What is the best number to keep PJ Cardinals and Chrysiptera damsels in?

[Zionas]

I've been thinking of getting these as the fish I'll keep in small groups for my tank. For the PJ Cardinals, I am thinking 3 or 5. In the last couple of days I favored getting a trio, but today I thought maybe 5 could be better. I am worried about attrition. Of course my hope is they will all be alive, but my hope is if I get 3 and say one gets killed, the other two might pair but I'll only have 2. If I get 5 and one gets killed I might end up with two pairs.

I'm considering 3 or 5 for the Chrysiptera damsels as well, but I'm not sure if their social structure and nature when it comes to killing the odd one out is any different from the PJ Cardinals.

Everywhere I've read seems to believe that it's better to keep these fish in odd numbers rather than even numbers.

I would love any insight and feedback. Thanks.


My tank is 105 gallons.

 

[HumbleFish]

I would skip the damsels, and only add 5 PJ Cardinals.

 

[Zionas]

Got it.

 

[MarkW64]

No reason you can't keep Chrysipteras in a 105 gal. Three might be good. I started with five Azures in my 230g. One seemed to have health issues and didn't last long. The other four have been great for over a year "” rarely bother any other fish, mostly just posture a bit between each other over their areas of the tank. I also have one Tuxedo. He gets along fine with all the other fish "” I plan to get a second so that I have a pair.