Chromis and shrimp

Why are chromis so hard to keep alive? Also I have difficult time keeping shrimp alive, they will live for 6 months then one day disappear.

 

What other fish do you have? Damsels, clownfish, and anthias will really harrass chromis and wear them out shortly. They have a tenancy to dwindle in the aquarium because of this situation. Do you have any suspects on the shrimp? Wrasse of somekind perhaps?

 

Yes a couple damsels 1 yellow and a yellow tail blue. 3 baby clowns but they arent too aggressive, For a wrasse its a sixline not aggressive though. My thinking could my blue leg hermit crabs get my shrimp when they are molting?

 

What kind of shrimp? I've tried a couple peppermint but they are gone in a couple months. I have had my coral banded for 3 years and he has been housed with a couple different triggers, puffers and a rock wrasse. He is pretty big now, his damn antennas are like 6 in long so he's not very good at hiding from me haha. I also had luck with a harlequin for a couple years but I had to feed him a choco star once a month.

You don't have a hitchicker mantis do you? i've heard of that happening but im pretty sure your crabs would be dead too. Another thing I noticed with the pepermints I had is they would only come out at night and usually hide in wierd places( benhind my overflow etc..).good luck

B

 

Just lost my fire last week bought 2 of them at same time one lived 6 months the other a year. Ive had many peppermint and I used to watch them at night they would take the food out of my hand.

 

it's not always obvious, egregious, and intense fighting with chromis and damsels. It's a usually a long term game of wearing down their caloric use vs their caloric intake. It takes years of observation to realize that this is what actually happens. All it takes is posturing by the other fish and chromis are very quick to respond, it puts their nerves on high and they're in a constant mode of paranoia/anxiety. It really takes a toll on them.

 

I'll bet your 6 line is more aggressive then you think Justin- I'd catch mine at night chasing fish.

 

Chromis are notoriously short lived and do better in schools,

Peppermint shrimp has a max life of two years, most others 3 if you are lucky.

 

Hey X are they really easy targets when they are molting? Is this when I've been losing them?

 

I started with school of 6 chromis in my 150 a couple years ago and they beat each other until I was down to the 2 I have now. The 2 that are left beat on each other and chase each other around if one crosses the others territory. The other 4 only lasted 6 months if that together.