Blue Reef Chromis?

snorvich

Team RC member
Team RC
Anyone keep these? If so, what sized tank and how many together? Do they pick off the weakest and winnow down?
 
Great question that I'm interested in as well. What size tank are you looking at for these? I'm setting up a 180g that I would like to get at least three of these in if not more.

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Not the best example, but I had up to 5 at one time in a 30+ gallon qt tank for a good 4 weeks. They would chase each other around after getting settled in but nothing vicious like full blown damsels I've seen.

All were eating well (they like to eat) and none were forced into a corner.



I plan to try again in QT for ultmitely my 120g DT.


Ich wiped them out after transferring some live rock I bought into the qt.
 
I just added 5 small ones, three weeks ago to my 125g. Four of them groupedtogether and one was at the opposit end of the tank. They all ate well but the next day 'the loner' was dead but had no marks on its body.
I've heard the bad rap about their behavior plus was not able to get them thru my LFS's so went to Live Aquaria. They are beautiful and very active addititions. Jim
 
If you're talking about Chromis viridis, I've got 10 of them in my 250g.

A couple of them fight among themselves, but nothing too bad. Had them for over 6 months.

Also, 10 seems to be the max number. Add anymore, and they disappear, till its down to 10.
 
I think he's talking about Chromis cyaneus. If so, I started out with 4 in a 120. Maybe six months later, I upgraded to a 200 with the two remaining chromis. Now maybe 6 months later, I'm down to one. I also added 4 Chromis viridis at the same time. I'm down to two of them. One of them is hanging out in the corner so I don't hold out much hope for it. I feed twice a day, but they still chased each other quite a bit.
 
I'm hoping snorvich is talking about Chromis cyaneus as that what I'm thinking of and don't want to hijack the thread.
 
The chromis are schooling fish if kept with alot. they will not pick each other off if they are added to the same qt and same tank in the end. i have 2 and htye do fine together

beware that they are agressive with other aggressive fish like clowns, i have two in there and the chromis do a hit and run to my clowns and my clowns get really mad and fight.
 
I was specifically asking about Blue Reef Chromis (Chromis cyaneus) as was jason2459. The other ones, as far as I know, always winnow down to one or at most two. I have not found anyone keeping Chromis cyaneus and was hoping this one was different.
 
I'm hoping snorvich is talking about Chromis cyaneus as that what I'm thinking of and don't want to hijack the thread.

Exactly. Do you know anyone keeping this longer term? I love the coloration and they may shoal in a large enough number.
 
In the wild is the only experience I have with them. I saw them in singles and occasionally in pairs never in shoals or schools.

So my opinion is that they do best singularly. They are very fast and get larger I saw some probably around 5inches in length.
 
I had a group of 5 in a 210g reef for about 9 months before I took the tank down. I fed 2/3 times a day and never saw any problems with aggression. Maybe I was just lucky or it could have been from the multiple feedings. From what Ive observed the folks who feed more often have had better luck keeping the blue/green chromis alive as well.
 
i keep 6 blue reef & 10 sunshine chromis in my 180 reef they were all added @ the same time 6 months ago so far no problems & sometimes the 2 species will all shoal together witch is pretty cool to watch
 
In the wild is the only experience I have with them. I saw them in singles and occasionally in pairs never in shoals or schools.

So my opinion is that they do best singularly. They are very fast and get larger I saw some probably around 5inches in length.

I have collected and kept them and like Grassroots mentioned, they live singly or in mated pairs in the wild once they reach maturity. They also tend to lose some color although they do not get the ugly grey of some of their relatives. The longest I kept one was about 3 years, I started with 7 that I collected as tiny just settled juveniles while collecting purple chromis for the pet trade. Purple chromis are found in large schools of beautifully vibrant purple fish while they are small and as they grow they lose the color and tolerance of each other, growing into an ugly aggressive damsel. Over the course of about 2 years I lost one here and there to whatever, including picking on each other but I was hoping to get a compatible pair out of the group. It ended up as just the one but he was fine in the tank with the other fish but I did not have anything delicate or small, not that I think he would have eaten a smaller fish, they have tiny mouths and they normally feed on plankton, but it didn't go after anything else in the tank including the golden coral banded shrimp I had with them.
 
Thanks philter4. I may skip them as that is not what I am hoping for. I think I will just add another type of anthias.
 
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