You want a group of Green Chromis

Haydn

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People are constantly posting about 'Green chromis' being both easy and impossible to keep as a group, and I keep banging on about which species are they. A couple of years ago I felt I had the choice of C. viridis or C. Atripectoralis'.

Today it has become even more complicated -This is a selection of fish identified as 'Green Chromis'

This is identified a C. viridis
[IMG]



This as C. atripectoralis
[IMG]


This as C. caerulea
[IMG]

Now it gets interesting
These as Altrichthys alelia
[IMG]



And just for fun

[IMG]


I will be honest here I have no idea how you differentiate between the species, I will assume they have different behaviours and tolerances of the other species.

We as hobbyists are on a hiding to nothing, especially if we are looking at young fish, for example, C. atripectoralis do not develop the pectoral spot until they mature.

So next time someone says it's easy/impossible to keep them as a group ask, show them this thread and ask what species they have in their tanks.
 

AcroNem

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People are constantly posting about 'Green chromis' being both easy and impossible to keep as a group, and I keep banging on about which species are they. A couple of years ago I felt I had the choice of C. viridis or C. Atripectoralis'.

Today it has become even more complicated -This is a selection of fish identified as 'Green Chromis'

This is identified a C. viridis
[IMG]



This as C. atripectoralis
[IMG]


This as C. caerulea
[IMG]

Now it gets interesting
These as Altrichthys alelia
[IMG]



And just for fun

[IMG]


I will be honest here I have no idea how you differentiate between the species, I will assume they have different behaviours and tolerances of the other species.

We as hobbyists are on a hiding to nothing, especially if we are looking at young fish, for example, C. atripectoralis do not develop the pectoral spot until they mature.

So next time someone says it's easy/impossible to keep them as a group ask, show them this thread and ask what species they have in their tanks.

I can get behind this, mostly. But they are still true damselfish and appear to be living in groups in the wild in the those pictures. So I would assume aside from other potential behavioral differences they mostly shoal the same. I think many cases of groups of these failing in captivity is not enough space, even very large systems see this fail, not enough branching corals or rocks, not enough feedings, and disease. Many times I've seen someone saying their Chromis are killing each other and showing a picture of a fish with tell tale red patches of uronema thinking it is a wound. I believe they can be kept in groups, and I'm sure we do see different species frequently so perhaps there is different behavior between them and that is why there is such a mixed bag of results. I don't think that's a study anyone will be able to take on to prove any time soon though.
 

Doctorgori

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Have you documented and/or observed any distinguishing characteristics at all? Personally I gave up long ago on the murderous lil buggers .... I may try the dark Blue Caribbean type instead
 

AcroNem

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Have you documented and/or observed any distinguishing characteristics at all? Personally I gave up long ago on the murderous lil buggers .... I may try the dark Blue Caribbean type instead

Chromis insolata is a great little fish. I quarantined a group of 8 and kept for several months for a friend and they were wonderfully peaceful.
 
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Haydn

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I can get behind this, mostly. But they are still true damselfish and appear to be living in groups in the wild in the those pictures. So I would assume aside from other potential behavioral differences they mostly shoal the same. I think many cases of groups of these failing in captivity is not enough space, even very large systems see this fail, not enough branching corals or rocks, not enough feedings, and disease. Many times I've seen someone saying their Chromis are killing each other and showing a picture of a fish with tell tale red patches of uronema thinking it is a wound. I believe they can be kept in groups, and I'm sure we do see different species frequently so perhaps there is different behavior between them and that is why there is such a mixed bag of results. I don't think that's a study anyone will be able to take on to prove any time soon though.
Forgive me but some of your assumptions may be somewhat sweeping- we are talking about 6 species of fish over 2 distinct families. Fish have, for example, different behaviours at different point in their lives- I kept Chromis nitida they shoaled until the grew to approx. 2.5" then they split and murdered each other! There is observational evidence that Altrichthys alelia may show some parental protection of their fry like freshwater cichlids again the shoaling may be juveniles before they form pairs and hold a territory.
Unless we can positively identify species we need to be aware we may be getting potential problem fish.
 
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Haydn

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Have you documented and/or observed any distinguishing characteristics at all? Personally I gave up long ago on the murderous lil buggers .... I may try the dark Blue Caribbean type instead
I will be honest a say I have no idea how to positively ID any of them except maybe adult C. atripectoralis with the spot and maybe A. azurelinatus because it appears to have a black top to the dorsel fin.
 

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What is the minimum tank size for these guys? Do they have specific numbers the recommend to be kept in groups?
 

