School of damsels

[Oxymoron]

If wanting to have 3 damsels to hopefully school in a tank.... would you need to have all 3 of the same species or could you have 3 different?

[Matthew N]

To 'school' I would think they would have to be of the same species, and personally if I was setting up a school of fish I prefer at least 5....

I think you would want to go with Chromes, which are a type of damsel fish, but I would not put them in a tank less then 36” long

[parkinsn]

Just a side note. Most "schooling" fish "school" for saftey in numbers, so if there is no predators in your tank or they dont feel threatened by anything they may not "school" like you want them to

[Whatigot]

My 5 Chalk Bass school.
Not all the time, but frequently and they are only in my 72 with 3 grammas and 2 clown gobies.

No predation there at all.

Matt, did you mean Chromis?

[justinl]

damsels are solitary and will probably tolerate or just kill each other. Chromis would "work" but they almost always end up picking each other off. CHalk basslets or cardinals would be good choices. as mentioned, something to freak them out is usually necessary; nothing that will actually eat them, but something that is considered "scary."

[Drock169]

Everything justin said and add scissortail gobies.

[Matthew N]

Originally Posted by Whatigot

Matt, did you mean Chromis?

Yeah spelling for the win!

I do think that chromis would be ok if you kept them in a big enough group. The mistake I have found a lot of people make (me inculded) with schooling fish is that the groups are too small. Also I have noticed if the tank is small no matter how many fish you have in a group the still wont school.....