Schooling fish for my community reef tank...suggestions?

S

Seths Dad

New member
I have a 135 gal. reef and would like to add a schooling fish (4 or 5) in the future. Right now I have a flame angel and a pair of mated clowns and that's it for fish, no coral and 1 gbta. Don't want anything agressive. I was considering bangis, blue chromis or anthias. Would like anthias but not sure which would be friendly to other tank mates. Any suggestions or experiences would be appreciated. Tank has been running for about 3 mths. I'm taking it slow.

Thanks
 
Seths Dad said:
I have a 135 gal. reef and would like to add a schooling fish (4 or 5) in the future. Right now I have a flame angel and a pair of mated clowns and that's it for fish, no coral and 1 gbta. Don't want anything agressive. I was considering bangis, blue chromis or anthias. Would like anthias but not sure which would be friendly to other tank mates. Any suggestions or experiences would be appreciated. Tank has been running for about 3 mths. I'm taking it slow.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Bangaii cardinal fish do not shoal, a pair is the most. Other fish will shoal (none school) such anthias or various other cardinal fish.
 
I personally like Lyretails and Bartletts. But remember that anthias are active fish and require multiple feedings per day.
 
snorvich said:
Bangaii cardinal fish do not shoal, a pair is the most. Other fish will shoal (none school) such anthias or various other cardinal fish.
Click to expand...

alright its time to clear this up as i see this statement here often....
What is the true difference between schooling and shoaling?
your words are golden Steve.....but at the moment i'm not sold on this.
 
cwoods8 said:
alright its time to clear this up as i see this statement here often....
What is the true difference between schooling and shoaling?
your words are golden Steve.....but at the moment i'm not sold on this.
Click to expand...

If my words were golden, I would be rich. Shoal can describe any group of fish, including mixed-species groups (e.g. various species of anthias do this), whereas "school" is reserved for more closely knit groups of the same species swimming in a highly synchronized and polarized manner. If you want to get really into the difference, schooling has a mathematical relationship and is a specialized shoal. But if you are a diver, and have seen schooling behavior in the wild, it is vastly different than shoaling behavior. In our normal sized aquaria, we will not see schooling whereas some species will shoal (best I have seen is cardinals). Some very large aquaria get schoolingg behavior with glassy sweepers.

:spin2:
 
snorvich said:
If my words were golden, I would be rich. Shoal can describe any group of fish, including mixed-species groups (e.g. various species of anthias do this), whereas "school" is reserved for more closely knit groups of the same species swimming in a highly synchronized and polarized manner. If you want to get really into the difference, schooling has a mathematical relationship and is a specialized shoal. But if you are a diver, and have seen schooling behavior in the wild, it is vastly different than shoaling behavior. In our normal sized aquaria, we will not see schooling whereas some species will shoal (best I have seen is cardinals). Some very large aquaria get schoolingg behavior with glassy sweepers.

:spin2:
Click to expand...

Works for me.
 
I had 6 lyre tails. They schooled for about a month then more or less went about their own ways....stopped schooling. Couple of months later my Niger Trigger went ape sh*t crazy and chomped most of em. Now only have one male doing great. The trigger was quite tasty grilled with lemon, pepper and butter :eek2:
My 3 blue chromis are still schooling after a year.
 
Hmmmm......decisions, decisions. Cardinals may be the best bet on staying in a group but other than bangis I have not seen any that I really like.

By the way its "shoaling" not "schooling", as norvic explained so well previously. I'm sure all this schooling talk is very frustrating for him.;)
 
IMO lyretails and bartletts are probably the least likely to stick together in a tank. Mine are all over the place, and when I see them at public aquariums, same thing.

I think dispars, and even ignitus, are some of the more common anthias available that stick together a bit more. JME.
 
SDguy said:
IMO lyretails and bartletts are probably the least likely to stick together in a tank. Mine are all over the place, and when I see them at public aquariums, same thing.

I think dispars, and even ignitus, are some of the more common anthias available that stick together a bit more. JME.
Click to expand...

+1 to ignitus.
 
I have 5 blue chromis in a 125 and they stick together some of the time and at other times they seem to go there own direction. Any thing you get will be a hit or miss on them shoaling. The reason they shoal in the wild is that there is safety in numbers from predators. The only way to be sure they shoal is to have a predator in there. But in the long run the predator will win and eat them.
 
Texxxx said:
I have 5 blue chromis in a 125 and they stick together some of the time and at other times they seem to go there own direction. Any thing you get will be a hit or miss on them shoaling. The reason they shoal in the wild is that there is safety in numbers from predators. The only way to be sure they shoal is to have a predator in there. But in the long run the predator will win and eat them.
Click to expand...

My two shoals of cardinal fish only shoal at night with the moonlights on, otherwise the hang out in pairs.
 
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