schooling fish

[mash35231]

      I'm looking for unusual schooling fish or fish that we generally don't think of as schooling fish.  My goal is to move to a reef tank with schooling fish and away from my present fowlr setup.

[REDPYRO]

how large is the tank?

[mash35231]

  125 gallons

[REDPYRO]

clowns, yellow tanks, chromis, Orange Fairy Basslets , Blue-striped Snapper ,

[REDPYRO]

snapper probably not size appropriate

[verper]

Anthias

[Joel]

There are several types of anthias that would make good candidates, squamipinnis, Tuka, bartlets & dispar to mention a few. They are reef safe and very colorful. Most anthias seem to like the company of their own kind, groups of 3 and up often work well.

The blue reef chromis (chromis cyaneus) is a nice schooling fish too. They are not as common as the blue/green chromis and are very hardy, attractive and typically not aggressive.

Fish generically referred to as "dart fish" can be neat as well. The blue gudgeon goby, bar goby and sissortail goby are pretty nice fish that do well and hang out together. I especially like the blue gudgeon gobys, very pretty and peacful fish.

I'm sure others will have some additional good ideas....

Joel

[Reefinmike]

i never had luck with blue gudgeon gobies, they seemed to be afraid of the light. they were very skittish and withered away.

here would be some good ones

barred dart fish
scissortail dart fish
firefish
purple firefish
helfreich's firefish


not really schooling but you could have a "community" of blueheaded jawfish

[Joel]

uuuh,

Barred dart = bar goby
Scissor tail dart fish = scissor tail goby
Fire fish are tough to mix with out them beating each other up

Helfrechi are not easy to get and are about $100.00ea., not likely someone is going to buy a school of fish at $100.00 a pop.

I agree that Blue Gudgeon goby when kept in low numbers would do poorly. They seem to feel safer and eat better when in larger groups like 6 or more.

[Reefinmike]

uuuh,

the fish i listed are all dartfish, firefish included. every website and book ive seen categorize fish from genus Ptereleotris and Nemateleotris as DARTFISH.

i wouldnt put it past someone to buy a school of helfrechi's after seeing the guy on rc with 7 or 9 $10,000 gem tangs...

[Joel]

I agree that they are dart fish. Nowhere did I state that they aren't.

re-read my original post;

Fish generically referred to as "dart fish" can be neat as well. The blue gudgeon goby, bar goby and sissortail goby are pretty nice fish that do well and hang out together. I especially like the blue gudgeon gobys, very pretty and peacful fish.

I stated that they are dartfish and are a neat fish to try & next i pointed out that the bar goby is the same thing as the barred dart fish and that the scissortail goby is the same thing as the scissortail dart fish.

I didn't suggest fire fish for a schooling fish because they typically fight when mixed together and also pointed out that the helfechi is hard to get and is out of the average person's price range.

Lastly, I agreed that the blue gudgeon goby (also a dart fish) does poorly in low numbers and offered a possible option to have better luck with them.

From my earlier post;

I agree that Blue Gudgeon goby when kept in low numbers would do poorly. They seem to feel safer and eat better when in larger groups like 6 or more.


I'm not understanding the need to prove to me or others that these fish are dartfish, I agree and believe that web sights and book support that. I didn't state anything to the contrary.

My point was that your suggesting of fire fish might not be the best idea because they fight and because of the cost and that some of your other suggestions were the same as the one's I suggested before you.

Also, blue dot jaw fish at $100.00 a pop might be a little pricey for most people too.

[mash35231]

  Joel:
 Will the Blue Gudgeon Goby do well in a high water flow tank? I use 4 Seio pumps in my display tank for circulation (2 1500's and 2 1100's). I may be moving 700 gal/hr thru the refugium (my best guess).

[Joel]

I have kept them in reef style aquariums with pretty strong current in the past, they didn't seem to have any issues with it.

[Joel]

Blue gudgeon Goby, with the lights on.....

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