Top swimming fish

hooked · 03-31-2002, 04:30 PM

Hello all,

I have a clown, royal gramma, and firefish in my tank. They all stay mostly at the bottom to mid tank. What can I buy that will stay small, non aggresive, and swim mid to top of tank? I feed daily with flake and about 2 times a week I feed brine.

Also my royal has been flashing for over 6 weeks, strange but he eats and seems to be doing good. Does that make any sense?

Thanks,

Doug1 · 03-31-2002, 04:43 PM

Jim, most coral fish will spend the majority of their time close to there bolt holes. Usually over time at least the clown and gramma may venture out more. By the way the last few grammas I have had flashed but never came down with obvious illness.
Grazers will cover more of the tank, swimming wise, but that in its self can be problematic, ie tangs in small tanks,FWIW

hooked · 03-31-2002, 04:59 PM

I tried a lemon peel but he died after about 4 weeks. Think he probably needed more space to swim

DaveJ · 03-31-2002, 05:02 PM

How about some chromis?? I have 1 in my display and he is always in the upper portions.. the 3 in my eclipse go all over. They are not overly attractive, though far from ugly and are very peaceful.

karlas · 04-01-2002, 12:26 AM

maby your clowns will venture out my pair of percs are all over the tank but they swim with the g. chromises also these are great fish nice color and make for a busy tank

fishinchick · 04-01-2002, 01:18 AM

Remember Chromis are schooling fish and prefer to be in groups of three or more. I have four that I have moved back and forth from my reef to my F/O tank several times depending on my bio load.

They are good dithering fish and will bring your tank alive from them just being 'out'. They did that to my tank. They are pigs and eat alot but they are pretty and lively. Chromis are very shy and big chickens so I guess if they are 'out' the other fish assume its safe or there must be something to see. I thought it was a bunch of blarney but I did see a difference when I put them in the tank.

AND chromis are easy keepers and fairly cheap.

Timur · 04-01-2002, 04:35 AM

I also havechromis in my tank (3) and they are very active and swim at the top portion of the water.

Brooke · 04-01-2002, 09:40 AM

Another vote for chromis. They are always swimming about. I would probably change the diet of your fish. Flakes and brine are not really an ideal diet. Try finding frozen mysis shrimp and feeding those a few times a week instead of the brine. Brine shrimp have basically minimal nutritional value while mysis shrimp are much, much better!

HTH-
Brooke

hooked · 04-01-2002, 09:56 AM

Thanks for all the post

I see everybody is in favor of chromis, will I be ok with just 1? My tank is small and not really wanting to fill it up with all the same type of fish. Also I will look to my LFS for different food then, thanks for the tip Brook

Thanks,

DaveJ · 04-01-2002, 10:29 AM

Get at least 2... since they are better in groups. They are small, barely an inch long and make little mess. I think you should be fine with 2 of them, you can always pick out the smallest you can find.

karlas · 04-01-2002, 10:46 AM

i would suggest getting at least 2 also. i had 1 at first and all he did was hide and wasnt doing very well.but as soon as i added the 2nd they paired up and were out all the time and not only looked better but was a lot happier