X-37B

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120 gal display.
I have 6 blue/green chromis as the lfs called them. One is a runt lol.
They were semi aggressive towards each other doing the mouth thing and chasing each other for 6 months but nothing bad.
Now with my convict tang, who is the tank boss, they are pretty calm but getting big.
20200410_155140.jpg
20200410_155451.jpg
 

AcroNem

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Forgive me but some of your assumptions may be somewhat sweeping- we are talking about 6 species of fish over 2 distinct families. Fish have, for example, different behaviours at different point in their lives- I kept Chromis nitida they shoaled until the grew to approx. 2.5" then they split and murdered each other! There is observational evidence that Altrichthys alelia may show some parental protection of their fry like freshwater cichlids again the shoaling may be juveniles before they form pairs and hold a territory.
Unless we can positively identify species we need to be aware we may be getting potential problem fish.

I will be honest a say I have no idea how to positively ID any of them except maybe adult C. atripectoralis with the spot and maybe A. azurelinatus because it appears to have a black top to the dorsel fin.

I was mostly agreeing with you, but just added more opinions as there is only anecdotal evidence. Including what you are saying, mind you, as there is not really anything to provide evidence to either claim in closed systems. As you said not even you can positively ID them and have only provided one personal case with one species. That's not a lot to go by so I was simply adding more ideas and stating that actually proving any ideas would be quite the project. We'll get a giant set of conflicting responses in this thread so it is more than likely a whole host of factors as well as behaviors of different species.
 

TheShrimpNibbler

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I looked really closely, and noticed a few details which might be helpful in differentiation.
A. Alelia, A. Azurelineatus, and A. Curatus can be distinguished from the first three chromis by their body shape. They are almost flat on top, and then have a sharp angle down to the tail. On the other hand, A. Viridis, A. Atripectoralis, and C. Caerulea have a gradual slope down the back to the tail.
If you are wanting chromis, then either C. Viridis, C. Atripectoralis, or C. Caerulea are your options. C. Atripectoralis can be distinguished from the other two by its black spot, assuming that it is far enough along in development to have one. If it does not have the spot, you could then assume it is either C. Viridis or C. Caerulea. Determining which one of these it is would be much harder, and I don’t notice any major differences there. Their anal fins look slightly different, but this may not always be the case.
I am not positive that this will work every time, but it does for the fish in the pictures.
 

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I'm going to venture a guess that the difference between any of these will be in the number of rays in fins or some other morphological difference that is not readily evident. I think it would be neat to have as many people with "green chromis" both singles and groups post a pic of their fish broadside in the same thread with their tank and stocking specifics and overall experience.
 
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Haydn

Haydn

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I looked really closely, and noticed a few details which might be helpful in differentiation.
A. Alelia, A. Azurelineatus, and A. Curatus can be distinguished from the first three chromis by their body shape. They are almost flat on top, and then have a sharp angle down to the tail. On the other hand, A. Viridis, A. Atripectoralis, and C. Caerulea have a gradual slope down the back to the tail.
If you are wanting chromis, then either C. Viridis, C. Atripectoralis, or C. Caerulea are your options. C. Atripectoralis can be distinguished from the other two by its black spot, assuming that it is far enough along in development to have one. If it does not have the spot, you could then assume it is either C. Viridis or C. Caerulea. Determining which one of these it is would be much harder, and I don’t notice any major differences there. Their anal fins look slightly different, but this may not always be the case.
I am not positive that this will work every time, but it does for the fish in the pictures.
Yep but what if you are presented with 25-50 1" fish in a LFS tank, would you still be confident? Even worse in the US you buy more fish on-line would you be confident in the seller positively ID'ing the species.
 

Aclman88

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Sorry which guys there are 6 species in the first post.

D'oh. I missed the whole point of the original post which is explaining why it is hard to answer such a question. I realize now my question is much too vague. Sorry!
 
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Haydn

Haydn

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I was mostly agreeing with you, but just added more opinions as there is only anecdotal evidence. Including what you are saying, mind you, as there is not really anything to provide evidence to either claim in closed systems. As you said not even you can positively ID them and have only provided one personal case with one species. That's not a lot to go by so I was simply adding more ideas and stating that actually proving any ideas would be quite the project. We'll get a giant set of conflicting responses in this thread so it is more than likely a whole host of factors as well as behaviors of different species.
I think we are agreeing with each other but I think the difference between written UK and US English putting a slightly different inclination on the posts, sorry.
 

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I’ve seriously considered having a group of Chromis as my schooling fish, but after hearing mixed reviews as well as their susceptibility to uronema I’ve decided against them. I’ve also considered Anthias but they’re short lived and require multiple feedings a day. In the end I’ve decided to just go with 5 PJ Cardinals. Not aggressive, slow, lower bioload and easy to keep.
 

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