Schooling Fish
- Thread starter fatdaddy
- Start date
Iron Maiden
New member
Just my 2 cents worth. I recently added 7 lemon fin damsels, and 4 pink smiths damsels. They school quite well and seem to be very docile. Except for one smart *** that thinks he's some kind of alfa male, but the others usually put him in his place.
King-Kong
New member
Re: Re: Re: Re: Schooling Fish
Re: Re: Re: Re: Schooling Fish
Sorry, I wont back down from this. Chromis are NOT an ideal schooling fish, and even in the very thread you're debating me has shown, most people who attempt them are left with only a couple after a year. Me included.
Chromis are not an ideal schooling fish for our tanks. They hold an aggressive hierarchy and will slowly kill and dwindle down their numbers, forcing out the weaker members by not allowing them to eat.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Schooling Fish
Sorry, I wont back down from this. Chromis are NOT an ideal schooling fish, and even in the very thread you're debating me has shown, most people who attempt them are left with only a couple after a year. Me included.
Chromis are not an ideal schooling fish for our tanks. They hold an aggressive hierarchy and will slowly kill and dwindle down their numbers, forcing out the weaker members by not allowing them to eat.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10195212#post10195212 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidryder
Strange how many tanks I've seen set up as the "exception". What did you search for? I searched for "chromis schooling", "chromis die", "chromis", "chromis kill"... I found a couple hits but certainly not "over and over again" and nothing to conclude that chromis, in a "VERY true" matter, will destroy one another.
From <u>Marine Fishes</u>:
"A shoal of six or more fish makes an interesting display. A dominant individual may occasionally bicker with subordinate members, but this is not usually a problem if the group is large enough. Lone individuals tend to be easily harassed by tankmates and often fail to thrive."
From <u>Complete Encyclopedia of the Saltwater Aquarium</u>:
RichConley
New member
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Schooling Fish
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Schooling Fish
How much of that is because theyre not schooling fish, and how much is that because theyre $3 fish that get beat to hell in the import process.
I'd think that a huge part is the latter. I think we lose a lot of chromis for the same reason that people tend to lose copperbands 6 months after they buy them: internal damage.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Schooling Fish
How much of that is because theyre not schooling fish, and how much is that because theyre $3 fish that get beat to hell in the import process.
I'd think that a huge part is the latter. I think we lose a lot of chromis for the same reason that people tend to lose copperbands 6 months after they buy them: internal damage.
King-Kong
New member
They are still an aggressive fish within their school. They will continue to harass and cause stress on the smallest members of the group, making it difficult for them to eat and prosper.
Same for orange lined cardinals, but not the same for threadfin cardinals. While they maintain a hierarchy, they arent nearly as aggressive with one another.
Ofcourse, threadfins dont ship well at all (im experiencing this first hand), so it seems a truly hardy, docile schooling fish for our reef tanks doesnt quite (commonly) exist yet.
Same for orange lined cardinals, but not the same for threadfin cardinals. While they maintain a hierarchy, they arent nearly as aggressive with one another.
Ofcourse, threadfins dont ship well at all (im experiencing this first hand), so it seems a truly hardy, docile schooling fish for our reef tanks doesnt quite (commonly) exist yet.
RichConley
New member
So do anthias, and they seem to do fine once established.
I've seen too many tanks with long standign large groups of chromis to not believe it.
King-Kong
New member
and ive read too many accounts (in this very thread) from people who have watched countless Chromis kill one another.
My overall point is that it is irresponsible to suggest that chromis are great schooling fish, when in fact they arent. The result is lots of fish killing each other, and that's something we should avoid if possible.
My overall point is that it is irresponsible to suggest that chromis are great schooling fish, when in fact they arent. The result is lots of fish killing each other, and that's something we should avoid if possible.
bureau13
New member
I tried adding some large Bangaii cardinals to my Pajama cardinal...not sure if this is known to be a bad idea, but I had some feedback that it would be OK, however it actually seemed like the PJ gave them the evil eye and they all died, one by one. It was eerie...these fish barely move, they seem to just hang in the water, so I saw no outright aggression.
I too was at one time planning on getting chromis, but saw too many stories of them picking each other off. I suppose its possible that its a shipping issue, but I have seen this happen in others' tanks when they got the chromis from stores known for their healthy fish, so who knows.
jds
I too was at one time planning on getting chromis, but saw too many stories of them picking each other off. I suppose its possible that its a shipping issue, but I have seen this happen in others' tanks when they got the chromis from stores known for their healthy fish, so who knows.
jds
Serioussnaps
New member
Re: Re: Re: Schooling Fish
Re: Re: Re: Schooling Fish
I vote for apogon leptacanthus as well. I picked up only 4 and I am down to a mated pair as 2 didnt make it. Likely from bullying by my clowns....not the other threadfin/bluestreak cardinals. They dont ship well FWIW. Leonardo(another RC member) has about 12 or so in his tank. I considered adding more to have a school, but my pair is doing well and my bioload is too high...otherwise I would add alot more of them. They are uncommon in American's tanks, form very beautiful blue, yellow and red markings and are relatively bullet proof once established. They dont need to eat like say anthias(also a schooling type fish, but shoaling..i think you are look for more shoaling than schooling) so they want overload your bioload. Great fish.
Re: Re: Re: Schooling Fish
I vote for apogon leptacanthus as well. I picked up only 4 and I am down to a mated pair as 2 didnt make it. Likely from bullying by my clowns....not the other threadfin/bluestreak cardinals. They dont ship well FWIW. Leonardo(another RC member) has about 12 or so in his tank. I considered adding more to have a school, but my pair is doing well and my bioload is too high...otherwise I would add alot more of them. They are uncommon in American's tanks, form very beautiful blue, yellow and red markings and are relatively bullet proof once established. They dont need to eat like say anthias(also a schooling type fish, but shoaling..i think you are look for more shoaling than schooling) so they want overload your bioload. Great fish.
I think the whole chromis thing is hit or miss. I have had 5 chromis together in a 65 gallon for over 2 years and have lost none and see very little aggression amongst themselves and will group together when they get scared. I also have always thought a school of anthias would be sweet too.
webbstock
New member
I still believe that chromis are "passive" aggressive towards each other.
I had seperated mine after they were acting overly aggressive towards each other. They were all (seperately) doing very well, fat, healthly, no signs of stress or damage after about 4 months. Then I decided to reintroduce them into the same tank...within a couple of weeks I was down to one chromis. From what I observed, the deaths were not a result of a direct aggressive behavior, but rather a group exclusion of the "weakest" fish until it died and the exclusion of the next weakest etc. I'm guessing the "weak" fish became malnourished/overstressed and that did him in.
I think most success with chromis is where there are a significant number of dither fish to keep the chromis distracted, thereby preventing (or limiting) the group harrassment, but that's just my opinion.
Sounds like my chromis, had 3 till today. The smallest apparently got beat until he died. I think the middle sized one might be next. They seemed fine together until the last couple of days(it's been almost two weeks they were together). It appeared that they were all eating at feeding time. Not sure if there is anything I can do to protect the smaller of the 2 left??
