Royal Gramma?

[huseman808]

I bought my first fish for my tank yesterday. It has been runnning for a little over 3 weeks. I seen my Nitrates, Nitrites, and ammonia spike up then jump back down to zero. Salinty is 1.025

I acclimated him for a half hour with the turkey baster method. Introduced him to the tank and he went into hiding and have not seen him since. I threw in a frozen thing of fish food this morning, but he didnt come out to eat that that I seen.

I guess for my first fish I shouldnt have picked one who likes to hide so much, because now I dont know if hes just hiding or dead. Is it normal for them to hide for that long?

 

[GhostCon1]

How large was the piece of food? You may need to get that out. Firefish are skittish little guys, it may take him a bit of time to adjust before he comes out. IME, when they get hungry enough and you feed, they will come out and start to settle in.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

It may still be hiding. Grammas can be very timid. How big is the tank?

 

[huseman808]

maybe the size of a pee, a little bigger. Its all broke apart now, but the cleanup crew should take care of it. So you think when hes hungry, hell come back out and then I can start feeding?

 

[huseman808]

26 gallon tank with 30lbs of live rock with a lot of spots to hide.

 

[Ritten]

They can be very shy at first. He'll come out when he's ready. You'll just overfeed trying to get him out with food .

 

[sslak]

Often new fish hide for a few days. Generally nothing to be worried about.

 

[dixiedog]

Grammas always hide for a few days at first IME.

 

[mistacheese]

My gramma hid for the first couple days as well. I was told by many that this was a character of this fish. He now lives right in the exact middle of my tank and basically just sits there waiting to be admired... He'll happily stand his ground to my Orange Striped Bristle Tooth tang, and just sits there. He will also chase my laser pointer against the front glass with my clownfish. Just wait, he or she will come play...

 

[GhostCon1]

How large was the piece of food? You may need to get that out. Firefish are skittish little guys, it may take him a bit of time to adjust before he comes out. IME, when they get hungry enough and you feed, they will come out and start to settle in.

Replace "fire fish" with "royal gramma."

 

[huseman808]

cool, i dont feel as worried now. Thanks guys

 

[huseman808]

He died

Not sure why, just did a salinity and nitrite, ammonia, nitrate and ph test and all came back fine.

Salinity = 1.025
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0
Ammonia = 0
pH = 8.2

 

[Drez]

Dont sweat it, mine was super shy at first. With time as he feels more comfortable he'll come out more. Even my last clown was that way fore the first couple weeks, by week three he was eating out my my hand.

 

[mike_cmu04]

Sorry to hear that. I got one a few months ago he would not come out for anything and a few days later died. My levels were also all zero must have just starved.

 

[dublo8]

Sorry to here about your fish. Even though you acclimated him. I dont personally think it was long enough. Some may disagree but did you test the water from the LFS? The salinity could have been way off from what you currently had in the tank your tank. Also, when they go into hiding any number of things could have got to it. A bristleworm, a crab as well could have got to him while he was hiding. It's hard to say what truly happened but I would have acclimated him a little longer. just keep that in mind for your next fish purchase.

 

[Jstdv8]

Hows your surface aggitation?
Do yuo have powerheads pointed at the surface of the tank to cause lots of ripples?