Stressed out chromis?

Hey everyone,

So i've had my blue green chromis for soon 3 months now, and they have been doing great. They have been growing, and gaining lots of blue coloration. However, yesterday i noticed one of my chromis sitting at the top of the water. It didnt have any coloration (Or well, it had the blue and green spots and dark scales like they have at night). So the first thing i was thinking of, was if it would eat anything. So i threw down some cyclop-eeze, and it started eating a few of them, so its still eating. But its not active. It just sits in a corner like its stressed out. It has no spots, no red gills, no itching on rocks, no clouded eyes, nothing. It looks completely healthy, but it just doesnt want to school with my other chromis, and it just stays in a corner. Do you guys know what this might be? All the other fish in my system are thriving fantastically, and there are no problems at all!

EDIT: Just saw the chromis with totally nipped fins. My thoughts are that my silly dottyback has been chasing him. My other chromis are doing fine though...

 

It's believed that chromis school in the wild to help avert predation.

In captivity however, they go through a "pecking order", eliminating each other one by one by fin-nipping and bullying until usually only one is left. As aggressive as they are, I doubt the dottyback was capable of singling one out of the crowd. The chromis would tend to stick together better in the face of outside aggression.

 

I don't know Mr. B. I would think a combination of the two more likely.Its also likely the DB will get worse over time.What kind of Dotty is it??? The Chromis as Mr.B stated tend to kill each other off eventually regardless.

 

I suppose it is worth mentioned, this is a smaller tank IIRC, no? If so, it makes it that much more difficult for a fish to find a "safe spot" when being bullied.

 

what you're describing sounds like the chromis is being bullied by something......

 

Yes, its definitely being bullied by my Bicolor Dottyback. I think these guys might be too peaceful for my "semi-aggresive" inhabitants. He only picked on the smallest one, but the rest of the chromis, he leaves those alone and never touches them. I just put my chromis into my sump for a short quarantine, just to make sure he can get some rest and he can grow his fins back and such. He still eats though, so i think he might make it

 

Chromis also bully chromis. So watch out for that. How many are in the tank?

Whoops. Guess that was already covered.