Small Chromis bullying large Chromis?

Hi,

Ive had my tank up and running for 2 weeks now. I have 2 Chromis in from day 1 as advised by the LFS as used, live rock, Sand, water etc. The tank has fully cycled and is running great.

Anyways, the larger of the 2 chromis seemed to be the dominate fish in the tank, and i have since added a clown who holds his own with no bother. Recently, the large chromis seemed to have a few faint white spots, which seem to come and go... and today the smaller chromis is chasing the larger one and seems to be bullying him around the tank.

Im not sure whats up, i don't think the large guy has ich. I'm not sure why he has these patches that come and go.... but there seems to be a shift in power some how or maybe they are just playing.??

anybody understand this behavior?

 

Chromis establish a hiearchy in the wild but swim in vast numbers making it almost impossible for one fish to target another repeatedly. The bullying you are seeing which unfortunately may end with one/both of the fishes death is something only a really large system/"school" can cure.I wouldn't purchase these types of fish in the future.I would try rehoming them if you can catch them.Kept singly they literally freak out hiding most of the time.
If you want some great colorful fish that will coexist with your Clowns try looking at a Neon dottyback or (my fav)Springeri Dotty. Mix in a few damsels with a hardy wrasse like a sixline and the odds are more even. What size is the system??

 

Wow tank cycle in 2 weeks, please share your ways, you could make a lot of money. I would stop going to your LFS, you should never cycle a tank with live fish, its basically torture. Also, it is usually advised to buy an odd number of chromis to avoid this bullying. As vinny said 1 by itself will hide for eternity. 2, as you have found out, usually leads to one getting bullied, often to death.

When do you notice the white spots?

What other fish do you have and what size tank is this?

 

29 Gallon Biocube. The fish seem happy enough. The spots I noticed a week ago, but they went away, and kind of come back today. They appear to disappear as they only can be see at a certain angle of the fish. Just looks little patchy. Altho he doesn't seem distressed. Just found it weird the little chromis seemed to be chasing him a little. They usually sleep together in the same spot so I will keep an eye on that tonight.

I'm new to this and it's my first tank. I've done a lot of research and seen many other people start up tanks and they usually wait to add fish, but I was told it should be fine as I started with live rock, live sand, live water. So I went with it. After 7-8 days I added the clown and he's thriving. Corals in nfew weeks

I have:

1 Clown
2 Chromis
1 FireShrimp
2 Emerald Crabs
5 Turbo Snails
2 red legged Hermits
2 he legged Hermits.

To be honest the tank looks great after 2 weeks. And it may not have fully cycled but all my parameters and tests are perfect.

 

A lot to address here I'll try to go point by point in the order you posted:
It is impossible to tell if a fish is "happy," just because it does not look dying doesn't mean he's healthy. Thriving and surviving are two different things. The patchiness is probably nothing to worry about, fish tend to make themselves look paler when stressed or while sleeping to help avoid detection (amazing evolution for the sleeping part).

You should have followed your observation (if you spent all that time doing research why did you not follow it?). I'm not sure if you've ever run a business, but it should be noted that an LFS is a business too. Their purpose is to make money. They will tell you what you want to hear in order to make a purchase then and there. You can save a LOT of money by purchasing base rock and seeding it with a piece of live rock, and also get much more aesthetic pieces. Again, I suggest skipping that specific LFS or at least researching before hand (and actually following your findings), they'll just tell you what you want to hear.

Look like stock lighting and only a koralia nano powerhead in there along with the (presumably) stock pump in the back. Unless you only want to keep zoanthids and aiptasia, you'll need to upgrade both. FWIW I have a biocube 14 and run a maxijet 1200 for the back pump and two koralia nano (425gph) and still would like more flow.

You'll also find that the bad algae tends to settle in after a month or two, so yes it may look good on the second week, but it will hit.

Please define "perfect parameters and tests." A cycling tank can not have perfect water quality, it is physically impossible, that is the point of cycling.

