Royal Gramma harassment charges

[pacificdiver]

I have a Royal Gramma who was recently introduced to a 150G system that had been running fallow for the last 12 weeks. Not long after adding him, the antennae on the fire shrimp were mysteriously shortened. Turns out, the RG is nipping at them, as the two are fond of the same cave area. My question is, will this sort of thing eventually sort itself out, or do I need to go in and re-arrange rock work, to hit the "reset button?" The shrimp doesn't seem too interested in giving up is lounge area, and the RG is not shy about expressing his feelings.

Any advice?

 

[ThRoewer]

My Gramma male harrassed a jawfish and a goby until they moved away from his rock. He also holds his own against the larger Starcki damsel male (who also has an irrational hatred against gobies and jawfish).

Unless it gets too bad I would just wait and let them settle it themselves.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[scooter31707]

I agree they can be aggressive. They are labeled as semi-aggressive. I got bite in the *** one time getting info from here by telling me that the RG should be on of the smaller fish in the tank when it came to stocking. Well I took the advice, and the moral of the story, the RG is the smallest fish in the tank. Newcomers had to be around a inch bigger than him. I finally had to get rid of him, so I could add some smaller fish like gobies/blennies cause I never could find ones big enough.

 

[ThRoewer]

I would not really classify them as aggressive. They are territorial and try to keep other fish out of their core territory. Unlike other fish they do it primarily by trying to look dangerous and aggressive but rarely engage in actual fights.
My jawfish and goby moved away because they were annoyed by the Gramma, not because they were actually harmed.

BTW, the aggression your Gramma displays could indicate that it is a male. I haven't seen much of such behavior from my two females. They usually just get defensive when another fish comes too close to them and they feel threatened, but they usually don't get proactive.
This difference in behavior between male and female may be the reason for the mixed reviews.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk