Blue Green Chromis - 3 then 2

[FranktheTankTx]

I introduced my first fish to my 54 yesterday evening - 3 Chromis. 3 went in & 2 only to be seen 24 hours later. There's plenty of hiding spots - but I wish the little feller would show his face. Otherwise you just start wondering if he made it or not.

Ammonia and Nitrite levels are 0 - showing no sign of death as of yet.

I also introduced some inverts at the same time & everyone seems to be in good shape. Everybody was drip acclimated for 1 hour.

Hopefully he'll pop up tomorrow when they get their first feeding.

[doomicon]

check behind your tank. I've had chromis take the "leap of faith"

[spleify]

Also if you have a overflow, check in the sump, I've found mine in my sump before.

[FranktheTankTx]

I guess either of those are possible - and I have looked for both. I have an HOB overflow which runs a Hofer Gurgle Buster to silence the overflow - I doubt he could squeeze thru the 3/8" holes I drilled in the HGB bell to make it to the sump.

If he did - there is a sock on the drain. He definitely won't make it thru there. And I don't plan to check that until tomorrow during a water change.

As for "leap of faith" - I haven't spotted him on the carpet, but I have 3 cats and a dog whom I wouldn't put it past them to make quick lunch of him if he did.

2 is nice though - but I figured they might be more comfortable with 3.

[FranktheTankTx]

Woke up this morning to find only 1 Chromis in the DT - and I found the other one stuck in the HGB of the overflow. He was a goner.

So these little guys add a great color to the tank - but apparently their suicidal. Bummer! Thank God their only $5.

[doomicon]

LOL, yea they can be a bit careless... I had one jump out of the tank onto the Dining Room Table about three feet away. Wife spotted him on the table, was able to save him. The other two I found dried up on the floor behind the tank. I've since put strips of eggcrate on top, to discourage anymore flying fish.

[pcsimon]

what inverts do you have?

[VaderWS6]

Chromis usually develop a pecking order in an aquarium, and you'll end up with 3 or less. I always end up with one or two, as do all of my friends.

[mlbarry]

I had 4 and one jumped in the overflow. So I would check there!

[nyvp]

I put 12 in my 560/g and kept 9 till i sold the tank. they were silver dollar size and nice and large by then. Great fish

[Gdevine]

3 then 2 then most likely 1. These guys will kill each other until there's 1 or maybe 2 in a big tank. Sad because when they school they really look cool.

[jthao]

Originally posted by FranktheTankTx
Thank God their only $5.

$5!!!! I would never pay more than $2.99. WARO!

they like to kill each other off anyways, usually if you have a lot you might be able to keep some. I started with 14 and now have 10.

[Abraxos]

I am on my fourth attempt at a salt water tank and now that I figured out all the human errors, I have been able to keep a Tang, a Flame Angel, some soft corals, two clowns and numerous things that gave me fits in the past.
The things that give me problems now aren't the big expensive fish or such. It's the little buggers like Blennies and Filefish and Chromis.
I took my tank down and set it back up after a carpet flood/replacemet and added four chromis and a blenny. The next day the Blenny was MIA and the following day one of the Chromis had dissapeared. I guess fish are like people and some of them have a screw loose and will take that "leap".

[hoosierpat]

Go for the larger sized chromis, they have a better survival rate. They also tend to kill each other less than the small ones do. I don't even bother with the little ones anymore unless I'm adding at least 20 with the hope of maybe ending up with 10.