Small schooling fish for 20 gallon reef?

Hey guys!

I've always been a fan of schooling fish, since they look awesome in between the corals and rock. Although i do not know which schooling fish to get for my reef. I want some more colorful ones.

First i was thinking about yellowstriped cardinalfish, but the problem is that when they grow older, they get like this ugly greyish color, which just reminds me of my freshwater aquarium :S Then i thought about chalk bass, cause i think they look good. Do you guys got any other suggestions? Again has to be small, so that i can have 2 - 3 of them in a 20 gallon reef

 

someone can correct me if i am wrong but i think green chromis are schooling fish and can be kept in small tanks.

 

Unfortunately you will be be unable to observe true schooling in smaller tanks. The fish may group together when startled but that is about it.

Some of the smaller Cardinals, see link below will be the closest you can get.

Nano Fish

Chromis add a ton of color but again will not display schooling in such a small tank and will most likely display aggression instead.

 

I like the BlueEyed Cardinals...

 

I would never question corailline's advice, but I do have 3 green chromis in a 54 (with a lot of rock) and they school right out front and I've seen no aggression. However, a 30 is much smaller....I only mention it because my swimming room is limited with so much rock..

 

Tiny dart fish hard too find though

 

stevie you are correct.

I had 7 Chromis in a 26 gallon bowfront and they showed schooling behavior but not much.

 

did they end up killing eachother?

 

Please oldfishkeep if you have a different first hand experience than by all means post it.

I have never seen true fish schooling in anything but big tanks by Anthias, Cardinal and Chromis.

 

No thankfully