Apogon leptacanthus behavior

[Razzagas]

I purchased 5 healthy Apogon leptacanthus from Divers den in August, and it took them a few months to show themselves. Now they are always out and about, but show no schooling behavior. In fact, they show more aggression than anything. Some of them have slightly teared fins.

Why do you think they aren't schooling/getting along? All my other tank mates are smaller peaceful fish. The tank is a 65 gallon reef.

Any ideas?

 

[AuroraDrvr]

How many?

 

[snorvich]

Well they should shoal but will not school. There is a subtle hierarchy in this species but it is normally not shown by aggressive behavior.

 

[Razzagas]

Thanks for the responses!

I have five of them. I forgot to mention, they are tank bred from ORA

Could you explain the difference between shoal and school?

Usually I see three of them out in the front, but they just seem to hover, no real movement (especially no interaction between fish). The other two hide in different places, coming out occasionally. The one with the torn fins is one of the three fish I usually see out in front.

The fish never stray far from the rock work. I thought these were more open water swimmers?

 

[snorvich]

schooling is a special form of shoaling and is normally seen only in response to threat conditions where all fish move in the same direction aligned together. We do not get that behavior in our aquaria for a variety of reasons. We can get shoaling behavior, which my apogons do show, which is a loose aggregation, usually without concerted movement. I have two groups of them, one a group of seven, the other a group of three (two different aquaria)

 

[Razzagas]

Thanks for the response snorvich!

Is it possible that my fish aren't shoaling because there is nothing even mildly threatening in my tank?

Also, did your cardinals display this behavior from the beginning, or did it take time?

Do you have any idea why my fish aren't displaying this behavior?

Thanks!

 

[snorvich]

My fish vary their behavior. In the larger group, there is at least one pair, however they often aggregate together. At feeding time, however, it is each fish for itself. Aggregation does not require threatening behavior. I have had these fish for about a year and have not noticed changes except the pairing off.

 

[AMD30]

when do you guys feed? and what do you feed? how many times per day etc? do u add any vitamins like selcon? do the eat new life spectrum pellets? i have 9 and they didnt touch the mini brine shrimp or larger mysis yet. my lfs has 20 more and i am thinking of getting the rest of them, they were feeding at lfs.

 

[snorvich]

I feed two to three times daily. Various frozen food. My larger group WILL shoal at night when the moon lights are on, but never otherwise.

 

[AMD30]

i have about 27 of them and have a true coral catshark and grey bamboo shark. neither are very aggresive towards fish and i am hoping these fish will be more alert at nite, since they are nocturnal, and wont be easy snacks for the bamboo shark. will they shoal better when a predator is around? i have plenty of small tight rockscapes for them to avoid the sharks also.

 

[snorvich]

They shoal irrespective of predator.