Blue/Green Chromis Possible Problem

[melmel]

Hello everyone! I am new to saltwater aquariums and I have just finished cycling my tank and upon my LFS's suggestion I got 4 blue/green chromis as the first fish in my tank. I have nothing else in my tank except live rock. Today is day #2 for my fish and 2 of them are pretty active during the day swimming around the tank and 1 will stay in the bottom right corner and the other one hides under one of the rocks and will not come out. When I feed them they will eat but they want come to the top of the water to get the food and I noticed a little earlier that one of them has pale white stripes and blotches on him. Am i doing something wrong?:( Thanks so much for reading

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

well it is going to be hard to tell with out a pic. can you post one?
I am guessing that you have 4 of them and it sounds like it is just goin to have to take some time for them to get to feel at home in the tank. it is like you moving to a new home. it is a little scary at first.

 

[Toolman]

The LFS strikes again 4 fish in a newly cycled tank. Are all your numbers are correct ? Is this a second tank I see you already list a clown?

 

[Mike_630l]

Hello everyone! I am new to saltwater aquariums and I have just finished cycling my tank and upon my LFS's suggestion I got 4 blue/green chromis as the first fish in my tank. I have nothing else in my tank except live rock. Today is day #2 for my fish and 2 of them are pretty active during the day swimming around the tank and 1 will stay in the bottom right corner and the other one hides under one of the rocks and will not come out. When I feed them they will eat but they want come to the top of the water to get the food and I noticed a little earlier that one of them has pale white stripes and blotches on him. Am i doing something wrong?:( Thanks so much for reading

I did exactly what you did.
I cycled my tank for a week, and it was having perfect test results. I introduced 2 green chromis. They seemed very shy and nervous in my tank. 2 days later, I bought another 3 green chromis as they are shoaling fish. They all came out and were no longer shy nor nervous. However, none of my fish got ill. Tank running 9 weeks today and 4 of the 5 survived. The 1 was very small and the pecking order took him out unfortunately.

 

[FishyReef]

There could be a lot of different things going on here and we really need some more info to be helpful

* How long did you cycle your tank for and what were your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) after cycling? How high did your ammonia and nitrite spike during the cycle?
* Once you finished cycling, how big of a water change did you do?
* What are your parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, salinity, temp) today?

When you post your parameters, it is helpful to give us actual numbers and also to let us know what type of testing kit you are using!

What method did you use to acclimate these fish?

A few other things that could be helpful to you:

Fish often take several days to settle in to a tank. Hiding in the rocks and not schooling together isn't necessarily a sign that something is wrong, it might just be that they are taking their time getting used to their new home

It is not unheard of to add 3 chromis as your first fish. While not ideal to add more than a single fish in the beginning, a clown pair or 3 chromis are acceptable exceptions to this rule, but you really have to watch your water parameters carefully. That said, schooling fish tend to do better in odd numbers (3,5,etc), though I don't really know if the number is the problem. Also, even though they are schooling fish, chromis also tend to fight amongst themselves until only the strongest survives. There may be some bullying going on and causing stress to the non-dominant fish of the group. Feeding twice a day can help reduce bullying but can also stress your newly set-up system in terms of promoting algae blooms and increasing your nitrates. If you do start feeding more frequently, check your parameters often.

Finally, there are several of us here (myself included) who have not had great luck with Chromis in the last few months. Not exactly sure why so many of us have lost chromis recently but it may have to do with where they are being collected from or collection methods that have been used. I also started with 3 chromis and 2 of mine developed some strange illness (that I still haven't been able to identify) and died (thankfully the third is thriving).

So, bottom line is that there could be a lot of different things going on with your chromis - knowing more about your cycling methods, parameters, and acclimation methods will help us narrow down the possibilities and give you better guidance!

 

[FishyReef]

Oh, and one other thing that I forgot to add in my earlier post... You mention that the fish don't want to come to the top of the water to get the food - does this mean you are feeding them flakes? If so, I would suggest changing to frozen food (check out formula 1, marine cuisine, emerald entree, etc - you can find these at your local petco or any LFS). Flakes raise nitrates quickly and aren't the best for saltwater fish. With the frozen food that comes in roughly 1/2" cubes, cut the cube in half (for your 4 fish), dissolve it in a little cup or bowl with tank water, and then use a turkey baster (less than $5 at any grocery store) to squirt the dissolved liquid further down into the tank. They will probably be afraid of the turkey baster at first but will quickly learn that is where food comes from and will eventually come right up to it to eat! Also fish do like a variety of food, so most of us get a few different types of cubes and rotate through them - I alternate between the three I mentioned above). Hope this helps!