I thought I was the only one

d2mini

d2mini

Reef enthusiast
I was going to post about my troubles keeping blue/green chromis.
I can't seem to keep more than one alive at a time.
I put 3 in my 46g once, and within a few days I was down to just one.
Then I bought 5 for my new 130 and within days I was down to 2. I bought two more and added my original one from my 46g and now I'm down again to just one... might be the original from the 46 but hard to tell for sure.

I had heard originally that they were schooling fish so it was good to have more than one, but you have to buy them in odd numbers. I thought this was... odd... but the LFS confirmed this as well. Well, I guess the only odd number that works for me is "1". :grumble:

So then this morning I was wandering the internet and somehow ended up at RC. I don't know how it happened, i swear! :shock: So anyway, there was this thread on the blue chromis and apparently I'm not the only one. Almost everyone in the thread says that it's possible to keep a school in a big tank but typically they will fight until there is only one. Reminds me of the movie, The Highlander. "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!"

Anyone here have this experience. My clown is doing fine, and my last chromis is doing fine, but I was scared to add anything else with fish disappearing on me. :death:
 
I was wanting to get some chromis, too, as my next fish -- maybe 5 or 6...but when people had started saying that while they are peaceful, they tend to attack each other for alpha position. So I wasn't going to get them. This just reinforces my decision.

So like, if you have just one left, will it be fine? I thought chromis thrive better when you have a school of them?
 
I've also come to the realization that I can only have 1 chromis...I stared out with 4, then 2 died, so then I added 1 more to have a small, odd # group, but within days, I'm only down to one. I've read and noticed everyone on LR having chromis issues. So you are not alone. What kind of school only has one student?! :)
 
I have also had trouble keeping more than one. I remember reading somewhere (but now, of course, I can't remember or find where) that the presence of a clown in the tank with schools of chromis may result in the fight-to-the-death mentality within the school. Chromis and Clowns are both cousins in the damsel family. Since most of the chromis we buy at our LFSs are usually smaller than our clowns, the largest of the chromis fights for dominance, and usually ends up killing the rest of his school in the process. I've been meaning to corroborate this theory by asking the people who seem to only keep one chromis to see if they also have a clown in their tank. How about you guys?

In my case, the clown just decided not to tolerate ANY of the chromis in his tank, and will kill any that I drop in there in a matter of days.
 
Yup! And if that chromis is the same one that was in my 46g, it's the same two fish that are now in my 130g.
 
Well, I don't have anything in my tank but chromis...no clowns right now because of the fear of them hosting a coral and killing it. All I had was a school of chromis in the tank, and I still ended up with just 1.
 
I started with 5 chromis in my 240. Within a year, I was down to two. I've had two now for the last year and a half, and they seem to be doing okay with each other. I'm not going to mess with things and try to add more!
 

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