Coolest LITTLE fish kept in a GROUP?

[Sugar Magnolia]

I picked up 15 Chromis Retrofasciata yesterday for my 150 gallon tank. Something a bit different to what is normally seen in reef tanks. They are hanging around in a loose group and presumably will continue to. According to fishbase, they top out at 4cm total length. The seem to ship well too which is a bonus.

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Pretty little fish!

 

[jc16]

sry to say but i bought about 10 of those chromis before too. within 2 weeks i had 1 left lol

 

[Jacob D]

I'd go with the Longspine - here is my group in my old 180 SPS reef. I purchased 25 and a year + later ended up with 15.

The long spines are neat. What did you attribute most of the losses in your group to?

 

[ShrimpChipGal]

I have set up a 375 reef, 96x30x30 and am trying to decide on a fish that I can keep that will stay in a group and stays relatively small.

I tend to interpret this as wanting a "school" of fish, but I think everyone is now interpreting it differently. :rollface:

But IME of keeping both anthias (bartletts, ignitus, evansi, dispar, aurulentus, etc.) and small green chromis, the chromis have better chance of staying together in a group. Although this is only from my personal experience.

 

[TampaReefer79]

Thanks for all of the ideas. Yes I want a 'school' or 'shoal' or whatever you want to call it. I call it a group, lol. I WILL have a few tangs and after that I may very well do a few grammas, some anthias, a few wrasses AND a large number of chromis. I'm just unsure of the chromis to be honest. They get quite large and the fact that the kill each other off makes me not want them. Who knows.

 

[sivert55]

i have 7 bartletts and 6 lyretails in a 72x30x30and they don't mess with each other at all.
Oh, and one barbonius.

 

[sivert55]

Baartlett's will eventually all turn male, from what i'm told.
I bought all of my bartletts and lyretail as females. So far, 5 of the 7 bartletts changed to male on me.
but lyretails will only have 1 or 2 males in a group.
They will spar for domination. Looks like this:
http://s158.photobucket.com/albums/t93/sivert55/Reef/?action=view&current=lyretail.flv

 

[greg65]

royal gramma

royal gramma

Interesting..


How would 5-6 r.g.'s handle a 30 QT together?

 

[SDguy]

I tend to interpret this as wanting a "school" of fish, but I think everyone is now interpreting it differently. :rollface:

But IME of keeping both anthias (bartletts, ignitus, evansi, dispar, aurulentus, etc.) and small green chromis, the chromis have better chance of staying together in a group. Although this is only from my personal experience.

You ignitus and dipars stay in a group, D, IMO, compared to species like squarespot, lyretails, and bartletts. I think it's all relative though...

 

[Sheol]

A group of Grammas won't work in a 30 gallon tank. A 55 MAYBE..

Matthew

 

[hondo3]

How about Bartlett Anthias?

 

[Elysia]

Check out the smaller shoaling chromis, like the lined and the Vanderbilts. They only seem to be available in fits and starts, but they max out at 2" and are quite beautiful in a non-flashy way. Also quite peaceful.

 

[kvosstra]

The long spines are neat. What did you attribute most of the losses in your group to?

I think I lost 7 in the QT - just were damaged when I received them. Some then lost tails, etc. over the 5 weeks in the QT. And eventually perished. I think I lost the last 3 or 4 due to similar competition once in the display tank.

A group of Grammas won't work in a 30 gallon tank. A 55 MAYBE..

I disagree - since the grammas will be in the 30 g for QT only, I believe. QT would be fine with these fish, so long as there are a number of hiding spots. I'd add many different PVC pipes of varying sizes.

 

[davez104]

Just for those interested, I've had these for about 4 months now. I lost a couple fairly early on, presumably due to shipping stresses, but since then they have been great. They quarrel a little from time to time, but nothing too major yet. The jury is still out as to their long term behaviour, but so far, so good.

Dave.

I picked up 15 Chromis Retrofasciata yesterday for my 150 gallon tank. Something a bit different to what is normally seen in reef tanks. They are hanging around in a loose group and presumably will continue to. According to fishbase, they top out at 4cm total length. The seem to ship well too which is a bonus.

 

[NexDog]

I recently tried the harem of Royal Grammas. I got 7 initially but 2 died in QT (disease). Five made it through 3 weeks of cupramine but one didn't look so hot. After a week I had 4 left so I assume the dodgy looking one punched out his ticket. So I have 4 now. 3 seem to hang out together, 1 is a loner.

If I could do it again I would do more (15 would be cool), and plan on a 30% loss and be left with a group of 10. I QT'd in a 50g but 15 RGs in a 50g is asking a bit much. A few years ago I tried 10 and they all died due to the water quality problems. Thing with new fish is you tend to feed a lot as you want them to eat but that fouls the water quickly with 15 fish - even if they are small.

 

[rachenbrazil]

Some assessors would be also a nice idea...

 

[jubjub]

longspine cardinalfish (zoramia leptacanthus). I think, they are subtly beautiful.

^^ +1

 

[skibum9884]

Another cool cardinal is the Red Spot, Apogon Parvulus. Absolutely beautiful in my opinion, however some would call them marine tetras (I see this a bit too). They do however ship pretty poorly.

 

[phil519]

^^ +1

+2

although it's probably +5 or 6 given all the other votes before.

The blue stripe thru their eye and the slight orange/blue pastel in their body is accentuated by actinic lights. one or two show poorly but a large group with those features are a subtle beauty.

The other positive is that even my firefish bosses them around - they are a great community fish.

Do they look like tetras? yes but to me i like having something different in the tank.

 

[small alien]

chalk basslets? I've heard they have a very interesting social dynamic in groups and they're pretty. Never kept them though.