Royal Gramma acting weird

[aixelsyd18]

I inherited a approx 2yr old Royal Gramma when I bought my tank in Feb. When I first bought the tank there was only 20lbs or so of live rock in the tank (65 Gallon) and not really aquascaped. I added in another 50lbs of rock and did some basic aqua scaping. One I did that he would spend a great deal of time hiding in the rocks and then dart out for food.

I've read this is very common behavior. Where I'm confused is about 3 weeks ago he dissappeard. I looked around the tank and didn't find him so I assumed that he died somewhere behind the rocks. I didn't want to tear everything apart after 2 weeks of not seeing him so I thought all was lost.

This past weekend I was cleaning my tank and for a split second I seen a dash of Purple and yellow in the back corner of my tank. He was alive!! but I didn't see him again and I still don't see him come out for food. Any ideas on why his behavior changed? Should I be worried? Thoughts?

TIA,
Ben

 

[Madfronter]

Is there a lot of flow in the tank?

 

[aixelsyd18]

When this started I had two maxijet 1200's in the tank one on each side pointing towards the middle. Just last weekend when I was doing my tank cleaning I upgraded to two Hydor Koralia 1050GPH power heads and put them in the same spot. I will be honest from what I've read that is adequate flow but I couldn't say that is a "lot" of flow.

 

[chasekwe]

Maybe he is just finding enough food in the nooks and crannies of your LR that he no longer feels a need to stroll outside.

 

[galoot]

Mine does the same kind of behavior. Staying mostly in a section of rock and darting out for food. I didn't know they don't like strong flow. Guess that's why he hides out.

 

[chercm]

royal and blackcap are always like that