Schooling Fish Recommendations

N

no1bubba

Member
Starting over and want suggestions for schooling (I know that's wrong spelling)
Fish. I have tried buying bonded groups of three and that failed. Have tried Banggi's and pj cardinals. They always end up being the strongest survives.
Any help will be appreciated:fish1::fish1::fish1::fish1::fish1::fish1::fish1:
 
How large is your DT? Chromis will work in almost any size tank, but I highly recommend prophylactically treating them for Uronema in QT.

A few Schooling Bannerfish can be nice, but you need to be absolutely sure you get Heniochus diphreutes (reef safe) and NOT Heniochus acuminatus.

Fusilers are good schooling fish for larger FOWLR systems.
 
Yes, size of the DT matters a lot. Most fish won't appear to be schooling in the average tank because it's too small.

I know you've tried cardinals, but blue-eyed cardinals are one of the few fish that actually school, even in a somewhat small tank, and unlike other cardinals they seem to get along.

Anthias are also another option, though do your research on each species to determine the best fit. Some are more fragile than others, and many require constant feeding to thrive.

Another tactic is to introduce a fish that the schooling fish see as a threat. There are positives/negatives to this. On the plus side, the fish will school tighter, but the minus is that the fish are stressed out. Triggers of the species Xanthichthys (Blue Throat, Sargassum, Crosshatch, etc.) are a good option for a "threat" fish because they're reef safe and harmless to other fish.
 
I have 4 PJ Cardinals and 2 Banngi is my 180 G. I would not consider them schooling fish but they do from time to time hangout in the same areas. They mostly just all go about their own thing.

Most, probably all, schooling type fish (Anthais, etc) will eventually kill eacch other off till only one is left. If you watch schooling fish in the wild they swim as a group, but will have a foot or more between each mambe. Out tanks are much to small fro them and being forced together in a small are creates aggression.
 
I have five pj cardinals in my [MENTION=202362]waterbox[/MENTION] 230 and they school. I haven't seen them squabbling yet and they are in there about 6 -7 months.


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Systemwizardinc said:
coral catfish i have 9 of them and they are together all the time got them because my wife and grandson loves them :fish1:
Click to expand...

Juvenile coral catfish must be kept in groups and grow quite large as adults, they must be reserved for the largest home aquaria. As the Coral Cat matures, it begins to lose its schooling behavior.
 
I once had 10 green chromis in my tank and they slowly picked each other off until I had 2. I have read that feeding more curbs aggressive behavior but I don't know, I feed 5 times a day


Corey
 
biecacka said:
I once had 10 green chromis in my tank and they slowly picked each other off until I had 2. I have read that feeding more curbs aggressive behavior but I don't know, I feed 5 times a day
Click to expand...

One strategy I've employed that seems to work is housing them with a large "predator fish". Fear of this larger fish causes them to shoal and limits the bickering between them. It doesn't necessarily have to be a "predator fish" that will pose any real danger to them... Just a large fish they will fixate on.
 
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