Royal Gramma's are great fish but can tend to hide. Once you get more fish they are more likely to come out and be seen. Royal Gramma is one of my favorite fish.
I agree. I love mine, even if he/she hides a lot. I was target feeding its spot in the rock for two days before it finally decided it was hungry enough to come out. For a while there, I was afraid it was dead!
I do really enjoy the look of the 33g long's, like they go on forever lol
I do, too. I love the low profile. It also provides a lot of lateral space for fish, and expands your ability to keep certain types of fish. It really feels stream-like, which was what it was before I turned it into a reef; it was a native Minnesota stream tank.
My LFS told me Royal Gramma were aggressive. I never heard that so left me a little puzzled.
I just ordered the tank yesterday - I will do TBS "The Package" as well. Any tips you or things you wished you knew let me know lol
Sounds like bad advice from your LFS!
Tips for TBS:
-First, I have to say that I love my TBS rock and creatures. I know that it's likely that some/a good amount of certain life (barnacles, sponges, etc.) may eventually die off, but there's so much other life, and I think the rocks simply look great. I haven't seen any live rock at any of my many local stores that look half as good. I'm totally new to this hobby, so I guess that's something to consider.
-The fist half of my package (I bought the 20-gallon one, i.e. 40lbs live rock) came with these hitchhikers: gorilla crabs, pistol shrimp, likely one unseen mantis shrimp, several porcelain crabs, 1 star fish, 2 serpent stars, 1 sea cucumber, a few hermits, limpets, some good snails and some whelks that I have removed.
-The second half came with: More porcelain crabs (I have at least 12-15 that I've seen -- there are probably more), 2 sea cucumbers, 1 brittle star, 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 macroalgae, 3 different types of larger stand-alone sponges, 1 photosynthetic gorgorian, 2 pieces of tube coral, a bunch of blue-legged hermits, a bunch of snails, 2 rock flower anemones, more gorilla crabs, 1 mithrax crab, 1 pistol shrimp.
-The rock is encrusted with tunicates (orange and gray), several small feather dusters, small cup coral, other types of sponges (pink, black, gray), worms and misc. pods.
-My first part of the package reached peak ammonia in four days and quickly went to 0ppm. My second part of the package cycled just as quickly. I think the great rock and sand really quickens the cycle.
-There are gorilla crabs and pistol shrimps. I removed some gorilla crabs right away and had to trap others (about 6 total). I know there are more in the rocks -- I can see them.
-I had removed the two pistol shrimps but decided to keep them. I believe I also have a mantis shrimp because I hear a lot of clicking and have seen dead crabs shoot out of the rock work. (My first pistol shrimp was also in a holding tank when the big rock went into the tank and I immediately heard clicking.) I also see tiny bits of rock rubble floating out from the rock. I haven't decided whether I will take greater measures to remove it. I am kind of a sucker/hippy.
-If I could do one thing differently, I would set up a very large work space on a kitchen table with a few/several different tubs (wide-mouthed square or rectangular plastic tubs, NOT 5-gallon plastic buckets like I used) of clean saltwater to place the rocks in while inspecting them. I think I'd have one or two empty tubs and a few with water -- maybe one with deep water so I could fully submerge the rocks in it and use a powerhead for pest removal (see below).
-I would also have tools on hand to remove the gorilla crabs and mantis shrimp -- soda water to flush the holes, a powerhead connected to tubing to force jets of water into the holes (as someone higher in this thread smartly suggested), sharp skewers to spear any crabs (if you want to get serious, although I found their shells quite resistant -- I used a plastic chopstick and didn't kill any of my crabs), tongs to catch anything that tries to escape, wire to chase crabs out of holes, etc.
-And I'd keep a bucket/tub of saltwater nearby to store the captives. (I ended up keeping all of mine in a different tank all to themselves! What a sucker!)
-I did a visual inspection of my rocks and used my fingers and a plastic chopstick to remove several crabs, but I could have used a better work station, better tools and a better process. It was my first time dealing with live rock. I didn't realize how many tiny crevices they have!
-You're going to get a lot of water on the floor, so definitely pull out the towels, newspaper, etc.
-I'm about four weeks in from the very first part of my package. I'm just now seeing an explosion in pods (I can't identify which kind). This makes me think that it'd be a good idea to let your tank, rocks and sand sit for a while before adding fish that could decimate a growing pod population. I know it can be hard to resist adding fish as soon as your water parameters stabilize!
-Then sit back and relax! I haven't had any other issues.
No Royal Gramma's are not aggressive unless with another one like it. Even then they just try and intimidate by opening their mouth's really wide.
That said if your LFS was worth 2 cents they would tell you to stock fish from most aggressive to least aggressive. And saying that a RG is aggressive is a stretch.
Agreed.
Fiver how many "bad" crabs do you think you have? I am going to follow along/ in your foot steps on the package lol
-I pulled about 6 gorilla crabs and 1 mithrax crab. The unseen mantis shrimp killed another two gorilla crabs. I know there are at least 4 more in there, and probably much more. They ranged in size from a nickel to the size of a lentil. They're fast, and can hide very easily in the rock work. I've been trapping them, but some don't fall for it.
