Green Chromis Death

BriGuyRN

New member
I have a question regarding the Green Chromis. After my tank cycled I put three Green Chromis into my tank. I also have three clowns. Last night I came home to find one of my chromis barely clinging to life. He then went to the bottom of the tank and laid down on the rocks . I took it out and inspected it, and most of his scales were gone from one side of his body. A neighbor who is an ex-saltwater hobbiest came over and agreed with me that he had been being picked on by one of the other fish. We watched the tank for a bit and noticed that one of the other green chromis was being a bully to the other chromis. It isnt bothering the clowns at all, just the other chromis. Is this going to be an issue when I add more fish to my tank, should I get rid of the chromis? I tried catching him last night but that was very unsuccessful (he is fast!). Any advice is appreciated.
 
Chromis are known to do that with each other. You can read a lot of hobbyist saying they are down to one Chromis. It shouldn't be a problem adding more fish, I wouldn't add anymore Chromis.
 
Chromis have a reputation of becoming or being bullies. A lot of folks don't realize it.
I avoid them and damsels.
 
I have always had chromis pick each other off, one at a time. You'll wake up one morning and you'll just have one less chromis. Usually no sign of the body, just one less fish. Some people say there's a magic number that when kept in a group of not too many or not too few, they will all live together peacefully. Knock on wood, I have been lucky with 4. I had 5, and two of them were being badly picked on because they were added later than the first 3. One of the 2 was a darker color and I put it in the sump. The other one was picked on, but not too badly and usually kept to itself in a safe area of the tank. Then after a month or so, the other 3 finally accepted the fourth and now they all 4 school together, although there are obvious leaders, which are the two larger ones, who keep the others in line. As for the 5th one, I've kept it in the sump because I fear it would be killed by the other ones. It seems happy by itself and its not worth it to me to find out otherwise.
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I was under the impression the blue green chromis were passive fish and wouldn't bother anyone. I was planning on getting 5 after my current batch of fish are done in quarantine.

Do you think getting all 5 from the same tank at my LFS would help elevate the bullying? They would then be in a 10-gal QT for a month before going into my DT.
 
So do you think that they are bothering my clowns? I created some caves and such with my rocks and my clowns rarely come out! Could that be due to the chromis or is that normal clown behavior
 
I was under the impression the blue green chromis were passive fish and wouldn't bother anyone. I was planning on getting 5 after my current batch of fish are done in quarantine.

Do you think getting all 5 from the same tank at my LFS would help elevate the bullying? They would then be in a 10-gal QT for a month before going into my DT.

Anthias. Prettier fish :)
 
Anthias all the way just make sure you're prepared to feed them. I wish my chromis would pick each other off. I bought 7 and now somehow have 9.
 
Please also note that three clowns in one tank is certain to end badly. The best you can hope for is that two of them will bond and kill off the other one, but there is no guarantee that two of them will bond in which case only one will survive long term.
 
males will pick off the other males and leave the females alone, they are making their own harem for breeding. I started with 6, ended up with 2. i now have 4, working up towards 10
 
I thought that with clowns, the females were larger and more dominate. Then when the female dies, one of the larger males will change sex and become the dominate female. Am I wrong about this?
 
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