Blue/Green Chromis Poor Survival Rates?

[nanoguy]

Over the past 6 or so years of being in the hobby I've probably purchased in total about 90 blue/green chromis. They all averaged about 1.2-1.5" in length and were purchased at different LFS's. I had about 20 or so in my 140 gallon at any given time. Out of the 90 or so that I owned only one ever lived past 2 months.......3 years to be exact. The rest of them all start dying off within 2 months. I started calling them "Rent-A-Fish" because of their poor survival rate. I was wondering if anyone experienced similar issues with these little guys? I'm beginning to think that the blue/green chromis sold locally here in the Bay Area are all cyanide caught.

[risika67]

Have you checked your tank water lately?

[MarkD40]

I have a 10 year old established tank with a few fish that are 8 years old. I rarely have a fish die and if I do it is after I have had them along time. I bought three chromis a few moths ago and they did fine for about two months and then 2 died the same week. All the other fish and corals were fine and water parameters rock solid. The remaining Chromis is fat and healthy and doing fine. Go figure. So yes I have experienced the same thing. Great little fish by the way.

[Aquatic Noggin]

I heard the same thing about cyanide used in catching them in the wild (because they are so fast??). I have not had great success with the small ones either.

[nanoguy]

Originally posted by risika67
Have you checked your tank water lately?

My tank water was fine. I was running a full SPS reef system and did water changes every 2 weeks. Everything else in my tank (fish and corals) thrived except for the blue/green chromis.

[badhand2222]

i used five to cycle my tank, out of the five only two have lived for the last 6 months.

[AquaReeferMan]

Wow, after the first 20 went up missing why didnt you stop buying them? Thats just stupid if you ask me. Ive had the same group of 6 in my 125g for almost a year now. I guess I just got lucky.

[checkinhawk]

i have a group of 4 in my 150 and have had them in my previous 90g so they have been with me for at least 6 months.i think the key to keeping a school of cromis is to feed them enough to keep the aggression levels for food lower.however of my 4 cromis,one is the runt and gets picked on but he is still alive and kicking.

[jeffreyr]

I have 5 that I have had for over a year without any issues.

[Gdevine]

I purchased three about 3 months ago. One was killed by the other two overnight. This is pretty common behavior with these fish. They fight very hard to determine dominance and others will be killed during this process until there are two left ... in smaller tanks. In bigger tanks more seem to survive with space.

The two I have now are healthy, eat like pigs and get along with everyone in the tank.

[Ritten]

I have had absolutely no luck with them over the years. When the group gets down to one, the lone fish always got picked on by my clowns. I gave up.

[Ritten]

I have had absolutely no luck with them over the years. When the group gets down to one, the lone fish always got picked on by my clowns. I gave up.

[tony13]

I have 6 in my tank now for at least 6-7 months. They school nicely and hang out with a group of 6 Anthias. My theory is that they need to be kept inline, if there are other fish in the tank to harass them they don't pick on each other cause they're to busy trying not to get their butts kicked. I have a Flame angel and a few tangs that chase them around. It's a thought, don't know if it's true but it's working.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I would wager that it's a matter of the dominant fish(es) killing off the less dominant ones. I read through a similar thread on my local forum, and that was the case. I'm not sure what the key is to having them school successfully.

Having said that, I've had two in my 55G for over a year now. They chase each other around once in a while (and do that lip-to-lip aggressive posturing piece), but for the most part, all is good and well.

[litllespot]

I have found them to be a weak fish as well. I dont usually lose fish but out of 5 chromis 2 have survived, ive had friends have the same problems as well

[arbee]

I bought ten chromis and now have seven. They were tiny when I got them in Jan of this year. After an outbreak of ich (brought in on a blue powder tang), they went into a freshwater dip before QT with cuprimine. Three didn't make it through the fw dip.

The seven that I've had since Jan are doing fine. I feed well every day and they are all different sizes. They do get picked on by my Yellow Tang, so they may figure they are better in larger numbers to defend themselves from her--so they haven't picked each other off--yet
Iv'e heard it's best to have odd numbers...not sure why.

[Sangogo]

I've also had two in my tank for over a year, but I am probably a bad example since chromis are local fish. Mine are wimpy plain fish that get chased around a bit by other fish in the tank.

I would ask you whether it's the store you are buying it from, but it seems like you go to many LFS. The problem seems common though. With the way some reefers outside of Asia talk, you would swear that chromis are ammonia bombs (dead sooner than you can notice). In Japan, they have a very docile image, so I can't imagine them tearing each other to pieces.

Personally, I think many reefers have types of fish that just don't work out for them. Until I switched stores and to a dometically bred type, my bad luck fish was fake percula clowns.

[JackCastle]

O.K. this thread peaked my interest when the "cyanide to catch them" thing got said. That would be wrong, lol. So here's the count:

Fish bought / still alive

90 / 1
3 / 1
5 / 2
6 / all
4 / all
5 / all
3 / 2
6 / all
2 / all
5 / 2
10 / 7 (ich took 3)
2 / all
my 6 / all (only been 1w)


So 90 had the worst luck and everyone who had 6 had the best. My conclusion is don't buy 90 buy 6.

[Sangogo]

Fish bought / still alive

90 / 1
3 / 1
5 / 2
6 / all
4 / all
5 / all
3 / 2
6 / all
2 / all
5 / 2
10 / 7 (ich took 3)
2 / 0
my 6 / all (only been 1w)

[/B]

If you're going in order of posts, I'm 2/all, not 2/0. Both of mine are still alive. I just don't think I'm a good example, since I could drive to the south sea of here and net my own chromis if I wanted, so they're going to be hardier here.

[JackCastle]

noted Sangogo, and changed.. And i think that yours may be the most important. Could be the untainted (I use the term lightly, as i support local business) ones, the ones not from a lfs or supplier. Thanks

[Ritten]

Maybe we should look at the size of the tank vs. survival rates. Seems like I always see them in pictures of large tanks. Maybe because they are so distracted by all the other fish, they don't pick on each other?

[poppin_fresh]

I had 3 that coexisted for quite some time and then added 4 more from a tank I took down (thats 7 for the slow ppl in the crowd)... I am now back down to 4. I'm not sure which 4 because they refuse to give me their ID's.

So far these 4 have survived since march together.

[poppin_fresh]

Ritten,
mine are currently in my 72 with 2 ocellaris, 1 med yellow tang, 1 tiny Hippo and a Sixline.

[Sangogo]

Originally posted by Ritten
Maybe we should look at the size of the tank vs. survival rates. Seems like I always see them in pictures of large tanks. Maybe because they are so distracted by all the other fish, they don't pick on each other?

From what I've seen locally, this isn't too much of a factor. My tank is probably smaller than the average tank here on RC (only about 55 gallons), but is considered on the rather large side here in Japan. Chromis (we call them "debasuzumedai" here) are recommended for all sizes of tanks here, most of which are only going to be about 20 gallons.

[acrylic_300]

300 gallon tank 7 chromis purchased 2 alive. The good news is that I have lost more chromis than any other fish and for 5 bucks apiece thats not bad.