Chromis. Bother or not bother?

[rayadog]

(In my response I meant the Chalk Bass-- I should have said that.)

Interesting. I might lean towards looking in ti these guys more so then. I already had then on the initial stock list. Of course as I’m looking to add fish the LFS is getting nada in these past few months.

Edit: adding. Can they handle flow or are they too tiny? Adding more rock crevasses may negate this issue.

 

[rayadog]

They're really nice looking top down on them. Now I know why they're called Blue Green chromis. And not just green. Top down shows a beautiful blue that I don't see in a side view.

I’ve seen some photos of the blue reef chromis and they look like a deeper/solid blue. But those are not as abundant in store or online vendors that I see.

 

[rayadog]

I have 3 yellow tail damsels, and 1 clown now. Every time I tried chromis, within months one killed off the other chromis, or Uronema took them out.
The yellow tails are aggressive, going as far to bite me but given hiding spots they tend to work it out amoung themselves.

This is going to sound silly but trying to take a break from true damsels tbh. I know Chromis are related but I’ll be proven wrong a few more times in my life . I rehomed a very dominant domino last December/January and that was pretty sad; but he wasn’t letting me add any new fish. Short story, became aggressive after upgrading tank. Hence the peaceful vision.

 

[exnisstech]

. I rehomed a very dominant domino

Domino is the worst fish I've owned. I had one in a 150 and ended up pulling most of the rock out to catch it. I tried traps, little bitty fish hooks, even made a miniature harpoon and tried to spear the little sucker but it was to fast and smart.

 

[rayadog]

Domino is the worst fish I've owned. I had one in a 150 and ended up pulling most of the rock out to catch it. I tried traps, little bitty fish hooks, even made a miniature harpoon and tried to spear the little sucker but it was to fast and smart.

Laughing cause I went fishing too. Got several hits but he would pull the bait off without touching the hook (with flow on). Had to resort to making him hungry and only feeding in weighted cricket cage.

 

[slingfox]

Until recently I had 7 chromis for over two years (one jumped out when I was away recently for one week). I believe they don’t fight each other much since I have a male Bimac anthias who chases around the chromis once in a while to keep them in check. If there is no fish pressuring the chromis periodically that is when they can get bored and start picking each other off. My chromis are pretty big now and are like piranhas when food hits the tank!

 

[rayadog]

Until recently I had 7 chromis for over two years (one jumped out when I was away recently for one week). I believe they don’t fight each other much since I have a male Bimac anthias who chases around the chromis once in a while to keep them in check. If there is no fish pressuring the chromis periodically that is when they can get bored and start picking each other off. My chromis are pretty big now and are like piranhas when food hits the tank!

What other fish are in there as well?

 

[Daniel Doherty]

You could probably get your LFS to the bluestreak cardinals in for you. They’re about 25 euro here in Ireland but I mean is they last 3-4 times the amount of time chromis do then it’s a worthy investment in my opinion.
This is a great thread, is there any chance people would attach photos for inspiration as to a set up that is successful in the longterm keeping of chromis? Thanks.

 

[slingfox]

What other fish are in there as well?

2 wrasse, 3 tangs (the Convict also chases the chromis every so often but not as much as the anthias), 2 clownfish, 1 damsel, 1 hawkfish, and one copperband. I will add another 4 or so fish soon (going through quarantine).

 

[Chocka]

Have 4 and 3 of them used to bully the one smaller one but they all seem to get along now 6 months later. They are awesome at cleaning up every scrap of food they just keep going till it is gone and are still looking for more.

 

[Joey G]

They're really nice looking top down on them. Now I know why they're called Blue Green chromis. And not just green. Top down shows a beautiful blue that I don't see in a side view.

I don't see my 3 from the top down due to having a hood on my tank, but mine go from green to dark blue every time they turn... which is ALL the time!!!

 

[Joey G]

This is going to sound silly but trying to take a break from true damsels tbh. I know Chromis are related but I’ll be proven wrong a few more times in my life . I rehomed a very dominant domino last December/January and that was pretty sad; but he wasn’t letting me add any new fish. Short story, became aggressive after upgrading tank. Hence the peaceful vision.

Dominoes and yellow-tails are some of the meanest fish I've ever owned. Never again...

 

[Joey G]

Until recently I had 7 chromis for over two years (one jumped out when I was away recently for one week). I believe they don’t fight each other much since I have a male Bimac anthias who chases around the chromis once in a while to keep them in check. If there is no fish pressuring the chromis periodically that is when they can get bored and start picking each other off. My chromis are pretty big now and are like piranhas when food hits the tank!

