Experience with chromis retrofasciata

[davez104]

Hi all,

I am just about to add a group of chromis retrofasciata, or Black-bar Chromis to my 150G SPS reef tank. I have not come across these in any tanks before, but thought I would ask here to see what, if any, experience people have had with them. I am adding 15 of them, maybe a few more, not 100% sure yet, but no more than 20.

Cheers,
Dave.

 

[davez104]

So that would be a no then??

 

[Felixc]

Did you ever end up getting a group of these? Any info would be great. I am thinking of adding a dozen or so myself, just looking for any personal experiences.

 

[Reefnub]

15 will be fine but they're known to pick each other off until 1-5 are left. I tried a dozen and now i'm left with 2. If you use the search function, you will find a lot of topics on chromis. :fish1:

 

[davez104]

Yes I did end up getting them, I started with 15. They picked each other off until there was 6 left. There have been 6 living happily in the tank now for more than 6 months.

Dave.

 

[treylane]

I started with a group of 9 in a 225g, and over the course of two years, I slowwwwwly wound up with a pair, though it seemed stable for 6months at two pairs, eventually one set disappeared. They're a GREAT fish - super cute behaviors, not too mean, etc. But afaik no damsels will be happy in groups long term in hobbyist aquariums.

 

[Felixc]

It seems like no species of chromis/damsel can be kept together long term in a large group (+10 fish). What about a threesome of 4-5 different species? Has anyone tried that? Do you think it would make a difference in terms of longivity?

 

[treylane]

In a large tank, it's pretty doable to keep pairs of multiple docile species. A pair of chrysiptera hemicyanea was fine with the last two (and then one) pairs of chromis retrofasciata.