Dottyback or royal gramma

[muggle0981]

So my daughter wants a purple fish-was looking for a royal gramma

went to a lfs store not my regular but they are in town

they had none, explained and she tried to sell me on a dottyback

said no thank you as i believe they are aggressive and a nuisance

She proceeded to say royal grammas are the exact same-i’ve never heard that...and i know every fish is its own fish-and personality

 

[Mikedawg]

Orchid dottys are not particularly aggressive, and behave much like RGs in my experience.

 

[El_Guapo13]

Grammas are territorial more so than outright aggressive. That said, my own Gramma is becoming a real pain. He has started to venture outside of his normal "territory" almost constantly and while doing this has become much more aggressive to the other fish in my tank. And after he seriously hurt my Fairy Wrasse resulting in the Wrasse getting an eye injury and Pop Eye, I am planning to catch him tomorrow during my water change and take him to my LFS and maybe get some store credit for him.

 

[Rickybobby]

My new dottyback has become the boss in my qt tank he chases all the others around. But saying that qt tank is small and no rocks or caves

 

[vetteguy53081]

No issues with my orchid.
Other would be strawberry basslet:

Black cap basslet:

Purple firefish goby:

 

[Homebrewer]

So my daughter wants a purple fish-was looking for a royal gramma

went to a lfs store not my regular but they are in town

they had none, explained and she tried to sell me on a dottyback

said no thank you as i believe they are aggressive and a nuisance

She proceeded to say royal grammas are the exact same-i’ve never heard that...and i know every fish is its own fish-and personality

Just wanted to address the “exact same” advice. They are most definitely not the exact same, they quite literally are different fish.

Attributes of each are already being described

 

[Pistondog]

So my daughter wants a purple fish-was looking for a royal gramma

went to a lfs store not my regular but they are in town

they had none, explained and she tried to sell me on a dottyback

said no thank you as i believe they are aggressive and a nuisance

She proceeded to say royal grammas are the exact same-i’ve never heard that...and i know every fish is its own fish-and personality

My orchid has found his happy spot, and gets along in a crowded tank. He was the last to go in.
Beautiful fish, not a bully here.
Lots of hiding places.

 

[fishguy242]

the strawberry basslet is a great choice,have a personality,and glow under actinics

 

[Dakippy]

Grammas look better than dottybacks imo and in my experience were less agressive. My orchid dotty used to always attack my bicolor blenny.

 

[HeyJay]

Seems like you're rolling the dice either way. I've had an aggressive orchid dottyback and currently have very large yet peaceful royal gramma.

 

[mann1139]

I always thought dottybacks were a 'weight class' above basslets.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Orchid and elongatus pseudos are relatively peaceful for dottybacks. Most others can be pretty vicious toward peaceful fish.

Grammas are usually less aggressive, but will defend their favorite cave fairly vigorously.

 

[nereefpat]

Maybe you guys have had different experiences with strawberry (basslet) psuedochromis. Those fish are nasty. Careful with dottybacks (psuedochromis). Orchid (P. fridmani) dotty is a good one. Most others don't get along in a community tank with smaller fishes.

It's a little confusing since they and gramma use 'basslet' in their common names. Gramma are more peaceful.

 

[jtf74]

So my daughter wants a purple fish-was looking for a royal gramma

went to a lfs store not my regular but they are in town

they had none, explained and she tried to sell me on a dottyback

said no thank you as i believe they are aggressive and a nuisance

She proceeded to say royal grammas are the exact same-i’ve never heard that...and i know every fish is its own fish-and personality

Never had the slightest problem with grammas.