Schooling fish

Trigger Man · #1 09-30-2008, 10:10 PM

So I'm trying to find a good schooling fish for my reef tank. I had 8 Blue Chromis, but after 2 years there are now only 2 of them, and I found that for the most part they didn't really school. I just picked up a couple of Zebra Dartfish and they seem to be hanging out together at the moment, so does anyone know if they continue to school after becoming comfortable in the tank? Right now I'm leaning towards 8-3 inch Anthias, but would like some suggestions. My tank is a little over 125 gallons (five feet long).
I like the purple Queen Anthias, but heard that they are tough to keep so may go with lyretails.

Chin_Lee · #2 09-30-2008, 10:27 PM

i've tried many times to get schooling fish and i realized that they will school at first and at the pet stores because they have fear. When the fear subsides, they will stop schooling. Schooling for fish is an instinctive behavior to survive when there is a threat or fear for their safety. After being in your tank for weeks and months, they no longer perceive any threat and they will stop schooling. Put a predator fish in with your schooling fish and then its a different story.........

naesco · #3 09-30-2008, 10:36 PM

I wouldn't recommend anthias at all as they simply do not last long in our tanks.
The queen anthias has an especially poor survival rate.

Why don't you try a school of cirrhilabrus wrasse. Choose the species of your choice.
Remember that you can only have one male and the rest must be females. You will have to put a special order in for the females as the males are the ones that are commonly imported.
Wayne

sandyd · #4 10-01-2008, 01:32 PM

Have you thought of glass cardinals? Colby usually has them, I've had a few for quite awhile and they tend to stick together.

michika · #5 10-01-2008, 07:13 PM

If you do go the Anthias route you'll probably want to treat them for internal parasites. Parasites seem to be pretty common with Anthias of all kinds.

TheRealBigAL · #6 10-01-2008, 07:45 PM

My good friend WHATIGOT has a school of chalk Bass in his tank. Very nice looking fish. I think he has 5-7 in his 72Gallon. Just have to watch because they can sometimes be jumpers.

GreenSpottedPuffer · #7 10-01-2008, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chin_Lee

i've tried many times to get schooling fish and i realized that they will school at first and at the pet stores because they have fear. When the fear subsides, they will stop schooling. Schooling for fish is an instinctive behavior to survive when there is a threat or fear for their safety. After being in your tank for weeks and months, they no longer perceive any threat and they will stop schooling. Put a predator fish in with your schooling fish and then its a different story.........

Fish school in my tank! LOL

But they have to avoid being eaten by my 10" grouper

(He has eaten a few in the past month)

I think your right on about why most fish don't school in aquariums. I had some chromis before the grouper and they used to fight constantly. After adding the grouper, the chromis have stopped fighting and school along with the damsels and coral beauty. They really stick together now in a very strange looking group! No more aggression once the predator was added.

untamed · #8 10-01-2008, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Fish school in my tank! LOL

But they have to avoid being eaten by my 10" grouper

(He has eaten a few in the past month)

I think your right on about why most fish don't school in aquariums. I had some chromis before the grouper and they used to fight constantly. After adding the grouper, the chromis have stopped fighting and school along with the damsels and coral beauty. They really stick together now in a very strange looking group! No more aggression once the predator was added.

I would really like to see a photo of what the "school" looks like in your situation. I have a nice predator in my tank as well and I'm very curious to see the effect it has. I can't believe that your grouper has only eaten a few in a month. I'm concerned my Lookdown would polish off an entire school in a couple of days!

GreenSpottedPuffer · #9 10-02-2008, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by untamed

I would really like to see a photo of what the "school" looks like in your situation. I have a nice predator in my tank as well and I'm very curious to see the effect it has. I can't believe that your grouper has only eaten a few in a month. I'm concerned my Lookdown would polish off an entire school in a couple of days!

Sure. I have to get a new cable for my camera but I will take a few pics as soon as I do. They generally stay in a group of at least 3-4 if they leave the rocks. They kind of dart around and follow each other. Definitely looks like they get kind of scared if the others leave them behind and will quickly catch up.

Honestly though, they do not come out of the rocks all that much. They all share the same cave and spend most of the day hiding from the grouper.

The grouper is fed 3 times a day, fish, prawn, mussels, ect. so I don't think he has much desire to go hunting. He ate three damsels in one day though when I decided to not feed until the night time

I guess he was going to eat regardless. He ate one the other day when it darted out of the rocks at feeding time and got stuck alone near one of the top corners of the tank. I did not see it but my fiance was feeding them and did. She said he just swallowed the damsel and kept swimming.

So you think your lookdown would eat them that fast???