Question about Chromis

mono19

mono19

Reefing newb
I bought a school of 4 yesterday and got them in the tank. They started eating and swimming around right away! so cool to watch! I have them in there with a firefish Goby, Clown fish and a Citric Clown Goby. This morning I woke up went to look at the tank and could only find 2 swimming around. I checked the ground to make sure they didn't jump out( not sure if they do that) and looked around the bottom of the tank to see if they had died. Couldn't find them...the firefish usually hides in the rock work at night but comes out later in the day to play around and eat...is it possible that the pair or chromis did the same thing? I don't have any major predators in the tank, I wanna keep the reef to a small fish kinda tank..I haven't heard any noises in the tank so I don't think the rock work has any uninvited guests, and the only crabs I have are blue hermit red leg hermit and 3 emeralds..they don't eat fish do they? Love the little guys and it would suck if they already died....
 
Thanks Little_fish. You can always make a person feel better ha. They are in a 56 gallon right now. It just made me worry cause they were all out and about swimming last night..then this morning 2 were gone. I guess it's one of the perks of having live rock and plenty of places to hide...you sometimes lose fish.
 
Ok thanks! I'll keep everyone updated. The tank is been pretty fun to get going and set up. Thanks to everyone on this page. Seriously out of all the forums I have read, this is one of the best.
 
When first introduced into a tank, new fish can be shy. It can often take several days for them to come out or start eating. I like your stocking so far -- you are not overstocked and are maximizing the number of fish you can keep by picking small ones. Good job!
 
Hey thanks Biff! I went diving last year in Mexico and that's where I got the idea for stocking my tank with small fish...I was only maybe 10 feet from the shore the water wasn't very deep at all and I was diving over some rock. There were hundreds of fish everywhere! It looked so cool! Any ideas on any other fish I could put in there? Or am I pretty much done? I wanna get a lot more corals too.
 
There are several types of wrasses and blennies that stay small and are peaceful. You could think of adding a mandarin in the future (you must buy one that eats frozen food -- your tank is too small to feed a mandarin that won't eat frozen).
 
I've looked into Mandarins. They are beautiful fish. Why would my tank not be able to sustain one? I love blennies. was thinking of a Midas and a tailspot maybe...also a six line or a leopard wrasse.
 
Some mandarins will only eat live food. It takes a huge tank to be able to produce enough live food constantly to keep one alive. Many mandarins will eat frozen food too, just like your other fish. If you buy a mandarin that eats frozen, you don't need to worry about keeping your tank constantly stocked with live food like pods for them to eat. In a 56 gallon tank, a mandarin that doesn't eat frozen food will starve pretty fast. So that's why if you buy a mandarin, you should always make sure it's eating frozen food before you take it home. Ask the LFS to feed it in front of you. If you get one that eats frozen, then a 56 gallon tank is a perfectly fine size tank to keep it in.
 
Huh that's interesting. Can I throw out another question to everyone while I'm on here? I've been having questions about my heating in the tank. I have a 300 watt submersible heater in my sump set to 76 I believe. My light is above the tank about probably 3 or 4 inches because it's on legs. I started with a digital thermometer in the tank and it's been reading a constant 80-82 degrees in the tank. So I moved it around some, thought maybe at the top of the tank wasn't a good place for it cause of the heat from the light and I put in another regular thermometer with a suction cup in the same spot as the digital. The digital this morning read 81 and the regular nothing special read at 78. They do that all day long. WHY? lol It's been probably 2 days since I put in the regular thermometer and it has been at least 2-4 degrees cooler then the digital reading. I'm really confused. Fish are fine and the corals seem to be doing well too...Some of the zoas have freaked from the move but are coming back, but my monti, and acans and candy cane seem to be just great.
 
Just a wonky thermometer, it sounds like. Do you have a third to check against those two? The temp being stable is more important than the temp itself. However, I personally wouldn't want it over 80 degrees in my tank,. I try to keep a constant 78. Difficult with Metal Halides, I'm finding out.
 
Ok so it looks like from the regular thermometer that I am at an ok range. right between 78. I will take the digital out after I get home tonight. I don't have a 3rd chichi. Yeah those lights are crazy hot..I have only one in the middle of my light surrounded by the t5s and it's crazy to see how much more light that one little bulb makes. The tank is positioned about 3 feet to the side of my ceiling fan though...I might start turning that on.( I live in a basement that stays pretty cool during the day but can get kinda hot.) wonder if that would help if i ever had heat issues.
 
The ceiling fan will help as long as the room temp isn't any hotter than you want the tank to be. I also had to install fans into my hood.
 
Well my light has one fan above the main light that seems to be doing a good job. I was just wondering if the ceiling fan would help at all..which if it will, will be very nice.
 
In a pinch, buy one or two of the clip-on desk fans from Walmart, that clip to the rim of the tank. Aim it across the surface of the water, between the light and the tank. That will cool your tank at least a couple degrees. You will lose more water to evaporation, though.
 
Here is another question I would like to throw out to you all, I work from 9 to 5 Monday thru Friday. I like seeing my fish swim around and such so I turn on my blues around 11 then my hoa around 12 turn that off around 8 then the blues go off around 9 then I have my led lights. I feed my fish once a day around 530. Is that enough? They get a brine shrimp cube with some pellet and flake food. What would be best to feed them?
 

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