Keeping multiple Blue-Green Reef Chromis and Lyretail Anthias - buy multiple feedings a day...?

[salty150]

You always here stories about people putting in several - 7, 9, more... Blue-Green Reef Chromis or Lyretail Anthias into their tanks and winding up with only one left after time, etc...

They supposedly pick off the weakest one of their own at a time - and eventually there is only one left.

However, I have read quite a few posts by people successfully keeping them - saying that the key to keeping them is to (first, as always, have a tank big enough for the number and species of fish)...

But second - to feed these small fish - small foods multiple times a day.

Seems to be the consensus by those who have kept them successfully - to feed every two hours, 4 times a day using an auto-feeder.

Anyone here successfully keeping them?

 

[cdnco2004]

The issue is generally Urenoma outbreaks that kill them off. This can be avoided with a good QT program and prophylactically treat all incoming Chromis and Anthias. I have 12 Chromis and 6 Anthias in my 220 currently. I did get an outbreak of Urenoma that I treated with Ruby Reef Rally Pro. At start of the outbreak I had 13 Chromis and 9 Anthias. I lost only 1 Chromis but lost almost all of my Anthias. I had 2 left after the outbreak. I treated the survivors with Ruby Reef Rally Pro and was able to save almost all of the Chromis. A number of them got Urenoma lesions but the Rally Pro treated them all and they survived. One Chromis has scaring left over. After the outbreak cleared up I purchased more Anthias. I treated them with Formalin as part of the QT process. Did not lose any of them after I released them into the 220DT.

I feed that tank 4 times a day pretty much. When I first get up in the morning then again when I come home for lunch then again after I get home from work and then again around 7-8pm. I only feed pellets once a day. The rest is thawed frozen with supplements added to improve health.

 

[VintageReefer]

I’ve tried a group of 3 and another time a group of 4. I’ve kept with anthias with multiple daily feedings. I always end up with 1 in time

 

[cdnco2004]

I’ve tried a group of 3 and another time a group of 4. I’ve kept with anthias with multiple daily feedings. I always end up with 1 in time

Get an aquabiomic eDNA test to look for the presence of Urenoma in your tank.