Thoughts on Chromis?

Hi,

I'm curious as to what people think about blue/green chromis? What about purple chromis? Their personalities, behavior, care, etc. I'm thinking about getting some...

Thanks!!

 

Hi Kcbrad
they are a shoaling species by nature
so for a 37 gallon tank , not ideal IMO, as if you get 3 or so, to make them feel reasonably comfortable, you cant keep much else in there

your going to be limited to about 9 inches of fish total allowing for adult size
so unless you really like them, maybe not an ideal choice.

but they are a hardy fish and relatively easy to keep. in a big tank a shoal of half a dozen is impressive IMO

Steve

 

I agree with Steve - I had 10 in a 65 and wound up giving them to a friend with a 150G. When they are small they are really great fish but they do grow QUICK and need lots of swimming room so for a tank your size I would not recommend. There are others who just keep 1 or 2 but because they are schooling fish, they usually don't do well and wind up stressing to the point of death so I wouldnt recommend doing that either.

 

yup what they said lol i have a 55g and i have 3 blue green 1s and there pretty small but they do like being in a big shoal... and there known for jumping... and when it comes to feeding time they see me walk to the tank and there the first 1s there... lol

 

Yeah, I was worried I wouldn't have enough room for them because of the schooling. I went to the shop yesterday and saw some tiny, tiny purple ones; so I was hoping! I forgot to ask the owner about them while I was there (I had so many other questions). Well...I guess I'll just need to upgrade my tank sooner than later! I can see this being very addicting...

 

agreed with everything above.

I have a school of 9 in my 100 gallon ... and before I got them i thought they were kind of dull, and boring. I mean ... a $5 fish right.

The school looks phenomenal! I love these guys ... they add so much color and movement to the tank ... and schooling fish are super peaceful to watch.

 

I think they are great.. I have 2 in my tank and they school very nicely..

 

I can't keep chromis alive for the life of me. I have now tried two different schools of 5 and only one remains from all of them. Pretty silly considering the difficulty of the fish I have been successful with!
That being said, they are pretty fun and interactive fish. And I don't think they really need to be in shoals. My single one has been perfectly happy for quite some time now. since you have a smaller tank, maybe try just one for a while as a feeler.

 

I have 1 in my 90g for now. I had 2, but the other one was pestered to death by my ORA indigo dottyback.

I plan on buying a couple more for my 193g tank that will be up in a couple weeks. they are nice fish that school together. They apparently weed some members of their group out though. I have heard that they like to be in odd numbers, and that if put in even groups, they will make the numbers odd.