Yellow Watchman and Royal Gamma Issues

[anthony2012]

I have a 1.5 year old 16 gallon mixed reef tank. I have read several threads talking about royal gamma aggression and that it normally calms down. My question is where do I draw the line? I recently added a yellow watchman and the royal gamma has really been going after him. The watchman seems stressed swimming up and down the tank towards the glass and this morning I noticed a tear in his tail fin. This has me concerned. Any advice on what to do from here? should I return him? I don't want him to get bullied to death.

In case its relevant,
salinity: 34.5 ppt
Temp: 78 F
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0.05 ppm
Alkalinity: 8 dKH
Everything is measured using Hanna testers

 

[Biglew11]

Royal Grammas should be in 30 gallons or more. It's likely your gramma is feeling crowded. How much live rock do you have? Is there enough hiding places for the fish to hide in?

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Agree with Biglew11 but having both too I’ve never had much aggression out of my gramma towards my YWG. My gramma is always quick to investigate any new addition but after it’s established where the gramma lives - very important to basslets - the “aggression” dies down. In fact my gramma is probably the most docile in my tank. I would say give it time for the YWG to ding it’s space in the tank (mine took a couple of days) and “aggression” should die down. BTW it’s my experience that YWG will swim up and down in against the glass (rising and sinking in the water column) until they have found their home.

 

[anthony2012]

Royal Grammas should be in 30 gallons or more. It's likely your gramma is feeling crowded. How much live rock do you have? Is there enough hiding places for the fish to hide in?

Thanks for getting back to me. The royal gamma was recommended to me and being a novice I got one. I found later I should have him in a bigger tank. He has several areas in which he hides and really hasn’t caused any trouble up to this point. I have a lot of live rock, again being a novice I kinda just placed it without thinking. The tank was originally 20 gallons if that gives you an idea. I plan on upgrading once I get a more permanent residence.

 

[anthony2012]

Agree with Biglew11 but having both too I’ve never had much aggression out of my gramma towards my YWG. My gramma is always quick to investigate any new addition but after it’s established where the gramma lives - very important to basslets - the “aggression” dies down. In fact my gramma is probably the most docile in my tank. I would say give it time for the YWG to ding it’s space in the tank (mine took a couple of days) and “aggression” should die down. BTW it’s my experience that YWG will swim up and down in against the glass (rising and sinking in the water column) until they have found their home.

Thanks! That makes me feel better. I just hate the idea of doing any harm.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Thanks! That makes me feel better. I just hate the idea of doing any harm.

Yep! You could always dim/turn off lights. But neither my gramma nor goby venture far from their homes. Keep me posted.

 

[happyhourhero]

You could get a tiger Pistol Shrimp and it would make a house for the goby and give it a purpose. To me, there isn’t much cooler than symbiosis. If you go that route, just search a few threads so you can see what other people have gone thru and if that would be a good choice for your system. My gramma doesn’t bother my YWG at all. My gramma has the best cave in the tank so it’s pretty happy acting.

 

[Mark Bradley]

I assume it’s not a dottyback in error?