Is there a reef safe shoaling or communal nano fish?

[corJoe]

Hello all, I'm trying to plan the stock for my 180gal tank, but I'm having trouble finding what I'm looking for.

So far for stock I've decided on
Softies - palythoa, zoa, ricordia and a small rock island of xenia well separated from others
LPS - Galaxea, Wilsoni, Leptoseris, fungia, cynarina, elegance, acan, blasto, frammer, and cyphestrea
inverts - feather worms, squamosa clam, fire shrimp, nassarius, turbos, margaritas, fighting conch, abalone, and chitons
Fish - cling fish, lawnmower, firefish, clown goby, possum wrasse, gramma, naked clowns, dottyback, jawfish

I would like to stick with nano fish, but everything I find is territorial and doesn't get along with others of it's type. Is there any small reef safe fish that can do well in groups, I read chromis, but keep seeing posts where they slowly whittle down their numbers to 1 or 2. Any help would be very appreciated. I don't want to have too low a bio load and I'm hoping to get by without buying larger fish.

also would a 55 gallon sump and 25 gallon refugium be plenty for a 180 gal tank?
please also feel free to educate me on any conflicts in stock I've listed.

 

[Saltyreef]

Ive seen firefish school in holding tanks....even though there really meant for pairing.
Maybe a thought as they are quite docile.

 

[andiesreef]

I'd skip chromis. I've heard countless stories of aggression. Although in a 180 maybe a few could survive. Honestly I'm not the most knowledgeable on them.

Some nano fish do well in pairs. Clownfish come to mind immediately.

Maybe a harem of flasher wrasse could be quite cool. You could have 3 of them in a shoal. Firefish sometimes work in groups too. I've seen somebody do a trio of rolland's damsels before in a larger system. Anthias, cardinalfish, and other dartfish might do well.

 

[xinyan]

blue eye longspine cardinals <they really school>

 

[Sharkbait19]

There is a type of dart fish that is really small and schools like tetras, but is hard to find/keep alive I believe.
Cardinals would also work.
Or maybe guppies/mollies (not much a school but will hang together).

 

[dhnguyen]

blue eye longspine cardinals <they really school>

only problem is these guys are extremely sensitive to shipping and many do not survive.

 

[dhnguyen]

Some shoaling cardinals

red spotted/dwarf cardinals

Apogon parvulus​

Red Spot CardinalFish (Apogon Parvulus)

Care Facts Care Level: Easy Temperament: Peaceful Reef Safe: Yes Diet: Flake/Pellet, Frozen, Live Origin: West America Acclimation Time: 4+ hours Habitat: Reef Max. Size 4" Invertebrate Safe: Yes Minimum Tank Size: 30 Gallon Water Conditions: 72.0 - 78.0 F, pH 8.10 - 8.40, sg 1.020 - 1.025 The...

coralsfishandbeyond.com

blue eyes, long spine, threadfins, sometimes called glass cardinals

Apogon leptacanthus​

 

[corJoe]

Some shoaling cardinals

red spotted/dwarf cardinals

Apogon parvulus​

Red Spot CardinalFish (Apogon Parvulus)

Care Facts Care Level: Easy Temperament: Peaceful Reef Safe: Yes Diet: Flake/Pellet, Frozen, Live Origin: West America Acclimation Time: 4+ hours Habitat: Reef Max. Size 4" Invertebrate Safe: Yes Minimum Tank Size: 30 Gallon Water Conditions: 72.0 - 78.0 F, pH 8.10 - 8.40, sg 1.020 - 1.025 The...

coralsfishandbeyond.com

blue eyes, long spine, threadfins, sometimes called glass cardinals

Apogon leptacanthus​

I think this is what I'm looking for, thank you very much.

 

[dhnguyen]

I think this is what I'm looking for, thank you very much.

I hope you have better luck than I did.
I ordered 30 of the red spot cardinals once and none of them survived the shipping :-(
Like I said before with the threadfin/longspine cardinals, these guys are very sensitive to shipping

 

[reefer_87]

Bar gobies (zebra barred dart fish) might work as well. But they are not nano fish as you are asking for. They get to about 4 inches. I have 4 in my 65 gallon and they make the aquarium lively. Very hardy as well.

 

[jt8791]

I’ve heard of black bar chromis being kept in groups but haven’t seen much information on them and don’t see them available very often. Not sure if they actually school or not. I’ve been considering doing a species only tank, not sure if that’s a common thing with saltwater.

I was also debating on a group of Allen’s/Neon Damsels but not sure if they school either. A simple to maintain tank with a school of fish does sound relaxing. There is always pjs, but they just float around in close proximity to each other, hard to even call it swimming with so little movement.