Fish That Will Live Happily in Groups of 3-5?

[Korrine]

Nomi, how big is your tank?


I do think that the chromis will get that big. I've seen them myself!!! Apparently not many people have success at keeping them alive long enough to see it? wetwebmedia says 4" for blue chromis specifically. Oh and they also get UGLY when they get that big!

 

[NomiGold]

Nomi, how big is your tank?


I do think that the chromis will get that big. I've seen them myself!!! Apparently not many people have success at keeping them alive long enough to see it? wetwebmedia says 4" for blue chromis specifically. Oh and they also get UGLY when they get that big!

No tank yet, just doing some research and asking questions before I start. Ideally I would want to start with a 75G or so, but it all depends on what space will be available. I most likely will not start up the tank for a while yet, which gives me lots of time to ask questions!

 

[Korrine]

Ask and ask away!!! It helps a lot. Remember there are a lot of ways to do a lot of things. You could get many different answers with one simple question. Some people told me awhile ago to take answers with a grain of salt and be sure to do your own research since there are so many ways things can be done.

Here are good places to read solid info (they are pretty much my online saltwater bibles):

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/subject/index.php

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/index.htm

hth.

 

[NomiGold]

Ask and ask away!!! It helps a lot. Remember there are a lot of ways to do a lot of things. You could get many different answers with one simple question. Some people told me awhile ago to take answers with a grain of salt and be sure to do your own research since there are so many ways things can be done.

Here are good places to read solid info (they are pretty much my online saltwater bibles):

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/subject/index.php

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/index.htm

hth.

Thank you so much for those links! It can be a bit difficult to weed through all the websites and find good ones when you are just beginning. Most of my previous favourites were freshwater or fancy goldfish specific.

And it is good advise to take peoples advise/experience with fish with a grain of salt. Especially since among species individuals can differ wildly. It does help me pair down my list of potential fish though.

 

[SushiGirl]

I've had Pajama Cardinals school, as well as Black Cardinals, but I only had 3 or 4 of each at different times (smaller tank). I also at one time had flasher wrasses (one male, 3 females)...the females didn't really school, as such, but they didn't fight. When the male died, one of the females changed to a male.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Really? That's interesting to hear! I suppose I assumed that their behaviour would be more like Banggai Cardinalfish.

Anthias live on the outer reef, in huge numbers. A harem may occupy a huge space, yet still move about together. Their idea of "together' may be much different than what we would consider "together" in captivity. They can be at opposite corners of a 240 gal tank, yet still be in the same social harem. I guess its all relative, but there are very few SW fish that school like FW tetras, barbs, or High School girls in the hallway , etc.

 

[adambirk]

it is good to see that you are going this indepth to what you want to keep before you even have your tank. i for sure didnt and wasted so much money when i first started.

also remember that you are getting experiences from people and all systems are a bit different so what works of happens in one tank may or maynot work in another. i have a trio of occy clowns i have kept together for 4 years and never had trouble at all and they are always by each others sides. dominant male, female and juvi male. but i wouldnt recomend keeping more than 2(male, female) because the chance is there they may fight. so what works for me might not work for you.

i would say the best choice for schooling fish are going to be anthias or chromis. the anthias can be hard to aclimate and require much more care in the form of lots of small feedings. so for someone just starting out i would not recomend this. lots of food plus little experiance= problems...ie...algea, nutient issues and a bad impression of a great hobby. so i would save something like those for later on.

i think chromis are a great beginner fish and handle the mistakes made by us all when starting out real well(temp swings, salinity swings, nitrate, amonia, nitrite, ph and so on). i personally love the look of a school of chromis in a reef looks absolutly amazing. the only thing i would say is they tend to do better in groups of 6 and larger. this again is my personal experiance but i have had better luck keeping larger groups of chromis.

good luck and you will love this hobby!

-adam