Best schooling fish

Haffs09 said:
Zooman - nice! Did you get all 5 when they were very small?
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Thanks, there are actually 6 in there (it is hard to get them all in the pic, unless I am feeding, and then I can't take the pic because I need to hands for the smartphone) along with a pair of cherub angels, and yes, I did get them when they were smaller...

acrohead500ppm said:
beautiful gorg/ carib tank, but you have to admit that is not the norm
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Thank you, and while it is not what is normally attempted, it certainly can be. They are reported to be somewhat social in the wild, and I have found that as long as they are procured when smaller (younger), are introduced at the same time, each have a "bolt hole", and the aquarium is large enough, that they can be kept in small groups. Others have noted the same, although there is some conjecture as to whether sex ratios are of importance.

This is my experience only, and as I stated, a relatively poor choice for the purposes of this thread - they seem to space themselves evenly throughout the tank until feeding time, but I love their interactions and they are one of my favorites.
 
I pulled out my lyretails and replaced them with 10 dispar. As others have said the lyretails don't shoal. But even when I only had two dispar, they were stuck to each other like glue. Now all ten are, and this is normal for dispar, not the exception. I would add all female. Three for that size tank.
 
acrohead500ppm said:
The reason I recommended chalk bass in the first place was because they tend to (not always) be really active in the water column, like I mentioned, they don't school but tend to hang out together.
Also, they don't require multiple feedings each day like chromis or anthias.
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That's why I'm leaning towards them. Plus you can get them pretty cheap from the Florida collectors like KP Aquatics.

They don't get that big either. Fishbase lists max size as 8cm so around 3.1 inches long. Most anthias like lyres get bigger than that.

Awesome tank Zooman. Love the RG harem.
 
nirvanaandtool said:
That's why I'm leaning towards them. Plus you can get them pretty cheap from the Florida collectors like KP Aquatics.

They don't get that big either. Fishbase lists max size as 8cm so around 3.1 inches long. Most anthias like lyres get bigger than that.

Awesome tank Zooman. Love the RG harem.
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Thanks Ralph, but just a possible word of caution - when I had chalk bass, they rarely shoaled if at all, and they seemed to need a bit more feeding than the other fish in the system (such as grammas and cherub angels) to keep weight on. I am aware that they may have been parasitized, but I have had them three times over the years, and had the same experience each time. If you feed very well it may never be a problem though...
 
zooman72 said:
Not exactly true - this group has been together for over 2 years, in a 40B...





That being said - they do not even come close to shoaling or schooling, ever...
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Is there a separate thread on this tank? Years ago I did this in a 150. I love biotope aquariums!
 
Whether fish will shoal has as much to do with the environment as it does the fish. As I noted before, when I first introduced my 8 chalk basslets into my big tank they stayed together. But they were small, and I am quite sure felt intimidated by the bigger fish. Once they had a chance to grow (approaching 3 inches, so rehomed half of them) and they stopped feeling intimidated, and got bolder, the schoaling behavior stopped.

I have always believed it is the lack of predators, along with tank size, that precludes schooling in our tanks.
 
Winwood said:
Is there a separate thread on this tank? Years ago I did this in a 150. I love biotope aquariums!
Click to expand...

No thread here on RC, but there is one over on NR...

I too love biotope systems!

ca1ore said:
Whether fish will shoal has as much to do with the environment as it does the fish. As I noted before, when I first introduced my 8 chalk basslets into my big tank they stayed together. But they were small, and I am quite sure felt intimidated by the bigger fish. Once they had a chance to grow (approaching 3 inches, so rehomed half of them) and they stopped feeling intimidated, and got bolder, the schoaling behavior stopped.

I have always believed it is the lack of predators, along with tank size, that precludes schooling in our tanks.
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I would agree with this assessment, although even when I added a smaller trio to a system with larger fishes, I never saw them perform what would be considered shoaling, although I have seen it in the wild.
 
zooman72 said:
Thanks, there are actually 6 in there (it is hard to get them all in the pic, unless I am feeding, and then I can't take the pic because I need to hands for the smartphone) along with a pair of cherub angels, and yes, I did get them when they were smaller...



Thank you, and while it is not what is normally attempted, it certainly can be. They are reported to be somewhat social in the wild, and I have found that as long as they are procured when smaller (younger), are introduced at the same time, each have a "bolt hole", and the aquarium is large enough, that they can be kept in small groups. Others have noted the same, although there is some conjecture as to whether sex ratios are of importance.

This is my experience only, and as I stated, a relatively poor choice for the purposes of this thread - they seem to space themselves evenly throughout the tank until feeding time, but I love their interactions and they are one of my favorites.
Click to expand...

I have a group of 6 also. They do not shoal, but they do like to be near each other. I have an 8' tank and the grammas stay in about a 3' area. They also like to bicker.

You do need to get them small, and they must stay together the whole time. One of the group tends to become male, the rest stay female. If they are separated, then they tend to turn male and will not tolerate each other. This happens fast. (at least that is a working theory that I agree with) So if you order them from a lfs, make sure they keep them together and not in separate tanks.
 
zooman72 said:
Thanks Ralph, but just a possible word of caution - when I had chalk bass, they rarely shoaled if at all, and they seemed to need a bit more feeding than the other fish in the system (such as grammas and cherub angels) to keep weight on. I am aware that they may have been parasitized, but I have had them three times over the years, and had the same experience each time. If you feed very well it may never be a problem though...
Click to expand...

Ah good to know. I do feed pretty heavy for my ever-hungry wrasses and there's plenty to go around so it might be a non-issue but not shoaling is a concern. My wrasses tend to be somewhat skittish which is why I'm looking for a shoaler.
Did your chalks hide a lot? Or were they out in the open but just not together as a group? Wondering if they are an effective dither or not.
 
nirvanaandtool said:
Ah good to know. I do feed pretty heavy for my ever-hungry wrasses and there's plenty to go around so it might be a non-issue but not shoaling is a concern. My wrasses tend to be somewhat skittish which is why I'm looking for a shoaler.
Did your chalks hide a lot? Or were they out in the open but just not together as a group? Wondering if they are an effective dither or not.
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The chalk bass will become more "bold" with time, but never to the extent of the grammas - they would not be my first choice for a "dither" fish.

Honestly, you might reconsider some of the smaller anthias, such as some that were mentioned here already.
 
Blue eye cardinals. Very nice. I have 3, and will add some more once the bigger tank is set up. They remind me of FW tetras, but much cooler. --Lars
 
All of the suggestions on here are great...it has had my mind spinning and changing. Very helpful advice.
I think I'm gonna go with 6 yellow cardinals. This is why....
They stay smaller then the other options, peaceful, bright color.
I love wrasses but they get a bit larger.

Thoughts?
 
Cardinals are easy, inexpensive and develop a hierarchy that is interesting to observe. Can't go wrong there.
 
zooman72 said:
The chalk bass will become more "bold" with time, but never to the extent of the grammas - they would not be my first choice for a "dither" fish.

Honestly, you might reconsider some of the smaller anthias, such as some that were mentioned here already.
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Yea you might be right. Or some of the cardinals some are suggesting.
Maybe some anthias and one chalkie cause I still think they are kind of cool.
Thanks for your input. :thumbsup:
 
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