blue green chromis courtship?

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

Has anyone had any sucess in chromis breeding in their aquariums? Two of my six chromis might possibly breed. They have been rubbing up against each other, they haven't been hanging around rest of the chromis in the tank. They keep going behind the live rock.
I have one large chromis and one that is second to the largest of the six and they are the ones being all friendly. I am going to give them a letter for a name so it will be less confusing. The biggest of the six chromis will be called L. and the second is SB. (SB. chromis) is changing colors I think..well it keeps getting these light spots all over it when it gets close to L.chromis. At first my husband thought it was ick on SB. Chromis but then I noticed the spots went away when ever SB. Chromis would swim away from L. Chromis. Do you think SB. Chromis is a male? Or is L. Chromis the male because its the biggest? Please let me know if you know anything ..Thanks.

 

[Lrood]

One of my "pairs" act like that too, lots of display and dancing, usually towards the evening. I have only seen sporadic info on the web, but apparently chromis have been successfully reared. From what I have been able to find, their requirements oare fairly similar to clownfish (rotifers, etc, initially). I have never seen any eggs or fry in my tank, but I have not been staying up at night looking either . I am not certain if they lay eggs in a "nest" like clowns, or not. Good luck, and hopefully I'll learn something here too!

 

[Grunt]

Chromis are pegalic spawners if I'm not mistaken? or do they lay like damsels/clowns?If they are pegalic, do you have a way collect eggs? Micron filter or something? I have no experience with breeding pegalic fish, so this could be informational for me as well.
Cheers

 

[billsreef]

Chromis are a damsel, and like the rest of that family they are dermesal spawners. Also it is typical of damsels that the female is larger than the male.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

yeah I guess that makes more sense and also I did a little research and found out that the one that keeps getting light colored spots all over it is indeed the male. He haven't done any nest building but I guess he just finds the large female to be a cutie..lol..Once he starts doing some nest building I'll definatly tell ya guys about it. Thanks for the feedback though.

 

[klondar]

I beleive with chromis, the larger is the male, or at least that is what has come up in other threads. I have a pair of Black Lyre tail (wish I could get the species name/id on them) that are now regular spawners. They remain seperate except durring the spawn, then the smaller one (female) is chased back to her side of the tank while the male (larger) tends the nest.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

ok now I'm confused again..lol I looked at a few websites where they say that the largest is the male and now you say the largest is the female? What kind of chromis do you have? The only chromis I can find in my books, is the blackbar chromis and the black axil green chromis. I believe you are right and then I'm not sure because of what I read from those websites. I'll just keep a look out for which chromis starts building a nest in the sand or coral rubble.
Here is a few of the websites I have found.
http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/Gramma-Loreto-and-Chromis-Viridis.htm

Chromis-Viridis.htm
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=5679

http://www.edge-of-reef.com/pomacentridi/PMCChromisatripectoralisen.htm

 

[billsreef]

That first link of yours states the male is smaller and the female larger BTW, the author of that one is quite knowledgeable and usually right on the money.

 

[billsreef]

Almost forgot, I fixed your link

 

[Warnberg]

My Blue/Green Chromis spawn about every two weeks, they usually spawn all over the rock or back wall of the tank. I have never attempted to collect the eggs and rear the fry. You can definitely tell when a spawning event will occur, the two chase each other around the tank and then the seem to follow each other to a spawning site, which can be anywhere really. Mine have spawned on the rock, a patch of red turf algae, the back of the tank, just about anywhere they decide is a good place. The eggs are not clustered close together like clowns but spread over a small area. The eggs are very very small and white almost clear.

This is what I have observed thus far, I do have some pictures of the eggs somewhere. I'll try to find them and post if you are interested.

 

[Warnberg]

Sorry about the quality but here is the only photo I could find

 

[Grunt]

Well thanks for clearing that up for me Bill. Now I know.
Cheers

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

Thanks Warnberg..cool picture..hmm I wonder if they already layed their eggs. I think its behind the rock where I can't see it because its on the back of the tank. The only way I could possibly look at that rock is to lift the rock out of its spot. Doing that would mess up my cave and that is so not going to happen. The largest chromis keeps going to the same spot on a rock and chasing other chromis away. If they did it once I'm sure they'll do it again. So Warnberg, which one is the male? The largest or is it smaller?

 

[clownfish75]

I would suspect that size is not a great indicator for this species, and perhaps ther eis to much guessing going on.

PIctures i have seen in Reproduction in Reef Fishes by Thresher, show males to 'court' females as they pass, and the males frequently change colour, or have temporary sexual demorphism.

I also once abserved a school of 500-1000 at the local public aquarium for a good 20-30 minutes.

It appeared to be a school hanging over a certian point (tiles for coral experiments) at the lower levels where different coloured individuals who appeared to be defending small territories and semi displayign to others in the main school.

Christian

 

[Warnberg]

I have no idea which is which, I could never tell who was depositing eggs and who was fertilizing. But they do defend the area after they lay, not like clowns do but they will attempt to chase others off.