chromis hiding

i just got 4 chromis in this morning. now that they are in the tank 3 of them are swimming around and eating well but the other one is apparently hiding and will not come out. is this normal for one chromis to stay hidden while the others swim around?

 

Check for aggression from the other 3 chromis. That one may have been singled out, I hear they do best in odd numbers.

What other fish do you have in the tank? anything that would be aggressive towards it?

another possibility is that you just got a sick fish. (hopefully not) Watch him closely for a few days.

If the problem is still happening for a little while, consider taking that one out or adding another one to make the group an odd # of 5.


Hope this helps

 

i had 5 but 1 was doa and now i can not find the 4th one.

 

Ahh, I see. Well do you know why the other one came in DOA?

 

no i dont. it was just laying on its side. the other four were staying together while i was acclimating them but when i put them in the tank they went straight for the rocks and the a few minutes later only three appeared. never saw the fourth one after that.

 

So you haven't seen him in how long?

You may want to consider trying to find him if he's dead.

Unless you want to leave him for the CUC :thinking2

HTH

 

i havent seen him for about 8 hours. i have searched the rocks over and no sign of him.

 

I can't confirm this, but I've read several places, including here on 3Reef, that Chromis do best in larger schools. With less than six, they go through a "pecking order", where the smallest/weakest is singled out and picked on until it dies, then the next smallest/weakest is singled out. This will continue until you only have one left. Sounds plausible as they are members of the Damsel family. Also, many online stores claim they "Do best in schools of six or more". Might be worth checking out.

 

so should i go ahead and order 4 or 5 more or will the ones in the tank now be teritorial.

 

two of them seem to be picking on the smaller one. not exactly sure because they seem to go get the little one to swim with them and then dart to the other side of the tank to leave the little one behind. this keeps on going. they are not nipping at it or anything so im not sure what is going on.