Aggressive Royal Gamma?

Untamedrose · May 17, 2016

New tank 65 gal....
Introduced fish all at the same time, picked these as first fish cause I thought they where the timid ones....better to get them feeling at home kind of thing.
Pygmy Angel, firefishes and the royal gamma.

Week after they went in I'm having problems the Royal seems to have Claimed the tank. All his!
Have several prime real estate holes hiding holes, more then enough.

Never see the firefishes anymore they are bundled up together wedged between a rock and macro in the back right corner When I first got them they were the show offs. (I thought I lost them like they jumped and the cat had a snack at first :/ )
Making sure to get food to that corner, have seen least one eating.
Angel comes out for food, and to nip macro but mostly stays in the left hand corner cave underish some LR and is chased by Royal when he comes to the "open areas"

Doubled check I did not get a dottyback, looks like a royal gamma to me.
Mugshot:

So Q....any suggestions on what to do?

I read that moving the rocks around might help, but also bit worried that would stress the firefish more too.

Also should note that the Royal is the largest fish in there ATM, firefish are about the same lenght but he has double the weight...and the Pygmy poor things like a quarter(suprised me TBH how tiny he was!) Next fish I was planning on getting was some clowns, think it might help if I get some larger ones?(yes I know not to get two females) So the Royal isnt the biggest in there.

LBehr · May 17, 2016

Royal grammas are a basslet which means just as mean as dottybacks. I've seen them murder much larger fish some are more chill than others but if he's already being that aggressive I would probably pull him. It could get better but it could also get a lot worse.

Lynn52 · May 17, 2016

Maybe you can pull him for a few weeks, put him in your sump or QT tank. Let the other fish get comfortable and establish their territories, maybe add the clowns too, then add the gramma back.

PatW · May 17, 2016

I have a fairy basslet and it is mild tempered. But it is in a large tank. A fish can be Mr. Hyde in a 65 gallon and Dr. Jekyl in a 300.

michellejy · May 17, 2016

I normally never get rid of fish, but this one is terrorizing the rest and keeping you from stocking your tank. You could try putting him in fish timeout (like an acclimation box or a sump, as mentioned above), but be prepared for that not to make any difference.

jd371 · May 17, 2016

I have a 75 gal and mine only gets aggressive when a fish gets too close to his cave. He'll charge out of his cave open mouth and raised fins until they pass, it's comical.
If it doesn't get better I'd pull him and introduce him after a week or two.

Untamedrose · May 17, 2016

I ordered a purple barnacle clustered the other day, should be here soon.

I pulled him and put him in the Q tank.

Thinking maybe if I can get him to claim the cluster, and live in that...perhaps I can move him and it back in the tank. With less problems..maybe

eatbreakfast · May 18, 2016

Royal grammas usually aren't too bad, but there are always exceptions. That being said, it being larger than the the other fish is contributing to it's dominance. Removing it temporarily should help, as should adding a few more fish to occupy it's attention and to diffuse the aggression.

RMS18 · May 18, 2016

I have a black cap basslet, he was aggressive at first but then calmed down. He did chase after fish, claimed 4 caves. Took about 3 weeks for him to clam down now my clowns will chase him if he enters their territory. Fish are weird, I have come to that conclusion. I will be adding 2 new fish to the tank soon, I am going to use a acclimation box for the smaller fish. Other fish is larger and sand sleeping wrasse so he should be able to hold his own.

Untamedrose · May 30, 2016

Just a follow up ....this seems to have worked. Will of course keep an eye on it, he might just be pretending to get out of time out ;)

Put him into the Q tank added the barnacle cluster and removed the normal pipe hiding spots from it.
Add two clowns to the Main tank, waited for them to get over most of the "No.. I'm the girl!" arguments.

Added him back in on Saturday...so far so good havnt seen any signs of aggression from him and he's been sticking to and stuffin his barnacle with random stuffs. Everyone is out and about, eating well, and seems happy. :)

RMS18 · May 30, 2016

Not to be the Debbie downer but as he becomes more comfortable back in the tank he will claim what he wants. At the end of the day these fish have behaviors that are beyond our control and will do what they want. These pets surely aren't dogs and cats :)

Untamedrose · May 30, 2016

Hey now! no poppin the pretty bubbles!!

Already talked with the not so local fish store...they are willing to give me credit for him it if it comes to that. So I do have an Out if I need it.

RMS18 · May 30, 2016

Untamedrose said:
Hey now! no poppin the pretty bubbles!!

Already talked with the not so local fish store...they are willing to give me credit for him it if it comes to that. So I do have an Out if I need it.

Hopefully he stays calm! Personally I love the royal/black caps. Goodluck