which way would you go with this

I lost my CB the other day. I'm guessing it didn't care for the sponge variety provided it and didn't end up gettin sponge in its diet...

I've currently got a 55 with 2 mean clowns and a blenny. What ever I put in there needs to be able to handle the clown pair.



I am thinking of either getting 5 chromis
or
3 different damsels (one yellowtail and 2 others).


What a lame set of fish right? Ha ha. Well, I am tired of expensive fish and just want the movement and color. I'm not really into fish too much, more into the coral. But I do know I need the bio-load for my own sanity. So which way would you go? Chromis or damsels?

Thanks

 

chromis. the schooling of them if awesome. really fun to watch.
that being said they arent really as hardy as people think they are. well with my tank at least. i had 7 and within 2 months im down to 2. they pick eachother off after a while.
there pretty scared fish.

damsels i wouldnt put it unless your sure your going to want them until they die. wayyy to hard to catch.

 

also, i am aware that chromis and clownfish are all damsels

 

I rather like my damsels and they do come in a wide variety of colors.

 

Shewling/schooling of chromis would be cool.

 

It is my understanding that chromis won't really school in our home aquariums because of the limited size. At least that was what some of my research unearthed when I was looking at getting some. When I did get some, as others stated...they whittled their numbers down until there was only one left, by beating each other up.

I really like some of the damsels and if you more into the corals, I would go with the damsels. One of my local reefers is really into the SPS and his whole tank is full of damsels. The color and movement is incredible!

 

Certain damsel fish species make ideal tankmates for reef tanks especially.
The Azure and Yellowtail are great as they are not aggresive and are very hardy.
Any Demoiselle or Chrysiptera Damsel is colorful, remains small and non aggresive!

 

this is my personal opinion from both my experience and others: dont get either... both make bad reef fish. the damsels are so territorial, all they ever do is fight. when they get larger, they kick up your sandbed and rearrange everything in your tank. I will never ever put a damsel in a tank of mine.
Chromis always pick each other off, its inevitable... your investment will be lost.

Go with something nice like a wrasse, or if your willing to risk it, maybe an angelfish... or a hawkfish or even an easier butterflyfish

 

I agree with Dingo, I'm not much of a chromis or damsel guy either, although I love clowns. I have two clowns and a firefish right now and the firefish is actually the more aggressive one and he was added last. So, you could always try one of those, mine is very active too.