Need some Chromis info

[Brisc0]

Anyone know if Blue (Chromis cyaneus) and Green (Chromis viridis) Chromis will school together?

 

[SquishyFish]

Usually

 

[mrrrkva]

They will most of the time. I find odd numbers (IMHO) are better than even, and I try to get more than 3. How big is your tank?

 

[Brisc0]

Tank is 105G, 130G total volume. I was thinking about 5 Greens and 3 blues.

 

[Grumpy]

I have 10 and they school most of the time.

 

[scuba_steve]

go with the yellows think it would look alot better imo

 

[clownfish]

Do the blue chromis need to school for long happiness/health. I was thinking of getting one for 30 g, which already has two true prec, red striped blenny and am planning on completing with a lemonpeel.

Thought three blue chromis might overstock.

Also, do you need to get them all at once, or can you add some at different times?

 

[scuba_steve]

ya could go with one but the schooling is real cool if there are enough if not they kinda do their own thing !! imo yes you are better with adding them all at one time !! i had 5 and then added 5 but the dominate male killed/chased off all of them and killed like 3 before letting the smaller ones into the school !! imo they can be kinda aggressive as well but no real harm done !!

 

[clownfish]

I've heard odd numbers are best. true? So would getting 2 be a bad idea?

 

[scuba_steve]

yea odd number are better but if ya buy from a lfs ya can watch and grab two that like each other !! odds would be one male one female so ya would be ok !! if ya order online go with more like 5ish

 

[SquishyFish]

My experience is exactly opposite of steve's. I had 3 large ones that I added all at once. They did fine...untill I dropped a rock on one and a brittle star got the other one. For about 5 months I just had one big chromis. Very cool addition, but about a month ago SWF had them on sale for 4.99. I added 4 of them to the mix. These things are so small I can lay the entire thing (fins and all) on a quarter. The large one never pays any attention to them. They will generally school...but not always.

The "odd # rule" really only applies up to 5. Beyond that, there is so many they dont notice. Its not like they can count.

 

[Brisc0]

Thanks everyone I think you have all helped me make up my mind. Im going to go with 5 juvies for now. Not sure yet what species I am going to choose, but I appreciate all your insight. Thanks again!