Rec's for peaceful, small group reef safe fish.

[Prairie Reef]

I have a 75 gallon reef tank that currently has only a fire fish. Im considering the next move on the tank, and I'm looking for a fish that is small 2-3 inches adult, active swimmer, and peaceful. Here's what I'm stuck on, I'd like there to be 4 or 5 of them. Many fish seem to become aggressive to same species. I've read that blue/green chromis would be good but tend to use aggression to establish hierarchy and you end up with 1 or two at the most. Any other suggestions?

 

[curlykid]

you could get a trio of fairy or flasher wrasses (one or the other)

 

[Ooulophilia]

Damsels get a terrible rep, but damsels in the chrysiptera genus are very mellow, stay small, and are bulletproof. I would do a group of 5 talbots damsels (Chrysiptera talboti). I had a group of 12 in a 90 gallon and they added great movement, were interesting to watch, and did not bother any other fish in the aquarium.

 

[rysher]

+1 flasher

 

[dzfish17]

Why all of them the same? In a small tank a mix of color is very attractive. I would look at an azure damsel (one of the less aggressive), a midas blenny, one chromis, a couple of anthias, sand sifting goby, and a small wrasse. Different body shapes, color and peaceful too. JMO.

 

[LemonLemon]

i have a whole collection of peaceful damsels in my reef.

Chrysiptera springer
Chromis vanderbilti
Chrysiptera traceyi
Chrysiptera rollandi
Chromis acares
Chromis retrofasciata

i love the Chromis acares and Chromis vanderbilti the most. i have only pairs of them but they look BEST in a small group. very lovely, especially Chromis acares. if you can get your hands on that, i suggest going all out.

 

[pmrossetti]

orange lined cardinals.

black bar chromis.

both peaceful

 

[OodleyBoodely]

I've been eyeing these guys lately and just hope they are available when I'm ready for them...might work for you, too. Red stoplight cardinals Fowleria flammea.

 

[rssjsb]

i have a whole collection of peaceful damsels in my reef.

Chrysiptera springer
Chromis vanderbilti
Chrysiptera traceyi
Chrysiptera rollandi
Chromis acares
Chromis retrofasciata

i love the Chromis acares and Chromis vanderbilti the most. i have only pairs of them but they look BEST in a small group. very lovely, especially Chromis acares. if you can get your hands on that, i suggest going all out.

Lemon, how do you find the vanderbilti in terms of aggression? I was considering them awhile back, but the few threads I could find about them indicated that they were kind of nasty.

 

[LemonLemon]

Lemon, how do you find the vanderbilti in terms of aggression? I was considering them awhile back, but the few threads I could find about them indicated that they were kind of nasty.

mine were generally ok.

but i only kept them as a pair, not a group.

they leave all my fishes and other damsels alone even my closely related and rarer species, chromis acares.

but when they started spawning, they would get nasty to other damsels that got near their cave where they laid their eggs.

 

[Prairie Reef]

Thanks for the recommendations all -

@LemonLemon - Thanks, I copied the list you had and I'll take a first look at Damsels - I had just ruled them out based on the assumption that Damsel="Harass and Kill Everything"

@dzfish - I do want some different ones - but I was looking for something that would be sort of "unifying" if that makes sense...

@CurlyKid - I had thought about Flasher/Fairy Wrasse - but they seem to get too big - I want to spend most of the "inches" in the tank on other things.

@OodelyBoodley and pmrosetti - I'll look into those cardinals - my thought is that I'm worried about the descriptions I've read that they spend most of their time hiding. Do you have different experiences?

 

[fishfreak2009]

I had these before velvet wiped out most my fish... they schooled great and were quite a sight.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+28+124&pcatid=124