Nickfishman
New member
what would i have to do to breed royal grammas?
royal gramma breeding
- Thread starter Nickfishman
- Start date
elegance coral
They call me EC
First, establish a pair. I personally have not figured out how to tell male from female. This will be the hard part. They often don't seem to get along. Unfortunately, I lost several trying to produce a pair.
Once a pair is established, they will need a nest building site and material. A small dark colored bottle with a small opening will work, or just a hole in a rock. The male will build a nest in this hole. I grew caulerpa in the tank to give him nest building material. I have been told that they will simply lay eggs on the interior walls of the hole if no nest building material is available. I have not tried this. The male will collect caulerpa strands and drag them into the hole and build a nest. Every evening, during breeding, the male and female will meet at the entrance to the nest. They will do a little mating dance, then disappear into the nest. The eggs are laid on the algae where the male cares for them. He rarely leaves the nest during this time. The eggs hatch in the order that they were laid. I forgot the time frame, but I think it's about a week from spawning to hatch. As they hatch the male collects them in his mouth, and spits them out of the nest opening.
This method of reproduction makes collecting the fry much more difficult than collecting clownfish fry. The only way I know to do it is with a larvae catcher. There will be a few fry produced every night.
This also poses a problem with raising the fry. With clowns, you'll have several hundred of the exact same age, and requirements. With RG's you only get a few of the exact same age, and requirements, but they are produced every night as long as you can keep them spawning.
HTH
Peace
EC
Once a pair is established, they will need a nest building site and material. A small dark colored bottle with a small opening will work, or just a hole in a rock. The male will build a nest in this hole. I grew caulerpa in the tank to give him nest building material. I have been told that they will simply lay eggs on the interior walls of the hole if no nest building material is available. I have not tried this. The male will collect caulerpa strands and drag them into the hole and build a nest. Every evening, during breeding, the male and female will meet at the entrance to the nest. They will do a little mating dance, then disappear into the nest. The eggs are laid on the algae where the male cares for them. He rarely leaves the nest during this time. The eggs hatch in the order that they were laid. I forgot the time frame, but I think it's about a week from spawning to hatch. As they hatch the male collects them in his mouth, and spits them out of the nest opening.
This method of reproduction makes collecting the fry much more difficult than collecting clownfish fry. The only way I know to do it is with a larvae catcher. There will be a few fry produced every night.
This also poses a problem with raising the fry. With clowns, you'll have several hundred of the exact same age, and requirements. With RG's you only get a few of the exact same age, and requirements, but they are produced every night as long as you can keep them spawning.
HTH
Peace
EC
Nickfishman
New member
cool. thanks for the advice.
socalireefdood
New member
following! sounds very interesting how do you get a mated pair? is there something you look for?
I purchased 3, one large and two smaller. I divided the
QT tank into sections for each with egg crate, dumb idea as they could get through the openings! All was fine for a couple of days, then the larger started picking on one of the smaller. Unfortunately I lost that one before I realized what was happening. I put a permanent divider in for the remaining two for duration of QT. I then released the smaller Gramma into the main tank first, then the larger. No serious aggression, not sure if they will breed, but they do hang out together.
HTH
QT tank into sections for each with egg crate, dumb idea as they could get through the openings! All was fine for a couple of days, then the larger started picking on one of the smaller. Unfortunately I lost that one before I realized what was happening. I put a permanent divider in for the remaining two for duration of QT. I then released the smaller Gramma into the main tank first, then the larger. No serious aggression, not sure if they will breed, but they do hang out together.
HTH