I understand being excited but you need to take a step back for a moment, reevaluate your research , and see the bigger picture.

Sorry if you take this as being rude.

 

Nothing good happens fast in this hobby.

Go slow let it grow.

Trust me those are absolutes in this hobby, you may get around them temporarily, but disease and coral loss/invert will come home to roost eventually.

With all that said, I love BioCubes, you can really grow some great corals.

The best advice I can give you is seek assistance here or on another site before every purchase, do not be offended when others tell you to slow down or recommend appropriate livestock for your tank. We all want you to succeed, and for you to have a healthy well balanced system that you will enjoy long term.

Good Luck.

 

@ Va Reef

Thanks for your response. Indeed I currently run my own business and previously had my own nightclub. I understand your thought of them trying to make a quick buck to the customer but my friend who owns this LFS gave a me a hefty hook up should I say. So trying to palm me off a quick sale was not a issue here. And for the guy who has 20+ years experience to my just reading and observation was good enough for me.

My observation earlier may have been them just playing or arguing as they seem to have settled more and seem friends again.

Altho u are right nobody can tell if a fish is truly happy but you can sure tell if they aren't. My fish are chill at night and playful during the day. I guess most fish are.

I have a koralia 425gph and yes using the stock pump. For now it seems to do the job fine. I did think about getting updating the stock pump but for now I'm good. The tank has a nice flow for what I need right now.

The lighting is not stock and The extra LEDs were added on day 1.

You maybe a reef junkie and know it all, but in my observation you seem to have a lot of flow on a 14 biocube

Then again maybe u have some I corals than need it.

When I say the water parameters are perfect I'm referring to

Nitrate 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
Ph 8.0

What is the perfect water parameter if that's not lol

Im probably going to get rid of 1 chromis anyways as I want to get some other fish, if the loner freaks out then he will probably go too.

Hit me up if your interested mate lol
They may be "happier" in your 14 haha

As I'm new to this hobby I do take everyone's options on board but also have my own, sometimes there is no right way of doing something as some have one rule for one tank and another for a different tank. Each tank is different but were all on the same path and that's to enjoy a nice looking, healthy tank with cool fish. I'm on the right track I believe

As for the algea bloom warning in a few weeks I'm looking to forward to tackling that

 

+1

I purchased two small juvinile Chromis with the hope of having a mated pair, but unfortunately, one bullied the other so badly that he barely had any scales left when he died only a month later. I have seen successful schools, but as mentioned, they were large schools in huge tanks. OTOH, I also read of one aquarist who "maintained" his school of ten by replacing the dead periodically.

 

Replies are within the quote in blue:

HTH

 

@ Va Reef.

I understand, but when you get everything pretty much half price or less I can let him take any profit he wants haha.

Whats strange is the blotchiness comes and goes on this 1 perticular Chromis, I 'spotted' (no pun intended) it again the other day, and when I fed the fish and within 1 minute his patchiness disappeared... strange??

Yeah I am looking at keeping zoanthids, palythoa, and other soft corals to start with. Im new to this and don't wanna jump in the deep end just yet.

The brand of LED's are CORALIFE BIOCUBE LED BAR LUNARS Blue & White upgrades.

I care about my livestock, and wanted one Chromi, but to have a couple to help the tank cycle was good with me, I intend on giving one back to the store. the patchy one tbh lol.

The fish now realize when I'm in the room and follow the lid when it opens as they know that means feeding time, they all pretty much eat out my fingers if i let them.

Ive also just noticed a baby fancy tiger striped sea star that was a hitchhiker, so thats a good sign, he's coming out of the rocks and roaming around.

all in all, the tank is doing well, I'm happy, Just ran my new mini UV Stralizer for a 2 days to kill off any parasites that may have been present.

Do you have any pics of your 14 Nano?

So far I haven't come across any major issues and things are looking good as far as I can tell.