Green chromis

Care at a glance

The green chromis is one of the few marine fish you can genuinely keep as a group, and it produces exactly the image many people start a reef tank for: a cloud of shimmering green-blue hanging in the current above the rock, snapping at food together.

Worth knowing: it is a damselfish, and the group tends to thin itself out. Starting with a decent number and providing plenty of rockwork with escape routes helps, but expect a shoal to become smaller and more hierarchical over time. Beyond that they are hardy, inexpensive, completely reef-safe and a fine first fish for populating a new tank.

Best not combined with

• Volitans lionfishPterois volitans

Related species

• Blue reef chromisChromis cyanea
• Flame angelfishCentropyge loricula
• Coral beauty angelfishCentropyge bispinosa
• Lawnmower blennySalarias fasciatus
• Percula clownfishAmphiprion percula
• Spotted mandarinSynchiropus picturatus