[jgraz]

Thank you to everyone that posted. It never ceases to amaze me how the best and most info comes from those in your own back yard so to speak. Same question on RC got 1 response. I think my quest for a shoal of some sort may have to be aborted, but DRE certinly makes it look like a reality.

To be honest I was really hoping to do a few bangaii's but I know thats not gonna happen.

 

[prattreef]

Blue eyed cardinals are your best bet for sure.

 

[jcurry]

... I've kept 33 blue green chromis from 2002 in a 125 gal...

What happened to the other 21?

 

[Dre]

What happened to the other 21?

Sometime after that big power outage the 125 gal. cracked in the middle of the night. Unbenounced to me the tank was placed on the middle, matal leg that wasn't properly grinded down at the factory resulting in the tank bow and crack in half. All those fish were taken to Pacific Aquariums in NY the next morning. After doing a head count at the store, i was two short on Yellow Belly Damsels. After about four months they showed up in the new tank. Cut story short they were in the live rock all that time.

 

[Hecdr34]

I have 15 in my tank with no problems yet "fingers crossed". I feed them 3 x a day and they ate doing great. Going on 4 months now


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