Chromis are peaceful, ha!

seecrabrun

seecrabrun

Active Member
I know you all know this already, but dang if every newbie doesn't get suckered into thinking chromis won't kill each other!

I had 2 identical 3/4" ones in my 20H and one was beating up on the other one. It got to the point he was afraid to come out, even at feeding time. He would wait until the other got his fill and then try to get some.

Just came home to my crab eating him. No surprise. I wonder if I should have separated them somehow at least until he got his strength back?

Definitely not getting another chromi to go with this guy.
 
seecrabrun

seecrabrun

Active Member
Kind of surprised because I've successfully kept 2 aggressive damsels together, but they are different species. Is it because they are the same that the chromis fight like that?
 
jorge garrido

jorge garrido

Member
I have 3 green chromis in my tank and are doing fine... they do chase each other from time to time but are really nice fish
 
Bryce E

Bryce E

Active Member
Also keep in mind that in the animal kingdom that animals seem to have the ability to sense when something is wrong with another creature... when it is sick or terminally ill. I have had a fish get sick and start getting attacked by all the other fish (including the the most peaceful ones). Removed them only to quickly find them dead.

If he wasn't being beat up to the point that all of his fins were chewed off or seemed to have chunks taken out of him resulting in the cause of his death; but then you found him dead then it's possible he was already sick, going to die and that's why the tank mates turned on him.

However on the flip side being attacked not only hurts the fish physically but also causes stress and makes the fish more vulnerable to disease so it could also be the exact opposite as well.

I'm sick because I'm being attacked... I'm being attacked because I'm sick...

But in my experience fish behavior has never been by the book. (they all have their own personalities) I have had successfully had many fish together that aren't supposed to be kept together and I've also had problems with fish being together you wouldn't think you'd have problems with so it can be really hard to say.

2 males of the same species around the same size without enough space?And one just happened to be a jerk? Who knows for certain, probably just lot's of guesses here.
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
Chromis and damsels are close cousins. You're probably going to have more luck schooling chromis than damsels, but there certainly is no guarantee either will get along with their own kind. You'd probably stand a better chance of co-existence if you introduced a large school of them at once, so none of them have a territorial advantage. Then again, there's always one a**hole in the crowd, right? It's a hit or miss situation...
 
ClaptonsGhost

ClaptonsGhost

Active Member
I've got seven, 6 blue chromis and one bluer one, plus 3 humbug damsels. They all school together but they attack food like pirhanhas. They're crazy. Sometimes they'll attack each other, but these days I wonder if all the ocean pollution hasn't changed fish personalities for the worse. At any time my Queen Angel will attack my Naso Tang, the Hippo Tang will attack my Flame Angel, my firefish will chase my Yellow tangs, it never really ends. Ah for the days of passive co-existence...
 
seecrabrun

seecrabrun

Active Member
Bryce, that is very true about them getting picked on. I was thinking the crab may have smelled his demise and went ahead and finished him off.

He may have been sick, but they had just come out of QT on Saturday. He was doing great in QT, but ever since introducing to the tank he would barely come out of hiding at all.

He then started showing lots of damage to his fins and scars on his body. I would watch them and the dominant one was very aggressive, I even saw him grab hold of his tail and the poor thing struggle to get free. When that happened, I thought the crab had him, but the crab was still in his cave on the other side of the tank, then I saw the dominant one behind him.

I guess there is no way to know for sure. The crab was eating him and already halfway done.
 
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