Need help with Chromises

[Aslamali6]

My green chromises keep dying. I have 5 other fish in a rsm 130 and the rest are doing fine. The only fish that bullies them is a black and gold damsel. I usually have a small group who stick together but they recently started to die off, any suggestions?

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[ZANYMASTER]

After a while,they will pick on each other.They can be nasty to each other.Get rid of the damsel fish too.

 

[JonnyJ]

probably would help if you supplied us with a little more information about your setup and water parameters.

 

[Dre]

I've kept blue green chromis in schools of 15 -30 for many years.My biggest problem is travel time from the LFS to my place.I think the reason is because they most have just arrived at the LFS and still stressed.Some LFS have higher prices in turn keep Chromis etc. longer, so i started to buy those .Never had a problem after that.
1. Keep water clean and well oxygenated keep the water moving at the surface.
2. Feed several times a day in small amounts at first then you can feed 2 times a day.
I have these for more than three years.

 

[Dre]

This is when i had them in a 90 gal.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

this happens a great deal with chromis. they tend to pick each other off. as i've heard many times, one of the most important things to have is plenty of swimming space and a pretty big group.

 

[Marcellina]

Do they pick each other off only in large groups such as the ones described above? Or even if they are just paired up? I didnt think that schooling fish would turn on each other.

 

[KathyC]

Do they pick each other off only in large groups such as the ones described above? Or even if they are just paired up? I didnt think that schooling fish would turn on each other.

They tend to pick each other off in whatever numbers until there is only 1 left. Extremely common with Chromis unfortunately.

Even schooling fish have a pecking order. It is usually the weakest or most timid that gets picked off first.

 

[Marcellina]

Thats really interesting to know Kathy. Would that apply even to a male/female pair? Is it bc they belong to the damsel family or would even a shoal of peaceful anthias begin to turn on each other?

On a side not: The chromis are not the smartest of fish are they? I personally think they are very pretty but everytime I put my trusty turkey baster in the tank I end up almost sucking one up, all the other fish stay a little distance away. lol

 

[Wes]

I think alot of it has to do with the poor condition these fish are in when they arrive from the wholesaler.

They are very cheap so I suspect not much care is given to them during their journey. I bought 10 of them and 7 died in quarantine within a few weeks. I observed no aggression amongst the group during that time.

I spoke to the LFS about it. They have Extremely high mortality rates compared to other fish they get. Alot of them come in w/ ammonia burns, etc. Money talks and since these are so cheap we don't hear about it much.

They are lumped into the damsel/cheap fish category by wholesalers. damsels would survive nuclear holocaust. Chromis aren't so tough.


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[albano]

everytime I put my trusty turkey baster in the tank I end up almost sucking one up

:idea: :cool3: Where can I buy a 'turkey baster' that will suck up a fish!...sounds more like a 'slurp-gun'!



.

 

[Marcellina]

One LFS refuses to carry them by me bc he said they would all die within a week of getting them, I asked why and he said that they are just not quality fish. He has tried different wholesalers witht he same result and just thinks they dont ship well. I guess that ties in with the high mortality rate you are talking about Wes.

I finally found them at another LFS who told me to always ge the med ones not the small ones bc they have a higher rate of survival. I got two one a little bigger than the other and one brighter than the other (hoping it was a male female pair that would stick together)

I cant believe that after all this that they go through before getting into someone's tank that they would go and kill each other off after they are finally in a safer environment. Is it just the green/blue chromis or all chromis in general? I have seen a deeper blue and a yellow and a bicolor (blue and yellow) These other ones are much more expensive than the green.

The two I have love to hover at the top of the tank where I have the koralia moving the water more. So maybe what DRE says about keeping the surface moving is on the money.

 

[Marcellina]

:idea: :cool3: Where can I buy a 'turkey baster' that will suck up a fish!...sounds more like a 'slurp-gun'!

.

It doesnt completely suck it up LOL :lol2:

After I squirt the food around the tank to feed the fish and corals if I let go of the pump part the chromis run to the spout and get semi sucked towards the baster. I have to wiggle the baster or just pump once to push them away. Hmmm maybe they are just daredevils and like to do this for a 'thrill'

 

[Aslamali6]

Well, all the chromises are dead now. So here are the details of my tank:

Have excellent water flow (use a vortech MP10)
My Alk is on the lower side, around 7 dKH
I have the following fishes in the tank:
black and gold damsel (pretty aggressive)
banggai cardinal
catalina goby
blue orange pipefish
six line wrasse
2 peppermint shrimp
1 pom pom crab


noticed that just before the chromises died, they are hanging vertically..breathing quite frantically in opposite corners of the tank. They died a few hours later.

 

[Marcellina]

Oh no! Im so so sorry for your loss.

Swimming vertically means something about water conditions is bothering them, someone correct me if I am wrong.

what temp is the tank?
salinity, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH and ammonia?

I hope we are able to get to t he bottom of this

 

[Aslamali6]

The salinity was around 1.025. The other parameters I havent checked yet. I am pretty new to the hobby and have had my tank up for about 5 months now. All the other fish seem to be doing just fine so I am assuming that the water parameters are acceptable (maybe I am being naive?). I was told by many LFS owners that chromises are very hardy and easy to care for fish so thats why I got them. I have a 34g so the ones I had were very tiny, maybe less than 1". I do need to remove the black and gold damsel since it seems to like bullying the fish (when there were 3 chromises the damsel backed off).

 

[Marcellina]

damsels in general are agressive fish and are territorial so its a good idea to remove that one.

I wanted to get the small chromis as well but the LFS owner warned me against it saying that being so young they had a higher chance of dying. I listened to him and got the medium size and they are in my tank for about a month with peaceful inhabitants and are doing good, very active. If they can survive in your tank at this point I was told (at a LFS) that they would be pretty hardy. Maybe try a few medium sized ones? No more than 3 I would say.

I would still check the parameters of the tank. The salinity is good. What about the temperature? The other fish seem ok now but you never know if the chromis might be the first of other casualties.

 

[Aslamali6]

I usually keep the temp between 75-78. I also have had a red slime breakout recently. Getting medium sized chromises are a good idea and I may try that. My reason for getting them small was purely aesthetic since my tank is only 34g. I think I may try keeping them again once I remove the bully damsel. The trick is trying to catch him, every time he sees the net he dives into the rockwork.

 

[Marcellina]

Try letting the net sit in the tank for awhile and let them get used to it.

Then feed the tank and when he comes out in the open try to catch him. Easier said than done but worth a shot. lol

 

[motortrendz]

your paramiters will tell all....u need to get those readings.. if not for us but so that you know what your operating at..