Between my neon dottback, flame angel, and platinum percula, my 3 chromis don't have much time to create mischief. They're all crammed into a 40B tank along with an elegant firefish, a pair of blue mandarifish, and a pair of peppermint shrimp. They're all fairly young, and they're heavily fed, so it's a very peaceful tank.

 

[rayadog]

Dominoes and yellow-tails are some of the meanest fish I've ever owned. Never again...

Yup. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the fish. But It was him and a curmudgeon dottyback. 2 fish was not gonna cut it in a 75, sorry. He started lighting me up anytime I had a hand in, which was annoying.

I don't see my 3 from the top down due to having a hood on my tank, but mine go from green to dark blue every time they turn... which is ALL the time!!!

That’s pretty great for such a value fish. Pretty sure the two most basic cardinal species are valued higher but really? I’m sure they look THE best if you have the eyes of newborn baby.

 

[Lasse]

Do not forget - these fish are zooplankton eaters and they are pickers - its means that they pick every prey in an individual way. These fish loves freshwater cyclops and they should be feed the same way as you feed other zooplankton pickers as the different Anthias species. Note that even the species of the damsel genus Chrysiptera are mostly zooplankton pickers. I have 4 Chrysiptera parasema and 6 Chrysiptera springeri in a 300 L aquarium with much of hiding places. Many years ago when I introduce them - they was 11. When I feed with Cyclops - they are busy picking.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[rayadog]

Do not forget - these fish are zooplankton eaters and they are pickers - its means that they pick every prey in an individual way. These fish loves freshwater cyclops and they should be feed the same way as you feed other zooplankton pickers as the different Anthias species. Note that even the species of the damsel genus Chrysiptera are mostly zooplankton pickers. I have 4 Chrysiptera parasema and 6 Chrysiptera springeri in a 300 L aquarium with much of hiding places. Many years ago when I introduce them - they was 11. When I feed with Cyclops - they are busy picking.

Sincerely Lasse

Would you go so far to say that wild Chromis are eating Apocyclops and that’s why freshwater cyclops is such a successful staple for you? Or is that a generalization?

I wonder are the two different families (Chromis Chrysiptera) eating different or similar pods species. I really have no idea. I guess zooplankton is the all encompassing way to say any and all pods and etc. I guess I’m getting caught up on considering benthic vs “pelagic” zooplankton and “picking.” When I think of damsel I think of farming and literal picking; I would not worry if a damsel missed a couple feeds as it will find crawling zooplankton. But it seems Chromis and Anthias feed like hummingbirds on swimming foods? I think I shouldn’t have skipped breakfast today. Apologies.

It’s a very good point though that several have kept good numbers by feeding multiple times a day and you’ve compared them to anthias. I find that profound

 

[Lasse]

zooplankton

By definition
Zoo = animal
plankton = something that occupy the pelagic

With other words - zooplankton = animals in the free water.

Pods on the other hand means small animals that either is benthic or pelagic

My two different Chrysiptera species (parasema and springeri) is clearly zooplankton pickers. They pick their food from the water column

Here is an article about this type of feeding (not this genus but others)

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

I had a pair in my first reef tank, a 120 gal. After a while one of them mysteriously disappeared and I never found out what happened to it.

You should run the other one in for interrogation.

 

[rayadog]

But pods, can be demersal zooplankton, migrate from benthic to pelagic; so little loophole there I think. I think specifically the cyclopoids actually. But that wouldn’t apply to these fish feeding during the day.

Here is an article about this type of feeding (not this genus but others)

Nice call out to Chromis viridus. Gosh, that sounded like so much fun to do that study. Was not expecting the reference to competitive cycling out of the blue. Thanks! Quite interesting. It kind of made it seem like feeding them would be easier. I.e. don’t cut flow at all (maybe return pump depending on if you want the filter in use during or not, if food can immediately avoid weirs) and let them strike as they would naturally.

 

[Lasse]

I must go back to the definition between a benthic organism and a plankton. Plankton is in the free water - its a pelagic form of life - a benthic animal is bound to the bottom. There is some plankton cyclopoids that can have a benthic phase like a rest and diapause stage: They can enter a diapause (a form of hibernation) to survive extreme periods. Other benthic phases are eggs in the sediment. There is also benthic cyclopoids that have a pelagically phase as nauplii and juvenile stages (copepodites) to benefit from phytoplankton,

However as usally when I use my old knowledge I have to check if there is any new knowledge that not was in the books 50 years ago and it shows up that the genus that you mentioned earlier Apocyclops can actively change between a benthic and pelagic way of living. Its the food that decide if they are benthic or pelagic. It seems like the adults is more benthic and nauplii is pelagic but even as adult they can swim freely in the water column. You can call them - IMO - facultative pelagic


But the word zooplankton is - IMO - strictly for the free living species

Sincerely Lasse