Show me your bestest smallest fish (current or future)

[strich]

Red Spot Cardinals are the closest but they don't ship well or seem to survive for very long.

Interesting! I will have to look into their typical lifespan.

 

[carol3]

I have a great group of 6 masked gobies. They like each other and unlike other gobies these are always swimming around, I wouldn't call it schooling exactly because at 40 gal. my tank is a bit too small for that. These guys don't hang out on the substrate or in the rocks, they really act a lot like freshwater tetras, just not really schooling. They aren't the most colorful of fish but they are really peaceful, which is a MUST for my tank.

 

[strich]

I have a great group of 6 masked gobies. They like each other and unlike other gobies these are always swimming around, I wouldn't call it schooling exactly because at 40 gal. my tank is a bit too small for that. These guys don't hang out on the substrate or in the rocks, they really act a lot like freshwater tetras, just not really schooling. They aren't the most colorful of fish but they are really peaceful, which is a MUST for my tank.

Would love to see pic of better yet video!

 

[Freenow54]

Why has nobody said these guys yet?

Not my smallest fish but one of my smallest fish in my main display. Clownfish!

Cause they are very aggressive and a total Pain

 

[Freenow54]

I have ben asking and looking so far Cardinal fish I assume no others and chromis

 

[Sump Crab]

Something I've seen little of in the marine side of this hobby are good schools of the small fishes. For example the absolutely classic neon tetra is hard to beat in fresh water.

Is there a comparable marine fish?

What are the shiniest best small schooling fish in your opinion?

Those are cardinal tetras, not neon. Just an FYI, carry on!

 

[smitten with ocean life]

Cause they are very aggressive and a total Pain

this puzzles me. ive read it different places, but ive never had any problem with mine!:thinking-face:

 

[i cant think]

Cause they are very aggressive and a total Pain

There is that issue. But I’ve had fish that were worse than that clown - namely a Scopas Tang.

 

[Naekuh]

My Anthias school together at the moment, because they are still young.

But they are cute, because they will go off doing there own thing until they see me, which to them they know its feeding time, and then they school and camp the feeder ring.

Its like one guy saying food? and the others go Food!?!?!? and finally rush the ring as they all go FOOOD!

And also i started off with 5 blue chromis... and 5 gold and black chromis...
They commited genocide on each other, and now its 2 blue and 2 black and gold...

So i am really jealous of people who managed to get that perfect lottery of chromis, and not end up killing each other off, as i wanted a that beautiful chromis school you see in youtube videos.

Oh a baby clownfish clutch has always been mesmerizing, how they ball up like this:



Also just want to add about Cardinal and Neon Tetras, they don't really school very well.
They are more dither fish, they stay out, but do not swim back and forth in a school.

Rummy Tetra's are much better for that, as well as sisscortail rasboras.
These guys are true schoolers, and will swim from one side of the tank and back together in a tight group.

 

[Freenow54]

this puzzles me. ive read it different places, but ive never had any problem with mine!:thinking-face:

After my pair started fighting for dominance the one ended up in my overflow too many times then finally on to the floor. Two years later the murderer jumped from guilt I hope. My third in a different tank attacks me every time I put my hand in the tank broke the skin once now wear gloves. I've always wondered if it is just playing

 

[strich]

My Anthias school together at the moment, because they are still young.

But they are cute, because they will go off doing there own thing until they see me, which to them they know its feeding time, and then they school and camp the feeder ring.

Its like one guy saying food? and the others go Food!?!?!? and finally rush the ring as they all go FOOOD!

And also i started off with 5 blue chromis... and 5 gold and black chromis...
They commited genocide on each other, and now its 2 blue and 2 black and gold...

So i am really jealous of people who managed to get that perfect lottery of chromis, and not end up killing each other off, as i wanted a that beautiful chromis school you see in youtube videos.

