Shy Chromis?

[atte]

Hi everyone,

My tank recently finished cycling, so on Friday I bought a blue-green chromis (viridis) from my LFS. Friday night she was wedged under my live rock. Yesterday she moved around a bit but still hides in my fake plant and live rock structures. There is a lot of open swimming space towards the top of my tank (the upper half is completely empty) which she has never entered. The only other thing in my tank is a nassarius snail (really small).

How do I feed her if she won't come to the water's surface? Yesterday I tried to sink some flakes but only about 1 or 2 floated down next to her so she hasn't eaten much.

Thanks, atte

 

[Zer0]

She's probably just getting used to the surroundings. Fish have to get accustomed to the tanks. My clowns and firefish did the same things; hid behind rocks all day, for about 3 days. Then they all started coming out and playing around in the entire tank. About the food you feed it, what kind of food is it? Sometimes fish are picky and like specific foods. When you were at the LFS did you see it eat? It's always wise to ask them to feed the fish so you at least know what they are feeding them, and that they aren't sick. I would try a different food if its not eating the flakes. Something like freeze dried or prepared foods, or maybe mysis shrimp. A lot of fish love mysis shrimp. Frozen or not.

 

[atte]

Thanks zer0. She has started moving around a bit more and ventured out into the open space at the front glass for the first time this evening. The food I have is a bottle of TetraVeggie flakes enhanced with spirulina. That's what the LFS suggested I pick up when I got her. I'll wait to see what happens as she gets comfortable but if she's still not eating I'll get something else.

 

[Zer0]

I'm glad she's venturing out and i think that is the right plan of action. If she doesn't eat, then i would suggest getting the frozen food. They have frozen krill, mysis shrimp.. stuff like that.

 

[Flake]

She's getting comfortable.

I'd go buy a couple types of frozen, try bits of each, see what she likes, get her to eat and vary her diet from there. I've had excellent luck with mysis.

 

[Zer0]

Same here. that's why i would suggest the frozen mysis definitely. All of my fish eat it like crazy when i feed the tank.

 

[Flake]

My firefish wouldn't leave his hole for about a week, and would ALWAYS come out for mysis. Eat, and then go back. As long as he ate, I was happy.

 

[atte]

Thanks for all the advice!

She's definitely started to feel more comfortable and has been staying at the front even with me standing right there. I will try to feed her tomorrow in the morning before school, as she seems to be quite active at that time. I'll post an update some time tomorrow, but until then, here she is :

It's tough getting a good shot!

 

[Zer0]

Hey that's a really nice shot! Can we get a full tank shot? I would love to see your whole tank.

 

[atte]

Sorry for the late reply, had an intense amount of work to finish up. She has been eating healthily now and moves at astonishing speeds. It's really quite entertaining to watch in a way I never expected. I can't wait until I get clowns as I hear their antics are hilarious.

FTS? My aquarium is kind of embarrassing :-|. It's my first real tank experience so it's nothing much so far, the shot above is sort of misleading haha. I will probably redecorate a bit before the clowns and plan to get corals sometime down the road. There's also a bit of diatoms left over from the cycle all over the sand and base rock, but strangely not on the glass at all. Here's a FTS anyway:

 

[Zer0]

Pfft.. forgot about all that mumbo jumbo " my tank doesn't look nice" lol. I think your tank looks awesome.

 

[atte]

Thanks zer0 . You're too kind