Schooling fish

[brandolando4]

Hello everybody, im currently in the process of building everything for my 20 long, and i really want a schooling fish.

 

I know you cant get that many fish in a 20 long, but ther is gonna be a 10 gallon sump with a protein skimmer rated for 90 gallons, so im hoping that will help,

 

i was thinking 4-5 fish total.

 

 

i was at my lfs and he has a tank full of firefish and they seem to school real nicely in that tank, will they do that at home??

 

what other fish suggestions are there?

[Urchinhead]

Firefish don't school. Over time they will get territorial and you will go from 5 fire fish to one.

 

There are no true schooling fish that are appropriate for the tank size you have unless you are prepared for a massive amount of maintenance. I can't recall the name of the fish but if you search on Maeda he has the name of them in one of this threads. They require almost constant feeding and are very delicate fish.

 

Chromis will school as juveniles but when they mature 8 times out of 10 you end up with one Chromis.

 

Same with Cardinals except you may end up with a breeding pair if you are lucky.

[aaron86]

get some small chromis their cheap and they school

[fewskillz]

get some small chromis their cheap and they school

No they don't. They will kill eachother off until there is just one left. They are damsels.

 

 

You're best bet will be cardinals. I like the orange-stripes and the threadfins.

[animalmaster6]

Orange Lined Cardinals shoal and they're very interesting.

[lakshwadeep]

While firefish usually are too aggressive to keep in groups, dartfish (genus Ptereleotris) are a much better choice. They are somewhat larger, but you could keep ~4. Make sure to get a tight-fitting hood.