180 reef little fish ideas

[Juggler]

Hey there i have a 180 with lots of tangs and a black durgeon trigger. The big guys are all still smaller at 5" or so each.
i want to add a school of chromis, to fill in the look. you can't get that almost angelic color from any other fish. and even though ive been in this hobby for 5 years now, i have yet to keep these little guys.

how many chromis would you recommend for the tank, and how do i make sure they dont disappear? seems like everyone's chromis start to vanish!

also what other small fish could you suggest for this tank to bridge the gaps between big and little fish. i already have a huge bangaii cardinal, and he wont have any pajamas on his turf! so no cardinals. im looking for more odd colors. i was thinking of a royal gramma. i dont know what else!

thanks for the help
sam

[chris023]

I have about 9 blue/green chromis in my 150, they don't seem to disappear, i guess occasionally the weakest one will eventually get picked off by the rest of the group. I do see lots of jousting (lip locking) within the group. I have the smaller blue/green chromis (Chromis viridis - max size is about 3 inches), not the larger ones (Chromis cyaneus - max size is about 5 inches), you can tell the difference by looking for black coloring between the pectoral fins and the body, cyaneus ones will have the black coloration. I also have different Anthias species for more yellow, pink, orange, purple coloration (Bartletts, Lyretail, Disbar), these are great fish that provide plenty of color.

[SDguy]

More info on chromis species:

http://wetwebmedia.com/chromis.htm

[nah2orocks!]

A school of 9 sounds pretty cool.

[Juggler]

thanks, i will look at 9 of them. i also want a bunch of anthias, but they are expensive.

[kodyboy]

A bunch of chromis would look nice, and I would get as many as possible, they seem to do better in large groups. With a 180 I am sure 20 of them would be fine.
Another option are some of the lined/threadfin cardinals. I have a group of 11 red-lined cardinals in my tank and they are very cool. Threadfins school even better and both species are very peaceful.

[Juggler]

i already have:

5 tangs
2 triggers
2 wrasses (med lunar and red coris) will they eat them?
and the cardinal.

i need more suggestions.

do you think the wrasses will eat the little guys?

[kodyboy]

oops must have missed your other fish, sorry
The triggers and wrasse could eat the chromis, but are unlikely to catch them
those fish are probably a bit too tough for anthias
I would give 20 green chromis a try and see how it goes, but with that grouping it is hit or miss.
another option might be a harem of bluehead wrasse, not really that little, but tough enough and cool. I supermale and six or seven females, although your lunar wrasse may not like that:)
I can not think of any little fish that live in a group that could not be eaten by some of your inhabitants.

[Juggler]

well the triggers are just a tiny niger and a medium indian trigger. they shouldnt be a threat. and the wrasses are about 3"

[kodyboy]

you should be fine then.

[Juggler]

yeah i think so.
the indian trigger doesnt look well though. i thought he had ich, but it looks like he is the only fish in the tank with it. i used chem marin spot parasites, and he still shows weird signs. no other fish show any signs.

[Juggler]

meant to say, i will wait for like a month or so and see what develops with the dude. he looks a bit better but still not well. let me go get a pic.

[kodyboy]

I would put the indian triggerfish in a quarantine tank and then treat him as oposed to treating the whole tank. Quarantine tanks are the way to go:)

[Sk8r]

a batch of varicolored damsels will play chase all day long in a reef that large. And they'll keep the chromis in school. Just don't get any 2 of the same kind.

[Juggler]

im going to need some serious convincing before i put an actual damsel in my tank. plus i have a bully maroon clown that is huge, she likes to keep people in school. :lol:

[kodyboy]

the only damsel, besides clowns and chromis that I would put in that tank are yellow-tailed blue damsels Chrysiptera parasema.

[Juggler]

yup i thought so.