SFREEF3R
Active Member
My royal gramma has a habit of picking up fragments of my birdsnest that I often drop after trimming and using them to plug the rather large entrance to the cave it lives in. At this point the opening is just around the size of the fish vs. several inches across when it moved into the spot about 8 months ago after transferring to this tank. At first I thought that some stray pieces had accidentally fallen in side but there is so much material now it is very clear it is being intentionally done, though I have never actually seen the royal gramma do it (I also sometimes find dead pieces placed on top of freshly cut pieces).
You can see the head of the royal gramma just poking out of his hole in this image:
It's interesting that it only uses the birdsnest coral when there are many materials available. My substrate is largely bigger pieces of crushed coral in all shapes and I regularly drop fragments of other corals in trimming as well. The birdnest does tend to be the only material with a very long and skinny aspect ratio though.
This reef builders article mentions the behavior, though I saw it as more in the context of breeding. I have just a solo individual, so it's interesting to see that they use this behavior just to modify their homes as well.
You can see the head of the royal gramma just poking out of his hole in this image:
It's interesting that it only uses the birdsnest coral when there are many materials available. My substrate is largely bigger pieces of crushed coral in all shapes and I regularly drop fragments of other corals in trimming as well. The birdnest does tend to be the only material with a very long and skinny aspect ratio though.
This reef builders article mentions the behavior, though I saw it as more in the context of breeding. I have just a solo individual, so it's interesting to see that they use this behavior just to modify their homes as well.
Gramma brasiliensis Builds Nests Like a Bird | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
The royal gramma is one of our all-time favorite reef fish and it is one of the most common reef fish in the saltwater aquarium hobby. The royal gramma is found throughout the greater Caribbean but to…
reefbuilders.com
