another dead chromis...?

[the Undone guy]

I've been having a problem keeping chromis alive for some reason. All my water parameters test fine (salinity:1.025 ammonia:0 nitrite:0 nitrate:~10-15ppm, calc:410-420, alk:9ish) so I have no idea what may be going on. I've also had a problem keeping new astreas alive; up until this point I just assumed it was because they were not taken care of very well at the LFS. I drip acclimate everything I buy for roughly an hour so I don't think that is it. I feed every other day and sometimes small amounts daily, and everyone is always seen to be eating.

I got my 3 chromis on 2/17/11. One was found dead on 2/27/11 being chowed on by the emerald crab, and the second was found this morning (3/5/11). He was being very shy yesterday and only coming out if I fed so I suspected something was up.

Anyone have ideas on what may be causing this? I currently have a bicolor blenny, percula clown(friendly, not aggressive towards the other fish), pygmy possum wrasse, and an orange linkia star; all of which seem to be the perfect picture of health. My colonies of zoas, 2 birdsnests, mushrooms, star polyps, and monti's are doing great as well. I also under-dose kent A/B nano nightly. Tank has been up since ~12/17/10. I run the skimmer 24/7, have a vortech MP10 for flow, and my lighting is the Sunpod 150w MH + actinic stunner strip. Thanks for reading and any help you can provide!

 

[NYCBOB]

some people just dont hv luck with chromis even with good water quality. chromis do better with daily feeding of 2-3x. chromis also has a way of killing off one another. try yellowtail damsel. they r not very aggressive when it comes damselfish, and very hardy. they also swim in group.

 

[sanchoy]

Yes, Chromis in big or small tanks will kill one another.. to the point of only a hand full. I have watched their brutal attacks.. and its more of a dive bomb in rapid succession, very brutal..

 

[Wolverine]

It's not uncommon for them to kill each other down to one remaining.

 

[lukabrasi]

iv'e got seven of them in my 90, should i consider taking them back?

 

[Mark 75g]

Everyone will tell you that you should buy about 10-15 chromis and expect to have about 2-5 remaining. Just the way it is with these fish. I started out with about 10 and I have 1 left.

 

[Wolverine]

Everyone will tell you that you should buy about 10-15 chromis and expect to have about 2-5 remaining.

I never tell people that. I tell them to expect to have 1-2 left, regardless of where you start.

 

[Wolverine]

iv'e got seven of them in my 90, should i consider taking them back?

Depends on how much you have to tear your tank apart to get to them.

 

[davocean]

Not all have bad luck w/ them, and not sure why many do have bad luck.
I've had 3 different groupings long term, longest being 6 for 6 years.

 

[jd474]

Chromis will continually pick off the weakest ones in a group, even in very large aquariums. If these were freshly shipped fish, they also tend to pick up Uronema, really frequently, which can quickly wipe out a large number of them. I would always QT these guys with a few repeated formalin baths, and feed several times/day w/frozen cyclopeeze and/or enriched artemia. Do the fish have any red bands on them? Not saying that's the problem, just that it's common with newly acclimated ones.

 

[palmer373]

ive had good and bad luck with them. in my 75 after 4 attempts of getting a group of chromis (bought 5 at a time) i ened up with 1. in my 55 though i threw in 4 chromis to add movement when it was cycled but empty and i still have the 4. i do have a 3" niger in there so i want to say he is scaring the chromis which makes the chromis not want to 'kill' each other cause they are trying to not get killed.

IMO, if you have a 'predator' in the tank with the chromis most likely the chromis will worry about not getting eaten instead of fighting with each other.

 

[Indymann99]

I have had 4 in my 120g for 1.5 yrs.

I did start with 6 in QT and only the 4 came out after 5 weeks.

vid below

 

[Wolverine]

It's good to keep in mind that chromis are in the damsel family.

 

[Killer Tangs]

I agree with all these posts. I started with 7 in a 240 and am now down to 2. They all started out schooling together for protection but once they realized nothing was going to eat them the strongest started turning on the weakest. I guess that's "nature" at work in my tank.

 

[the Undone guy]

interesting! thanks to everyone for their replies, it helps to know that I am most likely not doing anything wrong

I'll just stick with the one and hope for the best.

 

[sneakerpimp]

I feel chromis are not given enough respect. They only school when juveniles and are loners when they reach adulthood. I went through the whole schooling chromis thing and in the end I was left with a pair, while my local pet store was left with profit from selling a "school" of chromis.

They are a beautiful showpiece fish. I bought one for my 210g and it's doing great.

Looking into getting a single blue reef chromis as well.