Blue/Green Chromis Poor Survival Rates? - Page 2

ziac · #26 10/30/2007, 09:01 PM

i have 3 in a 29 gal for a year now

aaron L · #27 10/30/2007, 09:03 PM

I have had a green chromis for over two years know. I thought it was imposible to kill this fish

cd77 · #28 10/30/2007, 09:08 PM

LFS set me up with four to cycle the tank (yeah, I know...) They all made it through the cycle and after that they'd fight.. until I was down to one. Three months later it's doing just fine and is quite plump and healthy, and gets along with the clowns and the tang just fine.

Another person I know is also experiencing the same thing. She's had hers for about 3 months as well, and slowly losing them one at time - I'm guessing the top dog will prevail.

So from my (extremely limited, mind you) experience, they don't seem like the type of fish you'd want to keep in groups -- though every LFS I've been in has at least one tank full of them.

reefergeorge · #29 10/30/2007, 09:25 PM

I had three in my 90. They all did fine for three months.Then I guess my puffer got big enough to eat them. I don't no if that counts for survival rate.

alanscott · #30 10/30/2007, 09:33 PM

Bought 6 cromies one month ago, and only 3 left. I noticed the same problem. I have not lost any other fish, but the cromies just died. I did not notice anyone picking on them, so it must have happened at night.

polwick · #31 10/30/2007, 09:34 PM

I've had 3 for about 2 years now. 5 or 6 didn't make it through quarantine, but once I got them past the first month, mine have been fine. I got mine at New Alameda Aquatics--they mostly focus on online corals now, but they always seem to have healthy specimens.

JackCastle · #32 10/30/2007, 10:31 PM

yeh idk, seems like they might be clickish. i wonder if anyone has had a problem with them when they were the only fish in the tank.

Candi · #33 10/30/2007, 10:39 PM

I have 5 that I've had going on 10 months now, first in my 50g and now in my 70g. About 2 months ago the smallest was found missing a good chunk of his belly... still alive and trying to swim with the other 4 but they would chase him off... I caught him, treated with melafix for a week, and he now lives quite happily after a full recovery in my 24g aquapod. The remaining 4 seem to be doing fine although I keep an eye on them, I hope they last as I love the color & movement they add.

cbrivkalns · #34 10/30/2007, 11:51 PM

The magazine CORAL , Volume 4, Number 1 (issue dedicated to damselfishes) had a really good article about the bluegreen chromis written by Ellen Thaler. I've seen back issues at my LFS, so it's probably still available.

To summarize Professor Thalen's findings:

1) In the wild, bluegreen chromis feed continually on plankton for 9-11 hours per day, taking in food items every eight to thirteen seconds.

2) Twice-daily aquarium feedings resulted in extremely aggressive fish, while automatic, continuous feedings of small portions every 15-25 minutes reduced aggression to a minimum.

Conclusion: For best results, feed your chromis small amounts all day long (photoperiod-wise).

The OP made no mention of his feeding regimen, so... how often did/do you feed your chromis, nanoguy? (Not meant as an accusation!

)

-- cbrivkalns

Dustin1231 · #35 10/30/2007, 11:59 PM

I put three into a 12 gallon hex, and right after they hit the water i could only fing two.. I have no idea were the 3rd one went. They were going into the 120 but it was still cycling.

ahullsb · #36 10/31/2007, 12:05 AM

I have had five in my 55 for about 6 months now. No problems. They have a nice piece of sps to share though.

melev · #37 10/31/2007, 12:18 AM

I've had 9 in my reef for some time now, but I don't know how many months specifically. I'll check my Blog and see if it mentions them.

EDIT: My site mentions how having them in my tank in July was bothering my Naso tang, so I decided not to add any more. So I've had 9 of them since July, and I tend to feed twice a day. Live food (Baby Brine Shrimp) during the day time or flake if they aren't handy, and frozen every evening.

I started keeping Chromis since June of 06. I've probably purchased 20 in that time period, with 9 that continue to be happy to this day.

asherah · #38 10/31/2007, 01:05 PM

I had 3 chromis in my 40 once but they killed each other off.. unti lthere was one left with my clown. crazy fish.

tony13 · #39 10/31/2007, 05:47 PM

Recount on my numbers. I'm 6 out of 8. They disappeared very early into introduction, since then the rest have been good.

minireef30 · #40 10/31/2007, 06:13 PM

I've had problems with the green ones too. Bought 10, six months later was down to one. The last one died two days ago. They all looked healthy then went belly-up. I think they do need heavy feeding to keep them alive. The one thing that I noticed is the day before they passed they would have a sunken belly. But I would observe them eating just like regular. Oh my tank is a 120 sps reef.

samb · #41 10/31/2007, 07:01 PM

It's seems to come down to luck of the draw. I started with 5, lost one in an overnight rock slide. The other 4 are doing fine, a little mouth to mouth posturing but they school together.

