Small, schooling, reef-safe fish?

jdiefenbaugh

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No fish are going to school in your tank. They exhibit that behavior to avoid predation. When they realize there are no predators in your tank, they won't school.

That said, if I had a 300g I would add a huge group of anthias.

I would agree 100%. I have tried chromis in 2,000, 6,000, 10,000, and 12,000 gallon tanks, and always end up with around 10% left through gorilla warfare. Never had any luck. Any kind of dart fish I've kept in groups has always just paired off, and usually harassed the rest. The cardinals I've kept would tolerate groups, but never really interested me, personally. I have kept hundreds of anthias, and dispars, lyre tails, or sunsets would be my recommendation, with all small females to start. You can try P. pascualas/tuka if you have the time to provide them with naups every day. They will eventually start turning male and harassing the subdominants, but they have done the best of the 9 or 10 species I have kept in groups. They will not "school," but they sure look nice in groups (the chromis pictured are what is left of 100).

morrissey01-02.jpg


Fusiliers will school really well, but almost all species get too big for most home aquariums. I would love to try some neon fusiliers (P. tile) again, but they are very hard to find in the hobby, and probably still too big/active for a 300.
 

JCM

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I would agree 100%. I have tried chromis in 2,000, 6,000, 10,000, and 12,000 gallon tanks, and always end up with around 10% left through gorilla warfare. Never had any luck. Any kind of dart fish I've kept in groups has always just paired off, and usually harassed the rest. The cardinals I've kept would tolerate groups, but never really interested me, personally. I have kept hundreds of anthias, and dispars, lyre tails, or sunsets would be my recommendation, with all small females to start. You can try P. pascualas/tuka if you have the time to provide them with naups every day. They will eventually start turning male and harassing the subdominants, but they have done the best of the 9 or 10 species I have kept in groups. They will not "school," but they sure look nice in groups (the chromis pictured are what is left of 100).

morrissey01-02.jpg


Fusiliers will school really well, but almost all species get too big for most home aquariums. I would love to try some neon fusiliers (P. tile) again, but they are very hard to find in the hobby, and probably still too big/active for a 300.

I believe you've mentioned this is a public aquarium before but dang it's the best tank I've seen posted on here.
 

NowGlazeIT

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Search mono ….
they are a brackish water fish but can be acclimated to full reef salinity .

ive had them in the passed but keep in mind, they can grow big .
a 300gal would be perfect
Yes!!! This is a oldie but a goodie. My Lfs has kept a tall tank with tangs clowns and monos. The 5 or 6 monos stick together and move in sync. They do get big but they’re friendly and they’re fast. I got a small one and added it to my tang gang tank. Some of the tangs went after him for a day or two, but could never catch him haha.
 
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tammieh

tammieh

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A bunch of different tangs .
once settled all of mine chill together
I was hoping for something smaller. I already have a gem tang, lavender tang, orange shoulder tang, and purple tang. Thinking of adding a hippo tang when I add them back to their home.
 

Rmckoy

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I was hoping for something smaller. I already have a gem tang, lavender tang, orange shoulder tang, and purple tang. Thinking of adding a hippo tang when I add them back to their home.
If you can find them .
yellow belly blue tangs …. They look very similar but hardier IMO

for a 300 gal . I’d personally go with a couple mono’s

in my 230 I’m at a stand still with what I can add without aggression issues .
The sailfin tang was the last to join the yellow , orange shoulder , mata , yellow belly which was a little harder to watch .
the poor guy had a hard time settling in

I want something active , colourful

tried 2 sixline wrasse but they both disappeared
 

NowGlazeIT

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I was hoping for something smaller. I already have a gem tang, lavender tang, orange shoulder tang, and purple tang. Thinking of adding a hippo tang when I add them back to their home.
The anthias are small and pack a lot of color, someone here mentioned the had 9 or a dozen and for them they stuck close to each other, I tried the chomis a couple times now and I always end up with one. Not sure if it is tank size or diversity in my inhabitants but of i were to try again I would go with the anthias or cardinals
 

Appoloreefer

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I have a new-to-me 300g peninsula tank with the current stock list: Gem tang, purple tang, lavender tang, orange-shoulder tang, melanurus wrasse, yellow watchman goby, and a regal angel. I would love to have some smallish, schooling fish for the tank. Any thoughts?

0605211305_HDR.jpg
Green chromis I think are always nice and think they will go great with the colors you have now
 

JCM

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All the people suggesting anthias...how long honestly have you kept anthias?
Their diet needs and constant feedings is quite demanding.
-d

I had my mixed group of dispar/ignitus about 5 years before breaking the tank down. Had a group of lyretails about the same length of time. All 3 species ate mysis and pellets and were fine with 3-4 feeding a day.

