Chromis had babies

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namelessuser

Premium Member
I have a 125 gallon tank that I dont get to take care as much as I'd like due to work. Its a mix system with a Purple tang, a couple of clowns, and a few chromis. I havent changed the water in the last 2 months at least, and I remember when I was cleaning the glass one of my chromis was far more aggressive than normal. While I was cleaning the glass, it kept attacking the cleaner and wouldnt stop until i was done. Loud thumping noises against the glass.  I didnt think much of it other than that I would probably end up giving all my chromis away to avoid any future aggression. Here we are two months later and I'm cleaning the glass before a water change (which is completely covered in algae, except the front glass) and after the algae settled I noticed these little tiny tadpole like critters a couple mm long swimming around my hammers eating up the algae. It was amazing to see.Now I'm wondering if I should go through with the water change. I know they probably wont survive to adulthood, but I dont want to do anything that needlessly harms them. I have a auto water change system plumbed into my overflow and return that steadily routs 200gph from a reservoir into my return lines and a spigot attached to the overflow dumps out the excess water. All of this is done while the return pump is shut off so no more water enters the tank or leaves the sump, than there was before.  It definitely makes for a smooth water change with my corals who dont seem to notice a water change is happening. I'm wondering though, if this is too much for the small fry. Maybe I could close the valve a little on the return so the water enters even slower? My main concern is some pretty expensive SPS of mine is starting to bleach from a lack of water change and dosing and I was trying to get back on top of that as of today until these little guys showed up. View attachment 1708
 
Wow that is awesome! Those actually look pretty good size. I think if they made it this long I don't see why they wouldn't make it. I would go with your plan on slowing the flow. As long as the water change isn't sucking them out they should be fine. Very cool, thanks for sharing!
 
Well here we are 24 hours later and I'm down to 8 babies from at least 12-13. Perhaps the water change did them in. How old do you guys think they are for this size? Is this something I stumbled upon at the right time or were these guys around for a week or so and slowly have been dying off from a larger brood?   Its crazy to see how they look almost fully formed but so tiny. I fed the tank some coral frenzy which they seemed to be darting around for. I decided I'm not going to waste time or money buying any extra specialized fish food. Hopefully one or two survives, but I'm guessing that's just wishful thinking. 
 
I have not ever seem chromis fry before, but they look allot bigger than the damsel fry I have seen in my tank.Unfortunately the other fish in your tank will eat them and also go down the return. You might try catching them and put them in their own "cage" in the tank like this.https://www.amazon.com/Uxcell-Aquarium-Breeder-Breeding-Hatchery/dp/B00LHXVIT6You would probably also need to feed special food but the reef food may work.Might look at other breeding logs for the chromis and see what it would take for that fish.Thanks for sharing all the info!
 
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