Blue/green chromis. Dying off.

[Charley Diesing]

Well I had 6 chromis 4 days ago(in my qt/10 gallon) 1 died last night. Tonight I come home and 2 are dying(barely breathing on the bottom of my Qt tank. I checked ammonia none are present. No signs of Ich, and no signs of them beating up on eachother. They are all small about 3/4s of an inch.

Thanks,

Joseph.

 

[EllieSuz]

Oxygen deprivation? Make sure there is enough water movement at the surface of the water to provide oxygen exchange.

 

[xfactor1315]

Pobably killing each other off and hiding the evidence. or just killing each other, seems they eventually do that in my experience.

 

[Wolverine]

Pobably killing each other off and hiding the evidence. or just killing each other, seems they eventually do that in my experience.

That would be my bet too. If they don't do it here, they'll probably finish the job in the DT.

 

[flfireman1]

Pobably killing each other off and hiding the evidence. or just killing each other, seems they eventually do that in my experience.

Dont agree with the whole eventually kill each other off theory. I originally purchased 10 for my display and one by one they started dying off. I was left with 2 and bought 5 more. The only difference was this time I ended up buying cyclopeze and started feeding that twice a day. Along with mysis and other frozen foods I increased my feedings from two a day to four a day. Since doing this and feeding the cyclopeze I havent lost a single chromis. All are healthy and thriving and have been together for over a year now.

Much like anthias, in my experience, the chromis require smaller more frequent feedings. Especially small protein rich foods like cyclopeze.

 

[Reefnub]

Dont agree with the whole eventually kill each other off theory. I originally purchased 10 for my display and one by one they started dying off. I was left with 2 and bought 5 more. The only difference was this time I ended up buying cyclopeze and started feeding that twice a day. Along with mysis and other frozen foods I increased my feedings from two a day to four a day. Since doing this and feeding the cyclopeze I havent lost a single chromis. All are healthy and thriving and have been together for over a year now.

Much like anthias, in my experience, the chromis require smaller more frequent feedings. Especially small protein rich foods like cyclopeze.

Yeah, I don't agree with that theory either. I have 4 for about 2 years and still going. IMO, flow and amount of feeding helps with aggression if there is any.

 

[Wolverine]

Much like anthias, in my experience, the chromis require smaller more frequent feedings. Especially small protein rich foods like cyclopeze.

I agree with this. However, that doesn't negate the 100s of tanks I've seen where they've wiped each other out. That includes many tanks with enough feedings to keep populations of anthias alive just fine, so it's not a feeding problem.

 

[64Ivy]

I've heard the more common Chomis viridis has been coming in with a pretty high mortality rate lately in addition to its occasional propensity to knock each other off. I've found that the Black Axil Chromis (Chromis atripectoralis), a very close look-a-like, almost always comes in healthy however. They are also peaceful with each other as well as with other tankmates, school fairly well, and are very good eaters.

You can compare the two right here:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15+1634

 

[haitwun]

In my experience, chromis die like flies for no reason. Your water can be perfect and they exhibit no signs of disease or aggression. They die anyway. A lot of it can be the shock of being in a captive environment. A lot of it can be damage during the shipping process. Tropical Fish Hobbyist did an article about this:

http://www.tfhmagazine.com/saltwate...nners-and-5-species-to-avoid-full-article.htm