Small, schooling, reef-safe fish?

[Oberst Hajj]

I have a trio of ignitus anthias, 15 green chromis, and 7 pajama cardinals in my tank. The pj cardinals are fairly new additions but the anthias I have had for 4 years and the chromis for 2.

The key is for anthias is buying all females to start and getting them trained on a freeze dried and/or dry food like pellets or flakes. Frozen is great too but I have had skinny anthias waste away on me during previous attempts. You want to throw in dry foods as soon as possible to keep their weight up. I also soak my foods in phytoplankton I grow myself. Anthias can be very frustrating because they don't arrive in good shape most of the time and the weak ones rarely make it.


Chromis are hit or miss, my group of 15 is really 2 groups split up, I have had a few die from being excommunicated from the groups and they just waste away.

I would avoid every damsel as a shoaling fish as they are only shoalers before they become sexually mature and then they start to carve out their own territories. Springer's damsels are a nice addition to my reef, I have 3 that are pretty mellow. Sgt major damsels are very territorial even when I have observed them in the wild while snorkeling.

My PJ cardinals get along really well. I would say they are the best shoalers in my tank, although they don't add a ton of movement like the chromis and anthias, they just hang out.

Each fish definitely have their pros and cons.

How long have you had the three Springers and are they still doing well together? Do they hang out as a group or pretty much do their own thing?

 

[MaxTremors]

7 yrs ago. See how the fish group together? This is a school.
Most have mix tang schools
-d

Neither of those groups of fish are ‘schooling’, they are just grouped together (because there are way to many fish in a small tank). Schooling is when fish group together and act almost as a single entity (meaning they all swim in sync with each other).

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

That is your opinion. Go build a 1000 gal aquarium.
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Fish do school. Why its called a school of fish...
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

And I've seen it.in my.home aquariums in the past.
D

 

[MartinM]

Nope. Started with 9, ended with 1. They are little jerks. Plenty of room and plenty of food but the main bully will never stop 24/7 until the rest are dead. You can slow this by adding rockwork and places to hide but the betas will live in stress until they die. I now have one big ugly chromi that I want gone. It just keeps attacking any fish that lets it. It killed a young lavender tang I added because they were about the same size. I will never recommend chromis to anyone for any reason. Ugly little jerks.

Wow, good to know, thanks

 

[nereefpat]

Sgt majors
D

Small? Schooling? Have you seen adult Sgt majors?

7 yrs ago. See how the fish group together? This is a school.
Most have mix tang schools
-d

Bangaiis only live in groups as juveniles. They actually will kill each other when they mature if they are not a m/f pair.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Yes I know how big sgt. Major damsels get... I also have 300g cube tank. Lol.
I guess u could do convict tangs if it makes u feel better. LOL
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Easier to get small damsels than it is to get the small tangs.
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Again. Theirs more room in the wild. Why we see chromis kill off quicker. Ect.
D

 

[silvernblackr35]

How long have you had the three Springers and are they still doing well together? Do they hang out as a group or pretty much do their own thing?

A few years, they don't school but they do hang out occasionally when they are laying eggs about every 2 weeks. Also I have the smaller blue kind, not the larger ones with more black on them. I would recommend them for anyone with a reef tank.

Will the real Springeri damselfish please swim up? | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

Chrysiptera springeri is an amazing species of damselfish which we’ve long admired. Over the last couple of years we’ve seen at least two color forms of damselfish being offered up as C. springeri…

reefbuilders.com

 

[Ro Bow]

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?

chromis, damsels, grunts, dottybacks, cardinals, basslets, some angel's