Schooling Fish Question?

[Reef Devils]

I am looking to get some schooling fish for my 90 gallon aquarium. I currently have 4 damsels but they don’t school so I am going to get rid of them. I want to find a cool group of schooling fish that would stay together in my tank. What do you recommend for a 90 gallon and how many. I saw some green chromos and Banggai cardinalfish at the LFS.

Here are the current fish in my tank -
2 clowns
1 yellow tang very small
1 hippo blue small
Tailspot Blenny
4 damsels but I am going to get rid of them

Thanks

 

[Steve and his Animals]

The only fish I consider true schooling fish in saltwater (for normal tank sizes anyway) are dartfish and anthias. Dartfish like zebra bars, scissortails, blue gudgeons, red firefish (not the other species just the red) etc.

Smaller anthias school better than larger species, in my opinion, as they tend to be less aggressive with each other and other fish (Dispar, evans', barttlets', etc.). Anthias are much harder to keep than any dartfish, though, as well as being much more expensive.

 

[BriansBrain]

I don’t care what people say, I love chromis. Have had this group for quite a while now. They’re always together. A couple of them are huge! I’d get a group of at least five.

 

[Reef Devils]

I don’t care what people say, I love chromis. Have had this group for quite a while now. They’re always together. A couple of them are huge! I’d get a group of at least five.

Do yours tend to stay in a group?

 

[Reef Devils]

The only fish I consider true schooling fish in saltwater (for normal tank sizes anyway) are dartfish and anthias. Dartfish like zebra bars, scissortails, blue gudgeons, red firefish (not the other species just the red) etc.

Smaller anthias school better than larger species, in my opinion, as they tend to be less aggressive with each other and other fish (Dispar, evans', barttlets', etc.). Anthias are much harder to keep than any dartfish, though, as well as being much more expensive.

Yeah dart fish could be cool. How many do you think? What about the anthias?

 

[BriansBrain]

Do yours tend to stay in a group?

Yes, they never venture to far from each other. There is an aggressive male bimac anthias in there that will chase them so I’m sure that helps keep them schooled

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Yes, they never venture to far from each other. There is an aggressive male bimac anthias in there that will chase them so I’m sure that helps keep them schooled

Yeah I imagine without an aggressor/predator around they would do what they normally do, pair off and start killing each other, but it works sometimes.

 

[Reef Devils]

Yes, they never venture to far from each other. There is an aggressive male bimac anthias in there that will chase them so I’m sure that helps keep them schooled

Cool. I will definitely think about those. I’ll see what else I could do. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Yeah dart fish could be cool. How many do you think? What about the anthias?

I would consider no less than 3 of either, but obviously more is better if you can afford/care for them

 

[Reef Devils]

I would consider no less than 3 of either, but obviously more is better if you can afford/care for them

Ok cool. I would probably do 5 if that works for my size tank.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Ok cool. I would probably do 5 if that works for my size tank.

Depends on the species. Red firefish are small, but zebra bars and scissortails I've seen get at least 6 inches. Dispar I find to be the easiest of the smaller anthias to keep, males get around 3 inches.

 

[MIKE NY]

Schooling is a defense mechanism so most when they are comfortable in a system will tend to shoal, there is a difference. Shoaling is they will swim independently, but usually stay within eye sight of each other..The only fish that stayed schooling, when one turns they all turn, are my blue eyed Cardinals, but as they grew and a pair was formed they killed off the others….

 

[RedReefer]

I don’t care what people say, I love chromis. Have had this group for quite a while now. They’re always together. A couple of them are huge! I’d get a group of at least five.

My chromis started as a group of five ended as one. Started killing off smaller of the group first. Took two years…

 

[RedReefer]

I would consider no less than 3 of either, but obviously more is better if you can afford/care for them

Had three red firefish as a group. They did well. Jumpers!!! Must have a lid…

 

[Reef Devils]

Had three red firefish as a group. They did well. Jumpers!!! Must have a lid…

I don’t have a lid. I love the look of the green cromis. Maybe 5

 

[RedReefer]

If you can get lucky and they don’t kill each other. They are very cool. I had two groups of 5 -7 always end up with single chromis after 18 months or so.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Just to add:

My understanding is that keeping a large school can theoretically work, but - as mentioned above - there are a number of things to keep in mind with schooling:

- The number of schooling fish in the tank (I've heard odd numbers are preferred, and the preferred number of fish that I've seen seems to be 9 to 11 at a minimum; the more fish, the more diluted the aggression is between them)

- The size of the tank (for quality of life purposes for your fish, bigger is better - yes, some animals will be calm when shoved into tiny spaces with large numbers of conspecifics where if there was just one or two conspecifics, it would be a deathmatch, but they obviously wouldn't be happy in that situation long-term)

- The amount fed, the quality of the feed, and the frequency of feedings (basically more food = less aggression; and better food = better health = happier, less aggressive fish [theoretically])

- Tankmates (big, scary tankmates that the schooling fish could view as a threat may act as an outside force that keeps the schooling fish focused on not getting killed rather than on fighting amongst themselves)

- The scape of the tank (lots of fish need lots of places to hide/sleep - the more hiding places, the safer the fish feel; line-of-sight-breaks can also help with feeling safe)

That's all I've got for the moment (and pretty much all of it has been mentioned above), but basically - to my understanding - it's a balance of making the fish feel threatened enough by external sources to prevent infighting while also making them feel safe enough (largely through their numbers, the tank's scape, and food security) to not be too stressed. If you're able to strike that balance, you should be able to see schooling behavior (to the best of my current understanding).

 

[Reef Devils]

If you can get lucky and they don’t kill each other. They are very cool. I had two groups of 5 -7 always end up with single chromis after 18 months or so.

I hope it doesn’t happen to me lol.
What about the Banggi cardinal?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I hope it doesn’t happen to me lol.
What about the Banggi cardinal?

Banggai cardinals will shoal as juveniles and pair off violently as adults from what I've heard. Some cardinals do shoal/school, but not all of them. Pajama cardinals reportedly shoal in a very boring manner, but for some others that are reportedly a bit more active while still shoaling/schooling:

Schooling Fish Question

If properly prepped or quarantined, chromis and anthias. Also firefish, coral catfish, for me tangs and even moorish idols and butterflies all depending on tank size

www.reef2reef.com

 

[slingfox]

I have had a group of 11 chromis for almost six months in my 5 ft, 120 gallon display. The chromis shoal in the open area towards the front of the tank which encourages the other fish to stay out in the open.

I have a pair of Bimac anthias and the male chases the chromis around which keeps the chromis from killing each other. Some of my wrasse also chase the chromis around every so often. The tank overall is very peaceful with the chromis soaking up aggression from some of the other fish.