Keeping fish in pairs/harems

[kdx7214]

75g isn't big enough for a harem of Anthias. That's true. Also, they do need to be fed often and that's a slippery slope unless you are using some type of autofeeder. I love them but I have a 120g and an autofeeder as well.

I am shocked more people don't enjoy Mollies in the Reef Tank. They provide a lot of "benefit" IMHO. They give action and they are excellent "Dither Fish" as well. This can really improve the "calmness" and activity of the tank as a whole. Also, they make BABIES in the reef tank which us a HUGE (and very exciting) bonus.

We have a M/F pair of Mandarins and their interaction is fascinating. We got them as teenie tiny babies from BIOTA and it was one of our best decisions for the reef tank. Money well spent.

I bought a green filefish from Biota and can attest to how well acclimated to tank life they are. Most calm fish I've ever had.

 

[Doctorgori]

@Doctorgori Hi there. How long did your Chalk Bass and Royal Grammas live / how old are they now if you have them?

I wonder which species those red Cardinals were. Since there’s no way for the average person to sex them, I believe you might have had more than 1 male or several males. Not sure. I do know the Apogon Maculatus (Flame Cardinal) gets fairly large for a Cardinal. I think the problem is that many people have Cardinals as a schooling fish, when they actually prefer pairs as adults.

I have ZERO clue what age the fish actually are, these were from KP Aquatics and I got the grammas over the course of maybe 3 years ago till present.
Just when I would think I was down to one, I would buy one and all three would somehow appear, grammas, blackcaps and cardinals can disappear for months. Now that I have 4 grammas, they show all the time…

KP sells those Cardinals; there is at least 3 species: Ive had the ones with two spots, the ones with the “bar” and currently I have a flame fish.
I was able to keep a few combos of the bar type and the two spots together but when I thought they were gone I purchased another.
Turns out KP Aquatics actually sent me the VERY similar flame fish only for me to discover the other two were in fact alive, thats until I found a body of the two spots and the second “bar type” was so ripped up it died a few days later…
I actually did bother to lookup the exact species. All I can tell you is only the Flame fish shows regularly during the day. Again there are at least 3 types, the two spots hide all day until feeding,
The species with the bar behave similar. All of the Caribbeans reds get a lot bigger than the red Pacific cardinals

Edit: I went back and looked these up. I have definitely had:
Apogon townsendi
Apogon pseudomaculatus
Apogon maculatus (currently)

KP Aquatics' sells all three as "red cardinals" ... no telling before hand what you get when ordering. None school, none really get along except in a big tank. Hope this helps someone's decision, pardon any thread deviation