Chromis - good or bad?

Reefmack

In Memoriam
I'm seeing mixed opinions on blue/green chromis. Will they be compatible with clowns & cardinals, or not? It seems like the chromis tend to kill each other off after time till you end up with one? Thanks for opinions.
 
Ive seen them live peacefully with clowns and other fish. From what Ive heard, they do have a pecking order and in time, the biggest is the last one standing.
 
I have 4 chromis in with my clowns. They can be agressive but the clowns stand their ground against them.

The chromis did chase a neon goby out of the tank once (luckily I was there to put him back in). They even harassed my newly introduced naso tang for a while.

I like them because they clean up all the leftover food particles. Long after my other fish are done feeding, the chromis are still active chasing down bits of food in the water column
 
Just to put in my 2 cent's, I have 3 clowns ( 2 false and 1 true) and 6 chromis' and SO FAR they are all ok. The clowns have been in for a long time ( 4 years) and the Chromis' were just added about a month ago. Actually all the clowns and chromis' swim together in a school and its really pretty cool. So for now I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope they all live in peace and harmony. I suppose all fish and all cases are different, but this is my experience so far. HTH
 
I have a (school) of 7 in my 125. They hang together, and it looks pretty cool. I have not had any problems so far.
 
I had 4 in my 55 gal with a maroon clown and others. there were no problems, except that the clown would chase them every so often when they came close to his host.
 
I kept 6 green chromis in a FOWLR tank with various fish. No problems at all. In fact, if you keep them in a group of 5 or better they are quite peaceful and tend to just school together.
 
I have 4 chromis in my 125 with a clown fish. I started with 10 chromis and ended up with 4 after about a month. The 4 I have left I have had for quite some time, the only problem I have had is that one of them bullied a pair of anthias I purchased but in time they got along.
 
They're great little fish singly or in small groups. 1 per 30-40 gallons is what I'd say. If overpopulated, they'll start killing each other off. They ARE damsels, though the best mannered of the ordinary lot.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9807854#post9807854 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefman5511
Definitely safe. Much better than a damsel.
AFAIK, both clowns and chromis are all in the damsel family [as Sk8r noted].
 
I HAD two chromis with a clown. The clown would chase both chromis once in a while. Then it got progressively worse. The clown would constantly chase other fish. Woke up one morning and one of the chromis was missing. A few days later, I see the clown take a chunk out of my fairy wrasses tail. I ended up giving the clown to another reefer and I assume the clown killed the one chromis.
 
Hi & thanks for all the replies. Went to my saltwater lfs and all of their blue green chromis looked pretty beat up so I dropped that idea for now. The bright blue/yellow tail damsels are such a pretty fish - too bad they're not good with other fish (or themselves). I ended up getting a pseudochromis diadema (diadem dottyback) and he's doing great with the others, and swims in & out of tunnels in my LR. Goes in one little hole & pops out of another one. I'm sure he'll soon pick out his little territory & defend it. Pretty fish.
 
Watch out for that dottyback. I have one and it's the most agressive fish in the tank. It beats up on my full grown female maroon clown!
 
know they're agressive

know they're agressive

I know that all the pseudo's can be aggressive and territorial. He was chasing my peppermint shrimp around shortly after putting him in the tank, but that has let off now, and I haven't seen any aggression with the clowns or cardinals. He pretty much swims in & out of tunnels in the live rock, and stays mid level in the tank. He's eating too so that's good.
 
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