Royal Gramma's
 

We just bought a Royal Gramma on Friday. When we got it he darted right into the live rock and hid. At times we would see his head poking out but he never did come out not even at dinner time! Yesterday we tried moving the rock we thought he was hiding in to get him to come out and he wasn't there. Now we don't know where he is. Is it normal for this fish to still be hiding and never come out after we have had him for 4 days already??? I didn't buy this fish for him to always hide and never see it!

He/she will most likely hide and be nocturnal for a while until it gets used to his new home. It took about 2 weeks before mine was comfortable enough to come out into the open. Once that happened, I see him all day long.

Moving rocks or making changes to your tank will slow the process down majorly in my opinion.

Mine hid for almost a week with eating don't go a diggin for him he will come out he will stress pretty easy if you do that let him come out on his own terms now mine is out all time the only times he hides is to sleep or when my hand go is.....oh yeah and they are known jumpers so I hope you have a lid :mrgreen:

Royal Gramma
 

We bought a Royal Gramma from J&L Aquatics a couple of months ago. It is the most beautiful specimen I have ever seen. When we opened our packages the royal gramma seemed to be the most stressed out of all of the creatures I ordered, so I do not think they travel all that well.

However, he started eating about two hours after I put him in the tank. The next day he looked like he was covered in ich but it was gone inside of 24 hours and he has been nothing but healthy and happy since.

I think they get stressed during moving A LOT. We had also ordered four other various fish and none of them were even close to as freaked out as the royal gramma. This leads me to believe that the more you leave him alone, the more likely he is to feel comfortable and come out of hiding.

Royal gramma's, depending what the tank mates are, may often be a
peek-a-boo fish. If their territory is not threatened they will stay out a lot, if it is they will hide. That said, even with more aggressive tank mates, given some time it will likely still come out and play.

Well today will be day 5 since we got him and he still has yet to make an appearance unless it was during the night??? I don't even know where he is hiding. I look for him everday! The only other fish we have are 2 clowns

that may be your problem, you may need ditherfish to bring him out.

What are ditherfish????

Dither fish are fish used to reassure other fish in your tank., letting them know that every thing is okay simply by their behavior... dither fish are usually a schooling type fish that the more skittish members of the tank can see swimming about freely and thereby get the sense that every thing is okay... not a species of fish particularly but more of a job function i suppose......

i would still give your gramma more time to adapt before rushing out and buying more fish though... hiding for five days is not too long in the grand scheme of things if you look long term.... good luck

I have to agree with everyone else. I have a one that is now very large. But its also one of the most timid of all members of the tank. If you peek at the tank he moves about quite freely, if there is alot of movement in front of the tank, he goes into hiding. However, he will defend his territory once its established and kinda stick around to that place.

Incredibly vibrant purple and yellow color.

Would a school of green chromis's act as good "dither fish"?

Yeah if I had to get dither fish what would you recommend with my clowns?

Those would be fine. In the future you might also think about introducing any new fish at night after lights out. They seem to do a little better. IME

My royal gramma's always been timid. One time when rearranging my rockwork, I pulled a rock out, put it on the tarp on the floor, and when I was putting it back in the water, I discovered he was nestled up in the rock. Thankfully the rock was only out of the tank for about 40 seconds or so.

My sixline wrasses were more adventurous than the gramma in their first two hours than the gramma was in his first two months.

Are there any other fish other then chromis that can act as a dither fish? My boyfriend doesn't like the chromis's (don't ask me why). How many dither fish should I get? My tank is only 40 gallons. By the way I still haven't seen my fish!

How much rock do you have in the tank Kelly?

Hey!
I have 40lbs of live rock plus live sand of course. I wish my gramma was as active as my clowns I got from you!!!

Is the top of your tank covered? There isn't a chance it jumped out the back is there? :sad:

Glad the clowns are doing great for you!

We don't have a top on the tank but I did look behind the tank and I didn't see any fish! Unless he jumped out to the front of my tank and my dog ate him :redface: I hardly doubt that though because he never came out to even have a chance to jump out!

Royal Gramma
 

Um, just a thought - royal grammas are notorious jumpers. Is your tank lid secure? Have you looked for him around the tank? I know that the lady I bought my little reef tank from had a royal gramma jump out of there and die before they found him.

I truly hope this is not the case!

We DO NOT have a lid so he could have jumped out I guess. I looked around the tank but couldn't see anything