First Fish!!!

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sevise

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 28, 2004
Messages
184
Location
NY
Tommarow my tank will be 2 months old... I've been looking for some blue/green chromis to add to my tank for about a month now. Neither of my LFS ever seem to have them in stock. Well today hidden in the back "reef room" of one of them they had a tank with about 20, the owner said he had ordered 100 and the rest had sold over the weekend.

I took 3 home with me. I did about an hour and a half acclimation. For the first 8 hours they all stayed up in a back corner, at a 45 degree tilt. I left the lights off and let them be for about 6 hours. When I came back they were still all up there. I flipped on the lights and 1 came racing out and headed to the front corner. When I went to take a look at him he headed to the middle of the tank, and out came his friends to join him. They've been swimming around ever since. They all look healthy, I just hope they stay that way.
 
Sounds like they are just getting used to the new digs. Great fish with nice color. You will enjoy them.
 
3 Chromis were my first fish as well. Mine often school.
very hardy and active.
 
There doing great! Last night when I shut the lights they split up and ran to there corners again. They spent the night in the corners doing the angle thing again. When I turned the lights this morning they came out and after about 5 minuts were schooled up again. I noticed they were snapping up( and spitting out) any particulate that passed by so I gave them some food.

Well I wasn't sure how to feed exactly. They didn't eat the flake at the surface, so I tryed to submerg it. Didn't take it. I then broke it apart and submerged it. They gobbled it right up.

Which brings me to my next question. Is this normal, if so can anyone puch me in the direction of a feeding guide or give me some tips.

They've stayed in open water and haven't come within 3 inches of the LR let alone through the caves, or crevices, is this normal for a chromis or will they take time to 'find' it?
 
I squeeze my flakes to break'm up a bit. My chromis will steer clear of the large flake pieces. They eat flakes, frozen foods, and live brine (every once in a while), but they stay away from big pieces of anything. Sounds like that's your problem.

When I feed flakes, I break'm up under the water. That way, they don't float on the top as much.
 
When I feed flakes, I break'm up under the water. That way, they don't float on the top as much.

Exactly what I had to do.
 
Great pick for first fish. they are a type of damsel, but not aggressive at all. I have 5 for bout 9 months now and it sounds like yours are behaving true to form. Mine constantly school in the open middle to top 1/3 of the tank. If your tank is big enough and you decide to add more I have heard odd numbers are the best.

As for feeding I do some small flake, but mostly frozen green life line, or mysis shrimp broken into small pieces.

BTW how big is your tank?

Good luck,

Aaron
 
I've had 5 for about 2 months and they are alot of fun to watch. For feeding I feed a 1/2 cube frozen spirulina enhanced brine (I let it thaw in a spoon before pouring in the tank). They chomp it down fast.

As for quanitity/frequency of feedings - what they can completely consume in < 2min is a good rule to start.

Hungry fish are Happy fish.

Nate C
 
When I woke up today, 1 of the little guys had dissapeared. The other 2 were still together wanderng around the tank. I checked as the tank as I could but its a 120Gal with 160lbs of LR so theres plenty of places to hide. He wasn't on the floor, in the overflow or in the sump. If he hopped out my dog could've got him and I do have a decent sized cleanup crew that could of consumed the body.

I do plan to get more, but since they were my first fish my plan was to get 3 see how they did, and allow the Bio-filter to buildup, then add 4 more in a few weeks, For a total of 7.
 
I hope he's ok -

But just in case he isn't, I'd hold off for a week or so on adding any more. See how the other two do, and watch those nh3/nh4 levels.

Good luck.
 
Its been 12 hours since I noticed he was MIA, still no sign of him and no spike. If he sank my cleanup crew could of gotten rid of him pretty quickly.
 
Well I found the little guy he was dead. I found him stuck to the back of a powerhead intake. Once I got him out of the tank I noticed the last 3rd of his body had been eaten.

Not sure on the cause of death, probobly a result of the aclimation. The other 2 are doing fine, I gave them a little breakfast, both gobbled it up. I did another test for ammonia, I also tested some of my RO/DI water. The tank water was slightly greener than the ro/di so I did have some released. Not surprising because of the dead fish and because of the added bioload.

I'm going to leave the other 2 in there for now. Once I get my basement sump setup I'll have a place to setup a quarantine tank and get the rest of the school cleared for entry into the main.
 
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