Schools Aren’t Just For Kids – Schooling Fish for your Aquarium

It is back to school time for most of America’s children. Backpacks, bright yellow buses, and droves of children gathered on street corners to be carted off to fall classes. Our children gather in schools to learn. Meanwhile, around the globe, millions of fish gather in schools for other reasons. Not big brick building schools, but large, synchronized groups - a fascinating behavior known as “schooling.”  

Schooling is a behavior that benefits fish as individuals and as groups. As the saying goes, “there’s safety in numbers.” Swimming together in large numbers, almost as if a single organism, makes a fish feel more secure. Moving in a massive school reduces the possibility for any single fish in the mass to become prey. Schooling also makes movement more efficient for each fish. Each can move faster and more easiliy as the drag of the water is reduced by the streamlined bodies of surrounding fish in the school. Traveling in large numbers has social benefits as well, it certainly it makes finding a mate and successfully spawning easy if you are surrounded by thousands of potential mates in close proximity.

You’ve probably seen massive schools of sardines, tuna or other fish being marauded and splintered by larger predators on the Discovery Channel or some other nature show. While you probably won’t see these fish available for a home aquarium, there are some options of fish that will exhibit these fascinating behaviors if kept in a large enough aquarium and in large enough groups.

One of the best examples of a schooling marine fish is the Green Chromis (Chromis viridis.). Green Chromis have beautiful, pastel green-blue coloration. They are non-aggressive and generally hardy in a marine aquarium. This fish has been around the hobby for decades now and is a common sight in retail stores. How many does it take to get these fish to school? At least 6 is the consensus. Unlike other damsels, these fish tend to be mild-mannered and even timid, especially when kept as individuals. Keeping a school of these fish in a tank will promote schooling behavior and make the fish more outgoing.

Other types of marine fish commonly seen and sold as schooling fish are Cardinalfish. While not exactly a schooling fish, a group of these fish will cluster in close proximity to one another on a reef. Why aren’t they schooling? Well, technically they form a shoal, a group of fish (not always the same kind of fish) that stays close, but do not necessarily move and swim together. Either way, these are popular fish the aquarium trade and the shoaling behavior is fun to watch too. Cardinals are generally peaceful and do best in pairs or groups of 5 or more. They do have large mouths, so be wary when keeping them with small shrimp and crabs. Flame Cardinals, the ever popular Banggai Cardinals, PJ Cardinals and Threadfin Cardinals are just a few of the many hardy species that will shoal in your home aquarium.

How about a freshwater schooling fish?  In my next blog I will touch on a couple of really great schooling fish that will make your freshwater aquarium sparkle!

School of Snappers image referenced from wikipedia and originally posted by Jim and Becca Wicks

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