what fish to get???

[EllisColes]

i have a 90 gallon bowfront tank and ive had it about two years...everything is doing fine..currently i have 2 b&w clowns and a mandarin goby and a little blenny and a few random snails and crabs and im at a lost of what other fish i wanna get...any suggestions would be appreciated...

thanks, Ellis

 

[TripleT]

What kind of blenny do you have now?

 

[EllisColes]

just a little yellow and purple one< sorry i forgot the name

 

[jubjub]

kinda depends on what you like....imo flame angels are great fish, very bright red with black stripes....

do you like tangs? get a small yellow or kole yellow eye....

maybe a group of chromis (fair warning expect some die off when introducing them rule of thumb i'd like to say is get 40% more then you want) so a 90 i'd say get 7-9 expecting 5-6 will survive

 

[EllisColes]

a school of blue chromis sounds perfect actually thanks alot, but my only concern is they will fight off each other...is that true or just a common myth? ive heard it both ways many many times but have never personally experienced a school of chromis so any input will be gladly accepted...thanks

 

[bymers42]

I had a school of about 5 chromis in the past. When they got bigger they bullied my yellow tang so much that I had to take him out of the tank to keep him from dying. That is just my experience though, I have heard of plenty of people keeping them with little problems.

 

[TripleT]

a school of blue chromis sounds perfect actually thanks alot, but my only concern is they will fight off each other...is that true or just a common myth? ive heard it both ways many many times but have never personally experienced a school of chromis so any input will be gladly accepted...thanks

They pick on each other to establish a pecking order.

If you introduce more than 5 at once, the bickering is divided amongst them, which lessens the effect on any one individual.

I have 6 (purchased about 6 months ago) and they get along most of the time, with occasional minor chasing of each other.

 

[EllisColes]

you said you have 6 chromis so that means they are still all alive i take it? i just added 5 but i might go back manana and get 2 more just so the pecking is more divided

 

[Loganeri]

Hawaiian flame wrasse but you have to get a cover for your tank

 

[TripleT]

you said you have 6 chromis so that means they are still all alive i take it? i just added 5 but i might go back manana and get 2 more just so the pecking is more divided

Yep... all alive.

5, or 7, probably won't make much difference. So I wouldn't sweat it.

How are these 5 doing? Any signs of stress or bullying?

Did these fish go straight into your tank? Or are they in a QT?

Do you have a QT? Since you're looking to stock your tank, it will be an important part of the process.

I'm assuming your mandarin and you have a feeding routine that works. What is it? You'll want to keep an eye on any difficulties he might have in getting food as you start adding more tankmates.

 

[EllisColes]

i slowly acclimated the 5 then i put them straight into the display, i know a qt tank is a good idea but ive had my tank for almost 2 years now and actually have never used a qt tank, and as for feeding the mandarin ive been watching him closely he actually like bbs i put the frozen piece in a small cup and stir it around till everything is lose and then i put the cup in front of a powerhead to throw it all around the tank and the mandarin picks at the pieces that move around the bottom, he seems to be doing fine he has completely borrowed a whole bottom portion of the tank im guessing he is calling that home and looks compfortable

 

[EllisColes]

oh yeah and the mandarin is sharring his borrowed palace below the rocks with my tiny shrimp goby they seem like real pals haha

 

[EllisColes]

WOWWW i added the 5 blue chromis yesterday afternoon at around 3pm and woke up this morning to two dead and the other 3 are definately still fighting so im probably gonna lose more, im glad they are only 5$ a piece but still it sucks to have already lost 2!!!!

 

[TripleT]

WOWWW i added the 5 blue chromis yesterday afternoon at around 3pm and woke up this morning to two dead and the other 3 are definately still fighting so im probably gonna lose more, im glad they are only 5$ a piece but still it sucks to have already lost 2!!!!

Very sorry to hear it. That is not typical for healthy fish, despite their tendency to bicker.

What are your water parameters? What was the acclimation routine yesterday?

How do the tanks and fish look at the LFS? How did the chromis look in the store? Any signs of stress, like heavy breathing?

I believe it is more likely that these fish were overly stressed, and the displays of aggression were/are worse because of it.

The top suspects would be initial capture and transport, acclimation or water quality at the LFS, or more of the same when brought them yesterday.

Once a fish starts showing signs of stress, the others will go after it.

Make sure the remaining fish are well fed, check all of your water parameters, and make sure they have ample hiding places.

I hope you have better luck moving forward.