Royal Gramma

[Finess]

I gave a 60 gal tank with live rock, an emerald green crab, a chocolate chips starfish, cleaner shrimp, a red legged hermit crab and a new addition a royal gramma. Question. I purchased this fish last saturday and didn't see him for 2 days. I still put food in the tank. He showed himself on the third day and has on and off come out of his hiding place (huge rock with plenty of holes). I am beginning to get worried because I don't know if he is eating or not. I haven't seen him since yesterday. Any advice?

[Telco Guy]

How long has the tank been set up? What are your water parameters? How was the fish acting at the LFS before you bought him? How long had he been at the LFS?

Sorry for all the questions, but I need a bit more to go on. :wink: New additions will sometimes hid for a while and I've been told can go without food for up to two weeks.

[Finess]

Tank has been established for 6 months. All perimeters are fine. the fish was actually trying to hide under a rock and had no hiding space. Very active. Was at the LFS for several days

[Telco Guy]

Ok, well, it may just take time for him to get comfortable. What are you using for food? Was he eating at the LFS, and if so what were they feeding him?

[Rock Anemone]

Royal Grammas are very shy fish and often spend most of their time in the rockwork. After about a few weeks you should start to notice them swimming out more in the open and interacting with the tank life. However, they will still hang out relatively close to their territory.

Rock Anemone :D

Yes Royal Grammas Are Very Shy Fish. I Think Andrew79 Has One Maybe You Can Pm Him And Ask Him About His Fish

[Finess]

After worrying for the last 2 days I finally pulled the rock out. There I found my poor gamma dead inside. I don't know what happened could he have gotton stuck and died?

[Zack]

OMG :cry: soo sorry to hear that!! all the water is fine?

[Finess]

Yeah I think he got stuck and couldn't get out. I still can't get him out what do I do??? I hate to break the rock.

[Zack]

so it is like stuck in the rock?? Be best to get him out unless you got a yop of line clean up crew. Sorry
There I found my poor gamma dead inside

so what exactly in a hole??

[Finess]

No more fish till I settle in. I'm having a house built and will be moving in february. I don't want to stress fish in moving.

[Finess]

a rock with alot of holes in it. Kind of what you get at the LFS nice rock. He must of gotten stuck. Clean up crew like? crabs,??

[Finess]

Clean up crew like emerald crab or hermit??

[Zack]

clean up crews as in crabs snails ect? Anyway can u maybe use a plstic fork to nudge him out? any chance you got a pic?

[Finess]

yes it is stuck in the rock, in one of the little creveses (cave like). i really don't want to break the rock though...

[Finess]

I will have to get a picture tomorrow I'll post it then. Thanks!

[paulsreef]

FWIW, I had that happen to me once. It was a Bicolor Blenny, poor little guy. It was one of those holes that was so small I couldn't get him out. What I ended up having to do was put the rock in a 5 gallon bucket with some tank water (from a water change) and let the carcass disolve a bit for a few days and then I more or less blew the peices out with a turkey baster. Then I washed the rock off really well with clean SW. No problems after that. Kind of gross, but it beats letting the carcass foul your water.

[mjc]

A cleanup crew, regardless if it's snails, hermits, emeralds, or shrimps, would be equivalent to a vulture. You'd be surprised how quickly any left over food or dead livestock would be removed and eaten by the crew.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the RG is initially a shy and reclusive fish, but once it's accustomed to its surroundings, it'll be out in the open. The RG can be an aggressive fish, not that it will attack others, but it'll hold its ground against others. My splendid dottyback would occassionally harass my RG, the RG would stand firm and open wide, its mouth. Other small fish, eg., strawberry or sixs-bar dottybacks, might be harassed by the RG. The RG will eat almost anything, flake, pellets, frozen and live food such as brine, mysis and the occassional guppy feeder.

Well My Goby Hangs Out In A Little Hole And He Was In It While My Emerald Crab Went Into ThE Hole And The Goby Was Stuck, But He Lived That Could Have Happened To Your Fish. Something Could Have Been Blocking Him

[Finess]

I cracked open the rock and I saw my RG and what was left was a shame. It was picked clean just skeleton. Poor little guy. :( :cry:

Wow, That Stinks. Sorry To Hear About That

[tnguy86]

i've actually had a damsel do that. he got stuck in a hole and his fins locked him in. odd. but i think the reason he dint come out was bc he dint have a swimming friend. some fish dont come out unless there is another fish. this happened with my blue tang. he hid all the time until i bought a bicolor pseudo. then when my brothers crab trapped my pseudo and killed it, the tang no longer had a friend so he resumed hiding.