Oh a baby clownfish clutch has always been mesmerizing, how they ball up like this:



Also just want to add about Cardinal and Neon Tetras, they don't really school very well.
They are more dither fish, they stay out, but do not swim back and forth in a school.

Rummy Tetra's are much better for that, as well as sisscortail rasboras.
These guys are true schoolers, and will swim from one side of the tank and back together in a tight group.

Yeah send anthias seem as close as one could get. I wonder what like 15+ would look like.

 

[Freenow54]

I have ben asking and looking so far Cardinal fish I assume no others and chromis

So I survived my depression

. Here are some of my new family. The Tang is still hiding. Diamond Goby digging Like a fool. I really like my Linear Blenny

 

[littlefoxx]

These! Zebra dart gobies. I have 3. Very cut and usually swim together

 

[littlefoxx]

So I survived my depression

. Here are some of my new family. The Tang is still hiding. Diamond Goby digging Like a fool. I really like my Linear Blenny

I just got one of those blennies for my 32 reef! Shes very cute. Never seen that kind of blenny before and she was playing peek a boo with me in the store. Took her home and named her Boo! How long have you had yours?

 

[Zionas]

I think the whole “I want a shoal / school of fish” is a misunderstanding. In the wild, many fish only group together as juveniles or only stick together to increase their chances of survival in the presence of large predators like sharks and big groupers. What’s often not talked about enough is that there’s a lot of infighting within the school / shoal and as soon as the opportunity presents itself or it’s beneficial to do so, the weaker members of the school / shoal get picked on.

Also, what you see as schooling / shoaling behavior can quickly dissipate as the species in question only spawns in pairs or at most, small groupings (harems).

Take Cardinals, many see them as a schooling fish but as soon as they get older their preference is for monogamous pairs and they don’t change sex like some other fish. I’ve heard people get supposedly “social” species of Cardinals, only to be reduced down to a pair, a single specimen, or if lucky a trio over time. If say there’s 3 and you have 2 that form a spawning pair, at best the third will be ignored and at worst it will be treated with aggression. It’s “coded” in them to be monogamous as soon as they are of breeding age and are about to spawn.

Same goes for Chromis. I’ve heard of people being able to keep a shoal of them over a number of years, I’ve heard just as many where they were left to a pair, a single, or at most a trio over a number of years.

In a tank like Andrew Sandler’s where he keeps dozens of Yellow and Purple Tangs, from afar it looks like they’re all doing well and getting along but upon closer inspection you’ll see lots of scratch marks and torn / incomplete fins on a lot of the individual Tangs.

I believe it’s just hard to really maintain a school / shoal of a species over time, when we take into account the reasons why they stick together in the wild: A lot of times it’s more out of necessity than out of any inherent “willingness” to do so.

Unlike some freshwater fish, saltwater fish tend to be highly hierarchical in their social structure, with a clear dominant / submissive “chain of command.” If you don’t get their social dynamics right, or if you don’t have like a public aquarium sized tank, a lot of times it’s just best to either keep species singly and choose species that prefer pairs / no more than very small groupings.

When it comes to pairing, a lot of times we assume that a pair means the male and female stick together and are inseparable like Clownfish. That’s not the case with all species. Dottybacks and Damsels, even if you get a male and a female, will prefer to maintain their own territory and it’s usually only during breeding time that they’ll act more as a pair. Think FWBs with fish more than a full-time couple like you get with Clowns. Some fish form lifelong pairs but don’t change sex, one example would be Butterflies.

The few species that are hermaphrodites and can form lifelong pairs and usually act as such I can think of are Clowns, Watchman Gobies, Hawkfish, and certain Angels.

I believe most of the medium and large Angels form pairs, for Centropyge it depends on the species and on the amount of conspecifics in the area: More of the same species, many will prefer harems. Less of the same species, they’ll form pairs. I do know that the Potter’s, Japanese Dwarf (Interrupta), and the Lemonpeel (maybe more) naturally form bonded pairs over harems.