Royal Gramma help

[BeccaB]

I got a royal about 1 week ago and tonight I noticed my clowns going after him and he would run (swim really fast) away, well all of a sudden my firefish was caught in the middle of all this and the royal bit my firefish's tail took a little chuck out. Then the firefish went over to the side where the clowns hang out and when the royal would come anywhere close to the firefish the clowns would chase him away.
Is this normal for a royal?
I have been reading and I have not seen anything saying they are agressive.
Any feed back would be great, as much as I like my royal, I dont want anything to hurt my firefish.

 

[package]

You are going to read that Royal grammas are peaceful and people are going to post the same thing.

I have had 2-3 and they were all very nasty.

You can count on the gramma harassing the firefish and if you have any shrimp (cleaner or fire), they too may also be targets. Mine did not harass all of the small fish. They did not mess with the goby type, rock sitting fish but definitely any smaller open swimming fish such as a firefish.

The Gramma is also a bear to catch.

 

[BeccaB]

Thanks, That is what I have read everywhere, but mine is not peaceful by any means.

 

[haitwun]

I once had a pretty belligerent gramma too. His aggression subsided as soon as he became fully settled into the aquarium. New grammas tend to test their territorial boundaries before those boundaries are firmly established.
Let your gramma get established in his very own hidey-hole and he should be less aggressive.

 

[rhkingsfan]

Wish I saw this thread a week ago. I bought a gramma but have only seen him once in about 4 days. He might be eating without me seeing though.. I wonder how long till he comes out.

 

[natan]

give him another week or so to come out. iagree with settled specimens being bening and new ones showing some agressive behavior (also in my case no phisical damage was ever done).
I am not surprised hearing that firefish is a target-it is way too similar in shape and behavior to be safe, the general rule of thumb thims to be that all (almost) marines are territorial and dislike lookalikes.

 

[pammy]

I'm one of the lucky ones. I bought a Royal Gramma a couple weeks ago and he stays out all the time now, and doesn't bother any of my other fish, including my firefish. He doesn't seem to pay attention to any of the other fish. He has a good appetite too. I suppose how much they stay out has a lot to do with other tank mates, as well as the individual Royal Gramma.
I had a Pygmy Possum Wrasse who didn't come out a lot, but came out often enough to enjoy him. You'd definitely see him crusing the tank here and there. Once I added a VERY active Coral Beauty, the possum wrasse went into hiding and I rarely ever saw him again. Pam

 

[lesleybird]

If you have him in the 29 biocube with a firefish that is of similar size and coloring then no wonder. There is not enough territory in a tank that size for any similar fish. It is not the royal gramma's fault. In the wild they would have a hole in a rock and defend their small area as their own from other fish. In your tank he cannot do this so you have your aggression problems. Lesley

 

[phaedraeos]

My gramma can be a bit of a twit. He mouth threatens the foxface and the clowns, but never actually bites. He does however divebomb any hermits that are on the edges of the rock, sending them on a long (and hilarious) arc into the sand bed.

Based on his behavior, along with what I've gleaned from other people regarding their experiences, I'd say that that grammas are "spunky" fish that can also have a tendancy to be agressive to conspecifics, or other small peaceful fish.

 

[LauraCline]

I've had both, the first one I had was an absolute terror and killed a purple firefish upon the purple's intro into the tank. That one even harassed snails and hermits. Now I have one in with a purple firefish and a bunch of microgobies and she is very docile, the firefish has actually chased her a few times.

 

[kes_reef]

My royal gramma and the firefish seem to co-exist fairly peacefully on the right side of my tank. The gramma is larger and definitely the one who could be the aggressor, but doesn't engage in any threatening behavior toward the smaller firefish. They were added pretty much about the same time.

Generally, the royal grammas can be aggressive especially after being established in the tank. It'll probably settle into its comfort zone area and not veer too far away from it. It's a beautiful fish and though the size and color pattern is very similar to the royal dottyback, it's not NEARLY as aggressive. ;-)

 

[Dizzle63]

I have a royal gramma that I added after a purplefirefish and there is some gesturing by the gramma, but the firefish is not harmed nor does it hide. Aggression has gone down significantly since adding an african flameback, which now runs the tank. By the way, are the aggressive grammas true royal grammas or are they Brazilian grammas, which I have heard are a bit more aggressive?