Orange Schooling Fish

[dave.m]

Hi, I had been planning to use Pseudanthias squamipinnis for the colour orange, but everything I read on them tells me they are fairly aggressive, both amongst themselves and with smaller, weaker fish. This doesn't bode well for a heavily populated tank. Can anyone suggest another schooling reef fish that is as orange as P. squamipinnis but more companionable in a community tank?

Thx,

Dave.M

 

[velvetelvis]

Would you be willing to go with a fish that's orange-striped instead of solid orange? A lot of people like the orange-striped cardinalfish, Apogon cyanosoma. I don't have any personal experience with them, so you might want to do a search on this forum to find out more. I've seen them in person--they're very cute.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+26+1431&pcatid=1431

 

[dave.m]

Thx, VE, Apogon cyanosoma seems a pretty fish and I was not familiar with it. A couple of problems with it, though: 1. A. cyanosoma is more active at night, and 2. it prefers to hang out at the bottom of the tank.

I am looking more for something that joins the general melée just above the coral heads like P. squamipinnis does. I am looking for a school of 10-12 that would be swarming with schools of various Chromis like C. cyanea, C. viridis, C. dimidiata, C. nitida, etc.

Nice fish, though.

Dave.M

 

[revaltion131]

Have you looked at dispar or ignitus anthias yet?

 

[reef_doug]

I prefer hawaiian bicolor anthias over lyretails and barletts. Their temperment is very mild, even the tiny one doesn't get picked on by the others. IMO... they are prettier than the others too.

 

[dave.m]

Thx, rev131. Both are beautiful fish, but I am reading warnings against both of them for being difficult to introduce, feed and keep. Both are listed as shy, hard to get eating, and P dispar is listed as a serious jumper. P. ignitus is listed as rarely imported. Salt Corner says "best left on the reef". If anyone has alternate points of view on these two I will gladly listen, of course.

Dave.M

 

[dave.m]

Nice call, Doug. Looks like Pseudanthias bicolor may be my best bet for finding a good community fish from the anthias clan while still bringing a touch of orange to balance my fish palette. :thumbsup:

djm

 

[Matt_Wandell]

P. dispar and ignitus are really not that difficult if you've cut your teeth on easier anthias, I definitely wouldn't call them "best left in the ocean" level. I'd say they are middle of the scale anthias in terms of care. They also have great colors as males and don't harass other fish much at all.