Fish Compatibility

Samhain

Satin, Lace, and Sequins
I was just wondering how some of the larger, more aggressive fish like the tangs and full-sized angels do with docile fish like chromis and anthias. Not planning on getting any of these for my 50 gallon, mind you! Just thinking on my future upgrade. I would love to have a couple tangs, an Emperor or a Blueline, and a school of smaller fish, but I didn't know if the big guys would pick on the little ones. Also, I know everyone here loves Chromis, but how do anthias stack up to them? And could you keep a small school (like 3 or 4 fish) of each in a large aquarium?
 
This almost depends on the individual fish, most generally will get along fine with smaller fish but then you will get the occasional butt head jerk fish, but some species are more prone to this, like the kole tangs.

As long as the fish have enough space to feel comfortable and everyone can have their own territory, i think you would be fine with larger fish and then a school of small guys.

Anthias are very cool IMO but a bit more challenging to keep than chromis. They do much better in more mature, reef tanks where there is plenty of food for them to munch on. They have super high metabolisms and really should be feed at least twice a day, and they do better in a school than by themselves.
 
That's excellent info, LF. I particularly like the Maldive Lyretail Anthias, but I also like the Blue Reef Chromis, the black Axil Chromis, and the Barrier Reef Chromis listed on LA. I do plan on going for a larger tank, and will probably get the more aggressive fish at my LFS since I can return them if they're pissant meanies. I think initially I may have a large FOWLR, but try adding some softies experimentally until I see if the rest of the crew will pick at them.

As far as an individual fish personality story, I totally understand that! My little brother had a freshwater community tank when he was younger, and he ended up with one homicidal neon tetra that killed everything else in the tank. So he put in larger, more aggressive fish, and one by one they all fell prey to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Tetra! Eventually he just put that one tetra in a goldfish bowl and got rid of everything else. He was so disheartened by his evil tetra that he's never kept fish since, but he did keep the little homicidal maniac until the terror went to the big pond in the sky. That sucker lived 6 years!
 
I have several larger tangs and some smaller fish in my 180. The larger tangs don't really even notice the smaller fish are there. The only tang that has caused issues is my Yellow Eyed Kole Tang - and he's the smallest one of the bunch
 
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