Unexplained Chromis Death

B

brownsugar

New member
Basically was cleaning my tank today noticed one of the 4 chromis i had lying on the bottom of the tank dead. Did water tests which all tested normal nothing unusual and rest of the inhabitants were all fine , no visible signs of disease.

The chromis had what looked like puncture marks in its back tail, im thinking the culprit was a mantis which i removed , it's swimming was a bit lethargic past couple of days and was being harassed but the other 3.
But im not relying on that the key cause.

Is it normal for chromis to die so easily i know they are usually more hardier.

The tank is pretty stable no fluctuations

Should i be worried. Going to do a water change today just to be safe.

Its a 150 gallon i know the ammonia wouldnt spike but yeh i know its very broad and a number of things could cause a death.

I initially had 5 chromis this particular one i bought at a separate dealer with another which passed away a day after introduction. The other 3 from my normal fish shop are fine doing very well , can chromis be hostile towards their own species if another indivually is introduced ?

Thanks

Any help would be appreciated. Just hate loosing fish for unkown reasons.
 
I feel your pain I lost my clown today and I dont know what happened there is no sign of desease in my tank either
 
chromis are wired little creatures..they always seem to die off howerver there will be some surivers that live for a long itme
 
They have a hierarchy about themselves. Only the strong survive. The larger of the school will attack the smaller. Survival of the fittest. I started with 14 and I now have 7. I lost two to a crosshatch trigger.
 
I had the same problem with my green chromis with three unexplained deaths. I initially bought 5 and had them in quarantine. Every two weeks one would die for no apparent reason - there were no visible signs of disease. I posted on here about it after the 3rd death and had lots of responses from reefers who had had similar deaths. The consensus of opinion is that in establishing a heirarchy the smaller fish get harassed and die. Certainly in my tank it was always the smallest least dominant fish that died. Having said that I never witnessed any violent aggression - just occasional nips from the biggest fish. I'm now left with two that so far seem to be living together without any problems.
 
Seems like they always like 3 as the magic number. I finally got a good group of 8 and was able to keep them from killing each other. Not sure why, just happened. Keep adding and it will happen.
 
i had the same problem when I first started with a small group of 5.. one by one by one.. they'd disappear... now I'm down to just the one lone survivor.
 
Me too! I'm always left with just one. What's up with that? I keep trying to give him back his school, but in the end there is always just him. I suppose I could keep trying, but whats the point? I get really bummed out when I see all the green chromis die except for one lonely survivor. If anyone has any ideas or advice on how to successfully keep a school of green chromis, please let the rest of us know how to do it. It would be greatly appreciated.

Marinemom
 
Yeh , well basically anyone who has got keeping chromis figured out?

Its a shame how they are labelled as beginner fish and easier to keep especially with newly established setups alot peaceful than the damsel option.

But they are pretty challanging and more demanding that their reputation tells them to be.

Has anyone had experience with groups of 5 and above?

3 appears to be a magic number but yeh could it also be due to diet factors.

From personal expereince they seem to be scavangers and appear to eat alot usually and at a very fast rate .

Do you reccmend feeding once a day or let them graise on in ?
 
We have a school in the 265 gallon tank in my office, they are all quite large now. Initially there were a few fatalities, but not on a mass scale. Their numbers were replenished, and the school seems to work quite well together now and has been fine for several months.

I've made attempts at keeping Green (and blue) Chromis in my personal tanks in the past, and the only one I ever had luck with was in my 135 gallon.

Perhaps it is a matter of them being more likely to do well as a community in a larger tank? I've never been able to explain it, and have never seen any research or facts to back up any theories.

I would love to know if any sort of study has been done on these fish in captivity as far as establishing a pecking order and the like. I would be very interested in reading it.
 
Yeh its pretty weird i dont really pay attention to the chromis guess i got caught up with the colourful clowns butterflys and angels but yeh today just looking at em in a group.

Out of the 3 the middle sized one appeared to be an enforcer went after the smaller one , but at other times the biggest one and the smallest one ganged up on the middle sized one.

Appear to be moody fish aswell. At the first sign of a disturbance the bigger one would rush behind rocks and quickly followed. However if the smallest fish got freaked it didnt start off a chain reaction.

There seems to be a heirarchy indeed more need to be found out but where to look but reef central.

I suppose there are many other significant studies to be undertanken than the hierarchy of chromis but still would be reading of interest.

Im sure there is stuff out there but yeh when ya kinda sense emotional domestics between em ya just hate to think there is another fatality on the way.

But yeh i guess this whole episode has got me paying more attention to their behaviour.
 
I've tried chromis a few times and always just one is left. This is classified as a beginner fish. I think they(whomever they are) need to re-classify this fish and not recommend this species of fish for beginners. From my own experience with them and from what I've been reading here on this forum, these fish need to be studied in depth along with thier habits, likes and dislikes, and so on before people beginning in this hobby buy this fish only to experience dismal and disheartnig failure with the chromis fish. I think I'm done with green chromis for now until someone can figure this out.

Marinemom
 
I hate to read all this, as I , a beginner, have started out with 3 green chromis for the first fish in my tank (100 gl) They are still in qt. which is a 10gl and they definitely have a pecking order. Only my middle sized chromis is most aggressive. From what I have read, they are not to be as aggressive when kept in odd #s(3,5,etc.) Hope no fatalities here! They are awesome fish to watch as mine always change colors (blue, green, violet) Good luck to all chromis owneres. Jolene
 
They Died Unexpectantly!!!

Hello! Terribly sorry to bother anyone but I'm in a bit of a jiffy right now, this morning I noticed my singular Blue-Green Chromie, Toothpaste, was missing and he hasn't shown up since Friday afternoon so I looked around in the tank and not only did I find him dead but my poor male cleaner shrimp, Oscar, too!

I have no clue what caused them to die, I have a picture and video of Toothpaste the last time I saw him alive and he was doing perfectly fine along with my shrimp. My salinty and everything checks out, my water levels ok and so is my other cleaner shrimp! Today I found Toothpaste and Oscar together, poor Toothy was gray and starting to decay from being dead and Oscar obviously found him but also died. Someone ate Oscars limbs too but not the rest of him or Toothpaste at all.

The remaining organisms I have in my tank are a pair of clownfish, 4 years old, and my now widowed female cleaner shrimp, age N/A, along with some mushroom coral and a live rock. If anyone knows why Toothpaste and Oscar died it'd be very much appreciated, thank you!
 
Well, chromis pick each other off until one is left.

As for the other two, Mudandskids, without your parameters I can't help you. It is alarming. Check your salinity, your alkalinity, and those might tell you something. Good basic readings for those are in my sig line. If you are buying tests, Salifert will give you numbers, not color-match, for more things.
 
I had 2 for a yr. exact same size tho & they got along ok no issue at all. I must have gotten lucky but in the end I got rid of them to make room for 2 clowns. Talk about hard to catch, sheesh! That was my grief................
 
I've had thirteen for over a year now. No deaths yet...
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