Royal Gramma harem

[norfolkgarden]

The LFS owner who has a tank of gramma's also has a fondness for black caps. There are usually at least 3 or 4 black caps available in the store. Usually in instore pairings.
He says they can be more cryptic then the gramma's.

Funny note. The black caps are usually in smaller tanks with much less rockwork, in the top row of tanks, at eye level. Usually with just plastic plants that you can see through and a few small rocks that are easy to remove to make catching them much easier.
They are usually 1.5" to 2.5".

Unique and beautiful fish!
Not as colorful from the far side of the room as the gramma's.

The gramma's tank is at thigh level, they are seldom larger than 1.5" and they still stand out beautifully.

Lol, I would swap it all for a yellow tang that wasn't a jerk, even at 1.75 inches, and didn't outgrow the 75 quickly.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Mine grew fast. The male was about 3 inches. How big is your tank? They don’t eat dry or flakes. Almost exclusively frozen food.
Are they healthy and FAT? They should be fat.

My gramma eats flake and pellet.

 

[josavvyy]

Once they settled in do they mostly hide or are they out and about near the entrance of their caves?

Once they settled in do they mostly hide or are they out and about near the entrance of their caves?

I just looked at my tank and 5 are out in the open and are not very skittish. I always see all seven when I feed. I do have a good amount of rock and they do scatter when the blotchy gets upset.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Are the Royal Gramma more likely to maintain their color if there are a group of them and if they are fed a large variety of food?

 

[Makers Marc]

Are the Royal Gramma more likely to maintain their color if there are a group of them and if they are fed a large variety of food?

They always maintain their color IMO

 

[ca1ore]

I've had a quartet of them in QT for a few weeks. On the small side (maybe 1 3/4"). They'll be going into the big tank after the 4th holiday.

 

[HairyGary]

I've had a quartet of them in QT for a few weeks. On the small side (maybe 1 3/4"). They'll be going into the big tank after the 4th holiday.

How are the harems doing?

 

[norfolkgarden]

Decided to take the plunge.
7 total. One is 1.25" and the rest are smaller than an inch.

Picked them up 3 days ago.
All are out and hungry at dinner time.

Cyclops, PE small mysis for the biggest one, Cobalt shrimp and vegi and Cobalt Marine Omni get gobbled by the small ones.

 

[Kremis]

didnt know you could have more than one! Thought they would always kill eachother. I have one already established 2 inch, if I were to add more would that still work or no? tank is 180

 

[norfolkgarden]

You would need access to pathetically small ones.

And a ridiculous amount of rock for each of them to hide in. Took almost 2 days before the 2 smallest came out to feed.
The smaller ones can fit in holes in our rocks that the bigger one can't get into.
See the picture below for the amount of rock in our tank.


TBH our 1.25" gramma is from the first batch of 7 we tried 2 months ago. (Wanted to wait to post progress to see how it went.)
They all got along great for a month. (Lol, "great" meaning no deaths and everyone ate well.) Some hid a lot and others were out all the time. That worked well for a month.

Got greedy. Added 3 more *tiny* Gramma that were well under 3/4 of an inch, for a total of 10 Grammas. As well as several other fish...

"No quarantine" finally bit me in the backside.
Lost 13 fish total over a week period.

The remaining 6 other fish seem ok to this day.
Waited another month and started again with 6 more small Grammas to add to the 1 remaining larger Gramma.

Didn't quarantine the new Grammas. They have never been a problem fish.

Do plan on setting up a separate 20 gallon and quarantining a new pair of longnose hawkfish when that becomes our next purchase.
Waiting for at least a month before worrying about trying to purchase the fish.
Setting up the quarantine tank now.
[emoji53]

FWIW, I am just following the Grammas stocking pattern of one of my favorite LFS. They constantly add new small Royal Grammas to the same tank on and off every month.
I can't take credit for this idea.
[emoji18]

They have to take out about 30 pounds of (intentionally non-holey) rock from that tank every time they need to catch fish.

 

[ca1ore]

How are the harems doing?

It did not go well. Basically ended up with just the largest one ......

 

[OrionN]

This is so strange. I never have any problem with getting a harem of RG in my tank

 

[norfolkgarden]

Sorry to hear it didn't work out!

I know I go overboard with information in my posts.
[emoji848]

But could you tell us a little more about the size tank, amount of rock work, # of Grammas you started with, time to whittle down to just 1 remaining?

Thanks!

It did not go well. Basically ended up with just the largest one ......

 

[bluedevils6653]

Sorry to hear it didn't work out!

I know I go overboard with information in my posts.
[emoji848]

But could you tell us a little more about the size tank, amount of rock work, # of Grammas you started with, time to whittle down to just 1 remaining?

Thanks!

Please do I have been thinking about adding a harem as well

 

[ca1ore]

I quarantine all fish. They were in my standard 20L with some PVC. If I were to try again, I think I would put them into a 30L that is setup with live rock permanently. The other thing to note is that they didn't arrive to me in particularly good shape; all showed fin rot to varying degrees.

 

[norfolkgarden]

I understand the quarantine part, [emoji17], wish I got serious about it earlier.

So they weren't in a 'natural' environment and acted like blue green chromis...
How long did that take?


Our original 7 were fine together until the disease outbreak brought in by another fish.
But that was only a months worth of time.

I quarantine all fish. They were in my standard 20L with some PVC. If I were to try again, I think I would put them into a 30L that is setup with live rock permanently. The other thing to note is that they didn't arrive to me in particularly good shape; all showed fin rot to varying degrees.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Day 5.
Doing well so far. Every one is out eating.
They have spread out to about 60% of the tank looking for permanent homes.
They bunch up at feeding time.
Random yawning but nothing more. To many places to run and hide to.

 

[OrionN]

Are the Royal Gramma more likely to maintain their color if there are a group of them and if they are fed a large variety of food?

They always maintain their color IMO

In my personal experiences, Royal Gramma will loose there brilliance color unless feed a good variety diet. Specifically the purple will loose it's brightness very easy.
Also Male RG will have longer pelvic fins, and will have more purple and less yellow, meaning the area separate purple and yellow will gradually move toward the tail of the fish as he change from female to male. the appearance change lags behind behavior change by a quite long lag.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Any suggestions on a varied diet?

We are currently feeding Cobalt Marine Omni, Cobalt shrimp and veggie (pygmy angelfish) and Cyclops, PE Mysis, San Francisco Bay Mussels.

Thanks!

 

[OrionN]

They mostly eat frozen, so just get variety fresh sea food for them. Some will eventually eat flakes. This will really help with diversity f=teir diet. You can get them much better nutrition if the eat dry food.