Given my newbie experience, I know it's not my husbandry (I still overfeed, got to stop that).

dendro982 · #42 10/31/2007, 07:03 PM

Strange, that they are dying.
I have more than one year old blue-green chromis, that survived the tank crash, and two others for more than 5 months.

I agree, that it is not a good idea to keep chromises and clowfish in the same tank - my percula is very violent, and never gives up.
Here are photo and video of the attacking percula: link.

Gdevine · #43 10/31/2007, 10:47 PM

I did a decent amount of research on these fish. In the wild they will school in huge numbers and even though there is a hierarchy in the school they don't kill themselves off as nearly as often they do in the confines of a tank.

In a tank, of the average size for a home (say less then 100g) the will kill them selves off until one dominates and there are one maybe two left.

In bigger tanks with room more many can live but they will divide the tank and stay in their territories or hide all the time.

Funny how things change the behavior of a fish in the confines of a tank.

roblack · #44 10/31/2007, 10:59 PM

I had 5 or 6, and now have only 1 (year+).

Gdevine · #45 10/31/2007, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by roblack
I had 5 or 6, and now have only 1 (year+).

Yup, pretty much par for the course (not always) but more often then not. So why do they call these guys beginners fish?

Dyepes · #46 11/01/2007, 12:27 AM

You know cbrivkalns, I also have that volume of coral, and that is where I learned about how to keep my Chromis happy.

I am at 5/6 since July.

I noted that many people here have sps's tanks, and have pristine water quality. Perhaos that has something to do with hampering the ability for a constant production of planktonic crustaceans within the tank for the chroms to eat constantly.

My tank is a 72 gallon with soft coral, gsp, zooanthids and other soft cora type stuff. I have royal gramma, yellow watchman goby, raindfords goby, spotted mandarin goby, the 5 green chromis, some kind of locally netted juvenile molly, anda juvenile hippo tang.

the thing is, my tank is covered in hair algae. Obviously most reefers worst nightmare, but for me, I enjoy the sight of it. Reminds me of a vast grassland over an older montain range dotted with trees (finger leathers, kenya trees) and flowers (zooanthids, gsp), almost liek some kind of primeaval anchient mountanous forest.

upon closer observation, I notice an abundance of tiny life dwelling within the confines of the hair algae, to which I see my chromis, and all other fish consistently feeding off of.

In all honestly, besides throwing pellets and nori for my tang, I only feed enriched brine and mysis like three times a week and most of my fish are plump, but none anywhere near skinny looking (that sunken appearance of hunger). Noone ever shows agression or anything. That one chromis died from I dont know what.

But after reading that article, I can clearly see from my algae covered rocks that my chromis eat about as often as the article states. Perhaps that is why mine just go about their natural happenings.

Could it be that a "confined" environment does not provide the adequate envrionment, unless it is one of the "unorthodox" dirty tanks that many people would consider not an option?

I do not have nearly the income level to support any kind of stony coral tank, but am perfectly happy enjoying my softies and the forest look provided by the algae.

blakesreefbruz · #47 11/01/2007, 01:16 AM

So did you guys introduce your chromis (5 or higher) at the same time? Did they go through quarantine together? And also should you quarantine a school of chromis together?

justinpsmith · #48 11/01/2007, 01:57 AM

I had to sell my chromis off but I had bought 3 and had all three for about a year and a half or maybe almost 2. I bought some very huge ones though. Maybe already close to 4" each. My LFS had them in a 100G for months with no problems before me. They were in a FOWLR tank with lots and lots of algae growth that they picked at (like mentioned above). They really never schooled together though. Followed each other sometimes but not much.

Actually I was just looking at some sites online saying that they reach only about 3.5 to 4" in the wild even, so I think mine must have been caught as older adults already. Maybe that makes a difference?

My LFS always seems to have these huge chromis in stock. They often have a tank of like hundreds of tiny ones and then a tank of 3-6 big ones along with a few huge anthias. They actually look really cool when they are so big!

Subliminal · #49 11/01/2007, 08:00 AM

I bought 3 On May 22nd.

One died almost immediately, due to being ostracized by the others, and the other 2 are still alive and thriving. They live in a 29g with 2 clowns and a scooter.

I feed them every few days.

reptilemanmark · #50 11/01/2007, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 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.

My Tank is a 144 Half Circle> The first fish I put in were Chromis I started with 12 and I have 7 left. Seems like if you can get them over the hump they will survive! The ones I have eat like PIGS!