Fish aggression

Mf2991 · Sep 4, 2019

What should I do ! I have one green chromis (Dave) that has been it the tank alone for a few weeks alone ...two weeks ago I added another chromis (Karl). Dave immediately began picking on Karl and Karl was found dead under a rock with In a week ... Tested water and everything is good. I can only attribute Karl's death to Dave's aggression. Today I bought a pair of clowns. ( Judith and Ralph) and Dave is starting his crap again chasing them around being a major bully. I don't want to lose another fish because of Dave. Should I let it ride and hope they figure out how to coexist or should I remove Dave from the tank ???? Help

Peach02 · Sep 4, 2019

What I would recommend is taking dave out of the tank and putting him in the sump for a few weeks or into a acclamation box

mta_morrow · Sep 4, 2019

Keep in mind all of those fish are damsels.

Usually a single chromis with clowns is ok.

How big is your tank. It may be a space and territory issue.

Or, you have a rogue chromis. In which case I would sump it for a couple weeks. Maybe change your scape a bit and add another fish or 2, but not damsels!

sfin52 · Sep 4, 2019

Mf2991 said:
What should I do ! I have one green chromis (Dave) that has been it the tank alone for a few weeks alone ...two weeks ago I added another chromis (Karl). Dave immediately began picking on Karl and Karl was found dead under a rock with In a week ... Tested water and everything is good. I can only attribute Karl's death to Dave's aggression. Today I bought a pair of clowns. ( Judith and Ralph) and Dave is starting his crap again chasing them around being a major bully. I don't want to lose another fish because of Dave. Should I let it ride and hope they figure out how to coexist or should I remove Dave from the tank ???? Help

Add four or five. This the aggression would be spread out over the group. I had my five for five years now. My tank is 75g. How big is your tank. They can get a bit rough.

flyline · Sep 4, 2019

I though green chromis were supposed to be peaceful schooling fish. I know they are in the damsel family but I thought they were the exception. Just wondering I was considering adding 4 or 5 to my tank I’m going to set up due to them forming schools I thought it would be cool to watch.

ShepherdTech · Sep 5, 2019

flyline said:
I though green chromis were supposed to be peaceful schooling fish. I know they are in the damsel family but I thought they were the exception. Just wondering I was considering adding 4 or 5 to my tank I’m going to set up due to them forming schools I thought it would be cool to watch.

They are actually not a schooling fish, but a shocking fish. I have 6 in the 210 and they don’t bother each from what I see, but group up when danger is near...aka the red wrasse is chasing them or a tang spooks everyone.