Blue Green Chromis Keep disappearing

[MaineReef22]

I bought a school of 4 and one after another they started disapearing i went out of my way to make my tank reef safe yet i still cant keep one of the easiest fish in the hobby but ive had my hippo tang and yellow tang for almost 2 years now. The only thing i can think of that im starting to wonder about is my fancy brittle star. SOMEONE HELP ME IM VERY ANNOYED AND I HAVE 1 LEFT!!!

[gts1218]

Sometimes they tend to pick one another off until only the strong survive.

[AquaReeferMan]

That is very common my friend. Many people have tried groups of these, including myself, only to find that they usually always end up with 1 or 2 left.

[floydie83]

yup...this is common with chromis...I started with 5 down to 2.

[Ucantwin]

Same with me, I had five and all disappeared

[mike_cmu04]

I also started with 4 and am now down to 1

[RyanAlan]

Check your overflow.

I have the same problem and they "slip through the crack"...

[tarantula]

Do you have a Green Brittle star by chance?

[cato]

Yep very common. I bought 50 wholesale a yr ago and have 2 left. lol

[steelhead77]

Yup. Started with 7 now have 4. Very common.

[Ritten]

They need to be fed a lot. Like Anthias, they need several feedings per day.

[serpentman]

They will "weed" out the weak ones. Also, some tiny chromis just fail to thrive after shipping.

On another note, I remember buying 11 chromis for my 300g. I watched in horror and amazement as my clarkii clowns caught them and fed them to the anemone one by one. In the course of 20 minutes, all 11 were nem food. $50 down the drain but one happy anemone.....

[goldmaniac]

yes, i bought 24 at once, and they did pick on the weakest individual. the less numbers you start out with, the faster they single out the weakest one.

I had 24 --> 18 for about a year
then 18 --> 6 in about 6 months
then 6--> 3 in about a month

AND i have had a green brittle star eat lots of fish. the biggest was a full-size Flame Hawkfish, freshly added addition.

[davocean]

I see people say this often and I don't get it.
I'm on my 3rd tank over about a 12 year period that has started w/ the same # of chromis, and never once experienced them picking each other off.
My longest running tank w/ chromis started w/ 6 that I had for 6 years, only reason I don't still have them was from a heater failure.

[Lynnmw1208]

geez! i didn't know that chromis were like this. i've heard they're one of the easiest fish to keep. checking them off my stocking list. perhaps I'll go with 3 anthias instead... :o

[Stroob]

Mine were slowly disappearing. Would start with 5 and end up with 2 or 3 within a few weeks. Read plenty of stories on others picking on each other and weeding themselves out and ignored it. I walked by the tank one time and saw 3, 10 minutes later I had 2. I started hunting for the 3rd and found out what was going on. The tank wasn't drilled so I had a hang on overflow and they were making it through the slits in the overflow box and going surfing through the U - tube.

[swenholz]

I'm with davocean. I have had a school of 6 for 3 months and they are fat and happy and hang out with my clowns all day...certianly didn't think I was the exception.