Apogon leptacanthus - (threadfin cardinal aka ghost cardinal aka blue-eye cardinal)

mrwilson · 03/23/2008, 07:47 PM

Having read a number of helpful threads regarding schooling behavior in aquarium fish (including this informative and mildly contentious one: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=1), I believed that the best a typical aquarist with a tank of normal size could hope for is the sort of loose "swimming sort of together" behavior exhibited by reef fishes such as chromis and anthias. However, yesterday I was excited to see firsthand, at an LFS, behavior that appeared to me to be more like what I think of as "schooling," in a group of apogon leptacanthus.

(I am not particularly interested in the technical differences between schooling and shoaling; what I mean by "schooling" is simply fish swimming very closely together, and appearing to move as one, as if mimicing a much larger creature in an effort to ward off predators. The reason I'm looking for schooling, as defined above, versus shoaling: to my eye, schooling just looks really cool, and I think it would look cool in a home aquarium.)

Anyway, the cardinalfish in the LFS were in a not-particularly-big tank, perhaps only 50 gallons or so, and there was a group of perhaps 20-30 of them, each perhaps an inch long. Each individual was not particularly colorful or interesting - quite drab as reef fishes go, in fact - but all of them swimming together was very dramatic and unique.

I'd love to hear about anyone's experiences in keeping these fish: how many, how long, behaviors, etc. Thanks!

snorvich · 03/23/2008, 08:38 PM

I keep them in two tanks. According to your definition they should prove quite satisfactory.

mrwilson · 03/24/2008, 05:54 PM

That's great news. Any other insights or thoughts on them - how many seems to work well, feeding or other husbandry particulars, etc.?

Also, can one have too much flow for them to exhibit this cool schooling/sholing behavior, do you think? I don't have a ton of flow in my 115 (just one vortech at about 2/3 speed, plus my return). It seems like too much flow could sort of "disperse" them. (Although I guess if this is the behavior they exhibit in the ocean, then the little bit of flow in most reef tanks wouldn't faze them.)

snorvich · 03/24/2008, 06:11 PM

They seem to find a place outside of the large flow areas; when they venture into areas of high flow, they temporarily disburse only to gather again. 10 in one tank, 8 in the other.

03/23/2008, 07:47 PM	#1
mrwilson Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Dublin, Ohio Posts: 917	Apogon leptacanthus - (threadfin cardinal aka ghost cardinal aka blue-eye cardinal) Having read a number of helpful threads regarding schooling behavior in aquarium fish (including this informative and mildly contentious one: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=1), I believed that the best a typical aquarist with a tank of normal size could hope for is the sort of loose "swimming sort of together" behavior exhibited by reef fishes such as chromis and anthias. However, yesterday I was excited to see firsthand, at an LFS, behavior that appeared to me to be more like what I think of as "schooling," in a group of apogon leptacanthus. (I am not particularly interested in the technical differences between schooling and shoaling; what I mean by "schooling" is simply fish swimming very closely together, and appearing to move as one, as if mimicing a much larger creature in an effort to ward off predators. The reason I'm looking for schooling, as defined above, versus shoaling: to my eye, schooling just looks really cool, and I think it would look cool in a home aquarium.) Anyway, the cardinalfish in the LFS were in a not-particularly-big tank, perhaps only 50 gallons or so, and there was a group of perhaps 20-30 of them, each perhaps an inch long. Each individual was not particularly colorful or interesting - quite drab as reef fishes go, in fact - but all of them swimming together was very dramatic and unique. I'd love to hear about anyone's experiences in keeping these fish: how many, how long, behaviors, etc. Thanks!

03/23/2008, 08:38 PM	#2
snorvich Team RC member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Outlander Posts: 40,953 Blog Entries: 46	I keep them in two tanks. According to your definition they should prove quite satisfactory. __________________ Warmest regards, ~Steve~

03/24/2008, 06:11 PM	#4
snorvich Team RC member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Outlander Posts: 40,953 Blog Entries: 46	They seem to find a place outside of the large flow areas; when they venture into areas of high flow, they temporarily disburse only to gather again. 10 in one tank, 8 in the other. __________________ Warmest regards, ~Steve~

03/24/2008, 05:54 PM	#3
mrwilson Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Dublin, Ohio Posts: 917	That's great news. Any other insights or thoughts on them - how many seems to work well, feeding or other husbandry particulars, etc.? Also, can one have too much flow for them to exhibit this cool schooling/sholing behavior, do you think? I don't have a ton of flow in my 115 (just one vortech at about 2/3 speed, plus my return). It seems like too much flow could sort of "disperse" them. (Although I guess if this is the behavior they exhibit in the ocean, then the little bit of flow in most reef tanks wouldn't faze them.)