A common feature of many shallow Maldivian reefs is a large clump of coral inhabited by a shoal of small fish. These are very entertaining to watch, the fish swim around in the general area until startled, and then all dart back into the clump of coral.
I think these corals are all Pocillopora verrucosa, which is fairly easy to keep in a tank, and perhaps by starting with several similar frags attached to a lump of rock I could achieve a big clump eventually. Pocillopora verrucosa exists in various shades of cream/yellow/brown and pink/purple.
The most common fish species seen in these conditions are the humbug damsel (Dascyllus aruanus) and the blue-green chromis (Chromis viridis), both of which are commonly available in the trade and easy to keep, but in the confines of a tank it can be difficult to keep a shoal as they are quite aggressive to each other. I also saw a few corals with shoals of the chocolate-dip chromis (Chomis dimidiata) which is one of my favourites, but harder to get hold of in the trade (and I didn't get any decent photos). Another attractive option I saw is the cloudy damsel (Dascyllus carneus).
Other fish species can be seen in these photos, mentioned individually below:
Yellow coral with humbug damsels, including some very small ones:
Dascyllus carneus as well as a humbug:
Pink coral, with a single blackside hawkfish (Paracirrhites forsteri). This would probably be too big and predatory for a reef tank.
Buff coral, with a range of small fish including cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) and sixstripe wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia), both readily available.
Buff coral, with blue-green chromis:
Brownish coral, with hermit crab, sixstripe wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia), surge damsel (Chrysiptera brownriggii) and something else, maybe a juvenile wrasse?
Yellow coral, closeup showing a hermit crab which are also commonly found among the branches:
Brownish coral, with 2 sixstripe wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia), 2 surge damsel (Chrysiptera brownriggii) and a juvenile goldring bristletooth surgeonfish (Ctenochaetus truncatus: it is a tang, but not the common yellow tang, despite being the same colour!). The latter could be a possibility for the tank as it is a solitary tang rather than a wide-ranging shoaling species:
Brown coral with blue-green chromis and I think some juvenile lemon meringue wrasse (Halichoeres leucoxanthus), a group of something else in the background:
I think a clump of coral with a shoal of little fish would be a great cameo from the Maldivian reefs, if the fish don't kill each other. Any experiences of keeping groups of damsels/chromis?
