Sad, but he shouldn't have killed his friends

[DraggingTail]

I feel bad for they guy. But he was mean and killed all his tank mates so he kinda deserves it.

Now he just bullies his reflection. [emoji2]

 

[Reeferdood]

Did you use him to cycle your tank? If so, he will continue to bully everything else you put in there...

 

[DraggingTail]

Did you use him to cycle your tank? If so, he will continue to bully everything else you put in there...

Absolutely not.

I used shrimp and biospira.

I added 6 of them six days ago. I picked him because he was big and the rest were small. He proceeded to not let them eat and bit off there fins and they even had pink spots from his attacks. He keep swimming all around the tank like he was guarding the others from leaving the rocks. When they came out of the rocks he would attack them. They all stayed hid and died one by one. [emoji22]

 

[Reeferdood]

That's a bummer, damsels and chromis can be real jerks.
Sorry for your loss and frustration.

 

[albano]

See if you can borrow a large grouper or lion fish to teach him a lesson!

 

[DraggingTail]

That's a bummer, damsels and chromis can be real jerks.
Sorry for your loss and frustration.

All good. You have any ideas on a fish that he cannot bully? Or should I find him a new home?

 

[OMGitsManBearPig]

I don’t know that not killing his buddies is any better. I have a reef-gang of three of them. Inseperable. Sounds lovely, right? Ask my clownfish. He lost his mate because they just wont let them eat. I’m using a feeding stick to bat away the gang while i feed my remaining clown.

Everything is fine until the food comes out...

(And yes, I overfeed like MAD - probably part of how I’m keeping the rat pack together.)

EDIT: PS - this is thread title of the day - easily.

 

[Reeferdood]

Well,
it will likely bully everything new that you try to introduce at this point. It is up to you but I would take him back to the LFS.

 

[DraggingTail]

See if you can borrow a large grouper or lion fish to teach him a lesson!

He would be a meal? Looking at one fish is better than looking at and empty tank.

 

[nereefpat]

Unfortunately, it's common for chromis to pick each other off.

Out of curiosity, what is the size of the tank?

 

[truetricia]

Chromis can be a very dominating animal. Common advice is to introduce all the animals to the tank at the same time to limit aggression, however, large size disparities between individuals can also lead to disaster, as in your case. Now that he's established the tank as his own, chances are he will act extremely dominant and harrass or bully anything else that you put in there.

You have a few options, and obviously all of the results will vary. Of course, these are just a few ideas.

1. Take him to the LFS and trade him in for a smaller version, then buy a few more of similar size.
2. Purchase your other fish that you want for your tank, QT them, etc. In the meantime, capture him and place him in a small QT tank. Introduce your other fish to the tank. Then after they're eating consistently and are established, reintro the chromis.
3. Buy a fish that won't be bothered by him.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Some time back i added 3 new chromis to a tank that already had a single chromis that was much larger than the newbies. By morning the 'big fella had disappeared.

 

[ca1ore]

He proceeded to not let them eat and bit off there fins and they even had pink spots from his attacks.

Pretty standard behavior for green chromis unless you have a huge tank and feed them 3x a day. They are also common uronema carriers - hope for your sake that's not what the pink spots were.

 

[DraggingTail]

Pretty standard behavior for green chromis unless you have a huge tank and feed them 3x a day. They are also common uronema carriers - hope for your sake that's not what the pink spots were.

I read on that. I hope so too. Would the remaining one have symptoms?

 

[DraggingTail]

Unfortunately, it's common for chromis to pick each other off.

Out of curiosity, what is the size of the tank?

55

 

[Retro Reefer]

It’s funny but in my first reef that I had up for many years I had 4 or 5 that where model citizens and peaceful among themselves.. over the last few years I have tried a couple of groups only to lose them all but one, I never saw any visible aggression at all with any of them or visible scarred skin or fins but they would vanish one by one... I always attributed it to poor or cyanid collection practices.

 

[Sailingeric]

I have one Blue Green Chromis and the only issue I had was when I added a blue damsel and he just keep reminding the damsel where he slept at night and after a day or so the damsel moved to the other side of the tank and everyone has been happy since. My biggest bully for a while was my banggai cardinal when I added him to my tank. He still does a quick chase now and then but for the most part he has mellowed out as well.

 

[DraggingTail]

This guy died. He was staying in his hole in the rocks he liked unless I fed him. Then, when I added 2 clowns he would not even come out to eat. He was very protective of that hole in the rocks. Then he died. Hopefully nothing is wrong in the tank.

 

[OMGitsManBearPig]

crap. well this story had a bad ending. I'm sorry for your further loss. Sounds like this guy went out like he came in: on his own danged terms. I hope things improve in your tank with the new fish. None of this really seemed like it was your fault, based on your previous posts. The only thing you could have done was take him out of the tank sooner, but I don't blame you for leaving him be. He fought hard for that home!