Peaceful Schooling Fish?

[puffy_fish]

I am starting a 175 gallon tank and I am going to eventually (probably 2-3 years down the line) have some large fish (i.e. reef-safe tangs, triggers, angels, etc.). I really like schooling fish and I want a small group of about 4 peaceful schooling fish. I think for the price the green chromis seem to be the way to go.
Any other peaceful schooling fish for a reef tank?

 

[renogaw]

nothing better than some anthias, especially since chromis will kill each other off

 

[puffy_fish]

I have read that the Chromis will typically not kill each other off as long as you keep them in pairs. It said they pair up and then pick on the odd man out so I figured 4 or 6 would work. Plus, they cost 3.99 a piece and anthias are about 30. Anyone have good experiences with the chromis?

 

[renogaw]

if rules didn't prevent me, i could show you links of people who started out with 20 chromis and still ended up with 1.
i started with 3, i have one.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by PUFFY_FISH
I have read that the Chromis will typically not kill each other off as long as you keep them in pairs. It said they pair up and then pick on the odd man out so I figured 4 or 6 would work. Plus, they cost 3.99 a piece and anthias are about 30. Anyone have good experiences with the chromis?
I thought the same thing until sepulation posted in another thread that they need to stay in groups of 6 or they'll kill off the others. Lyretail Anthias are the most peaceful of that variety, and I've heard they don't need specific numbers in their grouping.

 

[renogaw]

yea, you can get some anthias for like $20 at the right time. just get a single male and 3 female

 

[gnorman]

for a 175 gallon tank, if ur going to go with chromis, id go with 9 or so, so what way if u get 1-2 that die, ull end up with 7 which would be a good number for that size tank. give out a lot of good movement
on my 150 gallon i started with 5, and now i have 3 of them...
also, if ur tank is already established with those large fish u might want to consider a different schooling fish... i say this b.c, we had 3 chromis that we added first, everything was going well, and then we added one of our last fish ( a queen angelfish ) and ever since we added her our chromis always hide in the rocks and never come out

 

[reeffreakgeek]

I agree with renogaw,nothing beats anthias.Lyretails are somewhat aggressive.I bought dispars from SWF.com at the time they were 1/2 off-$13.50 each.What a deal that was.
Bartletts are pricey but they would be my first choice.Hardy,accepts all foods and damn pretty little fishes.

 

[jtrzerocool]

Originally Posted by renogaw
if rules didn't prevent me, i could show you links of people who started out with 20 chromis and still ended up with 1.
i started with 3, i have one.
i started with 3...ended up with 1...bought 2 more...ended up with 1...still not convinced...i bought 2 more...can you guess how many i have now???...i have 1...

 

[groupergenius]

In my 90 I bought 6 chromis and still have 6. In my 120 I bought 8 and now have 7. 1 got sucked in the overflow and got attacked by the "sock monster".
I have never seen any of mine even bicker.

If I could afford to throw in 6 Anthias I would though. Too pricey for me.

 

[ifirefight]

Originally Posted by renogaw
nothing better than some anthias, especially since chromis will kill each other off

Started with 8 chromis....I now have 1. The kids nicknamed him "uno"

 

[66chuck]

Started with 8, now have 3. I did notice that if I fed them more than once a day, they were not quite as aggresive towards each other. They don't really school together anymore either. Once in a while all three head in the same general direction, followed by both of my clowns. Very brief, but cool school.

 

[fish3]

i just add 4 chromis tonight and well none desd so far hopefully none

 

[dragonzim]

I started with 3 chromis about 2 years ago and still have all 3 of them. They do not bother each other at all.

 

[puffy_fish]

After my tank is cycled, I might use 6 Green Chromis as test fish since they are cheap. If they hang around then great, if not not too bad of a loss.

 

[rylan1]

Chromis are good... I've heard odd #'s are better... personally I'd go with anthias, which are more expensive... but way more colorful... I guess it depends if you want to spend $15-$20 or $75-$100.