schooling green chromis

fsulax1786

fsulax1786

Member
How many can I comfortably put in a 55 gal? Im looking to add some schooling fish I think I can put in 3 or so. I heard you are supposed to go with odd numbers, but I want to be sure, so thats why Im here.
Stocking list currently:
Maroon clown (gold stripe)
sixline wrasse
scooter blenny (eating frozen mysis!)
cleaner shrimp
2 sally light foot crabs
2 emerald crabs
a couple nassarius snails
1 snail i dont know but moves kinda fast across the sand
1 leather coral
2 64 w actinic and 2 64 w 10k lighting
65 lbs of live rock, 40 lbs of live sand
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
i would say around 4-5 tops, 3 is a safer option. if that is the only other fish you want the marroons can get to be 5.5" or so
 
fsulax1786

fsulax1786

Member
i want to add a dwarf angel later down the road. maybe like a flame or bi color. Im gonna do some more research and ask around more but ill probably get three
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by PonieGirl
3 will be easier on your bioload, since you'll be adding them all at once.

I agree.
 
catawaba

catawaba

Active Member
3 is a good number. There's a general rule about having 1" of fish per 5 gallons of water MAX....I try to stay closer to 1" per 10 gallons because fish grow! ***)
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
the 'rule of thumb' has a lot of variations and a lot of exceptions, but its really about what your bioload can handle and swimming space available for free swimming type species.
 
mandarin w

mandarin w

Member
I just wanted to put my .02cents in. Blue chomis will fight with each other and kill each other off. They do school, but they will tear each other up and kill each other off. I don't know why, (except that they are still damsels). Every one I know, including myself have gotten chormis's when starting a tank, and everyone, including myself, watched them die off one by one, until there is only one chormis left. At first I thought it must be one of the other, bigger fish, but after research, and talking with others. It is without a doubt, the chormis killing each other off. A dominance thing. I would suggest saving your money, and the good levels in your tank, and find one nice healthy chormis, or none at all. Use the rest of your money for the angel. A flame is nice, but not so easy to keep, They just don't seem as hardy. A cherub, or a coral beauty are a little easier to keep.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
he was talking about green chromis - are you grouping all chromis together in that statement? i dont keep any but i know many people keep quantities of chromis in their tanks. Blue reef chromis are the only i would consider, cause they are cool :)
 
reefrank

reefrank

New Member
I have had three blue chromis for well over three years, they were in a 55 gallon together, they are now in a 125 gallon, they school and look really cool when doing so. I also have a domino damsel in the same tank. Never a problem with fighting.
 
chub

chub

Member
I have 3 in my 55 and sometimes they do get nippy with each other.I was thinking of adding 2 more in the future
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Green Reef Chromis do fight each other. That's why it is recommended that you keep schools of 6 or more. It spreads out the aggression so that no one fish gets picked on to death.
I keep a school of 6 in my tank. Here's what I noticed; First, they swim A LOT. I suspect in many home aquariums they are not being fed enough. Lack of food increases aggression (in mine at least I've seen this. Since I started feeding 2x a day, every day there is a substanial decrease in aggression). If you look at your fish carefully you can literally see them losing weight over a day or two if they go without eating.
I also suspect, since these fish are often sold by pet stores to new tank owners, that they are often injured in the cycling process. Part of the aggression seen may be healthy fish trying to drive off sick or injured fish.
Be aware that they grow to be fairly stout little fish. A school of Chromis in a 55 is going to be a lot of fish...
 
gatorwpb

gatorwpb

Active Member
Not sure if it was aggression or some shock from capture and travel to LFS, but I bought 3 blue/green chromis over a month ago and have only 1 left.
After 2 days one went totally missing. Then about 1 week later, I found half of one being picked apart by a couple perppermint shrimp.
Nothing else in the tank is aggressive, so thats all I can think of.
The solo chromis now hangs out with the clowns lol :happyfish
 
chutneyjh

chutneyjh

Member
I don't want to discourage you but my experience with green chromis has not been good. The most I've been able to keep for any period of time has been two. They slowly killed each other off. Now one of my two left is missing a chuck out of his back. Originally I blamed the wrasse I just got rid of but it could have been the other chromis.
 
rusting

rusting

Member
Originally Posted by FSUlax1786
How many can I comfortably put in a 55 gal? Im looking to add some schooling fish I think I can put in 3 or so. I heard you are supposed to go with odd numbers, but I want to be sure, so thats why Im here.
Stocking list currently:
Maroon clown (gold stripe)
sixline wrasse
scooter blenny (eating frozen mysis!)
cleaner shrimp
2 sally light foot crabs
2 emerald crabs
a couple nassarius snails
1 snail i dont know but moves kinda fast across the sand
1 leather coral
2 64 w actinic and 2 64 w 10k lighting
65 lbs of live rock, 40 lbs of live sand
I have had three in my tank for more than four months. They school, and are well behaved.
 
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