Schooling fish

Dez · #1 09-28-2009, 03:34 AM

I'm at the point where the last fish I want in my tank are some sort of schooling fish. I know that the blue/green chromis are an obvious choice and I'm highly considering them.

Are there any ideas out there on schooling fish.

I know that Anthias are a schooling family but they are required to be fed several times a day and I only feed once a day so I think they are out of the question. Although they are very colourful. I've also heard that Anthias eventually die off one by one and don't tend to last too long.

Is there anybody with experience of some hardy schooling fish that look nice?

Thanks so much.

Or are there certain species of Anthias that don't required to be fed several times a day that are hardy?

Thanks so much.

i have crabs · #2 09-28-2009, 03:50 AM

http://www.themarinecenter.com/fish/gobies/bargoby/
bared zebra gobys tend to school most of the time, they can be jumpers though, i know i like looking at them alot more than the cromis

Dez · #3 09-28-2009, 04:04 AM

Wow, that is a nice fish. I'll have to maybe consider that and get my lfs to order a bunch of them if I settle on them. I've seen them at fish stores before but usually there's only one or 2. Thanks for the tip.

bowkry · #4 09-28-2009, 04:08 AM

sea bass are amazing

Bob · #5 09-28-2009, 04:12 AM

I won't tell my anthias(bartletts)that they are suppose to eat more than once a day...

Dez · #6 09-28-2009, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob

I won't tell my anthias(bartletts)that they are suppose to eat more than once a day...

How long have you had the anthias and how many do you have in what sized tank? Do they show themselves lots as I heard they can be quite shy. Thanks so much. My tank is a 150 gallon.

fishytime · #7 09-28-2009, 04:33 AM

If you want to be technical, we can never really do a school of any kind of fish in our aquariums.....we add six chromis and think we have a "school" when in the wild these fish school together in numbers we can only dream of keeping....what we do is add "groups" of these fish and slowly watch one fish in the group become dominant and pick on the weaker fish.....I would also recommend anthias of some sort if you want to try a group of fish.... my four bartlets stay together most of the time... two of them are bolder than the other two and spend most of the time out in the open...the other two stay in the rock work most of the time.....bartlets are hardier and stay smaller than most anthias which also a plus....

naesco · #8 09-28-2009, 04:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dez

How long have you had the anthias and how many do you have in what sized tank? Do they show themselves lots as I heard they can be quite shy. Thanks so much. My tank is a 150 gallon.

I would not recommend any anthias. Like was posted, they. like green chromis, do well for a while and drop off one by one.

I would recommend flasher wrasse. Choose the species you like. You will need one male an 5 females.
You will have to order them in as females are not normally caught.

Do not think of buying them unless your tank is covered though.

Drock169 · #9 09-28-2009, 05:26 AM

I second the choice for the bar/zebra gobies, and you could mix in some scissortails with them. Both choices are jumpers though. Chalk bass will also form small groups. Generally I just tell people to give up on the idea of schooling stuff, its just not practical. You can also look into the mini dartfish, they max at about 1 inch. A. megastigma and T. collini, i think are the names, common name is something like tiny dartfish.

Youngster Dan · #10 09-28-2009, 05:53 AM

I heard glass cardinal fish school together, could be an option.