Chromis kissing?

GreenSpottedPuffer · #1 01-13-2009, 08:28 PM

I couldn't get a good picture yet but two of my chromis look like they are kissing constantly. They face each other and then, well, it looks like they kiss

It also kind of looks like they are nipping each other mouth to mouth but not in aggression. Or kind of like they are cleaning each others mouths?

Has anyone seen anything like this?

I will try to get a picture.

Pier Pressure · #2 01-13-2009, 08:50 PM

I used to have cichlids and know they show their aggression and fight by mouth locking but I have never seen or heard about this in the salty world.

marie · #3 01-13-2009, 09:02 PM

It's how chromis fight, in my tank the loser would end up pouting in the corner till it died

GreenSpottedPuffer · #4 01-13-2009, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marie

It's how chromis fight, in my tank the loser would end up pouting in the corner till it died

Oh ok, never seen them fight like that before. None are pouting in a corner either. They do it for a moment and then swim side by side. I am actually amazed that none have killed each other. This is the first time I have been able to keep them in a group without a bunch of aggression. They are with a school of 7 Scissor Gobies. The 9 chromis and 7 scissor gobies all seem to mix nicely together.

marie · #5 01-13-2009, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Oh ok, never seen them fight like that before. None are pouting in a corner either. They do it for a moment and then swim side by side.

It usually took a few weeks for a loser to be decided

GreenSpottedPuffer · #6 01-13-2009, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marie

It usually took a few weeks for a loser to be decided

Interesting. They seem to be quite hit or miss. I know people keep them in schools with no problems for years and others seem to keep them in a school and they kill each other off within months. I wonder if feeding has anything to do with it? I feed the tank 3-6 times a day now but when I tried them once before, only 4 lived more than a year but I also fed only once a day. Of the four they then bullied one of them to death and the last three were fine together for another year. I have not tried a bigger group again though until now.

GreenSpottedPuffer · #7 01-13-2009, 09:02 PM

Yeah they didn't seem to be fighting though. If they were, it was the most passive chromis fight I have ever seen! It was very gentle touching and nipping at the mouth.