Some species are definitely a challenge but those three are fairly easy. I believe resplendent are fairly easy as well. Avoid Evansi, tuka, lori, smithvanzi, pascalus.

Edit: Bartlett, squarbacks, and bimacs are fairly easy as well but get larger/more aggressive.
 

Mr_Knightley

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All the people suggesting anthias...how long honestly have you kept anthias?
Their diet needs and constant feedings is quite demanding.
-d
I'm just curious, have you ever kept anthias yourself? Though they can be difficult to feed, the type of people who get them are the type of people who can afford the time to keep them healthy. And if you start out with babies, they have a greater chance of adapting to flake and pellet foods. There are also only a few who need constant feedings, while most others (ignitus, lyretail, squareback, dispar etc) can do well with the normal three or four feedings per day.
I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm mad, I'm just curious because your claims seem very extreme. I'm no expert either (which is why I'm not giving advice) but I've done enough research and seen enough tanks to know that your statement is exaggerated.
 

jdiefenbaugh

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All the people suggesting anthias...how long honestly have you kept anthias?
Their diet needs and constant feedings is quite demanding.
-d

I would disagree. The fish in the tank I posted, I stocked in 2012, that photo was from 2017, and to my knowledge most are still there. The fish that aren't were lost through guerrilla warfare, which is an extremely natural lifecycle to me. I would highly doubt the lifespan of most Anthias sp. is above 10 years, even in captivity. The guys taking care of that tank have closed the life cycle on at least 2 anthias species in there, P. hypselsoma and P. squamipinnis, and the rest spawn nightly. I keep 4 species in my home tank, that are fed twice a day, and have kept tons more in service tanks, past personal tanks, and other public aquarium exhibits. Do they take a little bit of time? Sure. Are they difficult? Not really. Even the tukas/pascualas that will only feed on naups/cyclopeeze/calanus can be fed through automation, and will do just fine if you want to dedicate the time to keeping them.
 

JCM

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I would disagree. The fish in the tank I posted, I stocked in 2012, that photo was from 2017, and to my knowledge most are still there. The fish that aren't were lost through guerrilla warfare, which is an extremely natural lifecycle to me. I would highly doubt the lifespan of most Anthias sp. is above 10 years, even in captivity. The guys taking care of that tank have closed the life cycle on at least 2 anthias species in there, P. hypselsoma and P. squamipinnis, and the rest spawn nightly. I keep 4 species in my home tank, that are fed twice a day, and have kept tons more in service tanks, past personal tanks, and other public aquarium exhibits. Do they take a little bit of time? Sure. Are they difficult? Not really. Even the tukas/pascualas that will only feed on naups/cyclopeeze/calanus can be fed through automation, and will do just fine if you want to dedicate the time to keeping them.

I've had my pair of tukas about 4 weeks now. They both eat frozen mysis and LRS Reef Frenzy very aggressively. Right now, im feeding 10-12 times a day but I'm about to start cutting back.

How often were the tukas in that big tank fed? I'm curious how much I can cut back. (Obviously if they start to lose weight I've cut back too far)

This is my first attempt with them and you're one of the few that I've seen have success.
 

LBReefer

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Most ppl shouldnt even keep anthias. Lol. I dont even reccomend them. Same i do not wish to argue only point out that fish do indeed "group" or school if u have enough of that fish and ur tank is big enough say 150+gals.
This is my opinion. I will look up shoal vs. Schooling and do some research yo. Lol.
-d
I've tried anthias several times in my 180 and I can never get them to last over a year.
 

LBReefer

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I had the same experience on a smaller scale (5 chromis down to one). I read a few threads with similar experience so surprised there was so many recommendations to this OP to add them. I haven’t had long term success with these
I started with six and have had the final two for three years now. They don't pick on each other, but definitely contribute to the overall tank aggression.
 

jdiefenbaugh

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I've had my pair of tukas about 4 weeks now. They both eat frozen mysis and LRS Reef Frenzy very aggressively. Right now, im feeding 10-12 times a day but I'm about to start cutting back.

How often were the tukas in that big tank fed? I'm curious how much I can cut back. (Obviously if they start to lose weight I've cut back too far)

This is my first attempt with them and you're one of the few that I've seen have success.

They were fed 48 hr. naups 2x/day dripped from a culligan water bottle, then one large feeding of frozen (PE mysids, chopped clam/krill, capelin eggs, and cyclopeeze) and one small feeding of live adult brine. I plan on adding a group to my 300, once I'm hopefully done traveling for work, and feeding naups from a Venturi off of a Hartford loop or refrigerated doser.
 

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