Royal Grammas

[BLUESMAN]

Okay I've done 3 days of searching the net on trying to find out info on these guys!I've very conflicting results from only one in a tank to keeping several.I've also read where the females can turn into males.What is the real info on these guys?I'd like to get a pair for breeding, should I get 4 or 5 and watch them in a smaller tank to see who is the dom. male?

[OrionN]

I keep 4 in a 100 g tank without problem before. Be sure you get one large and several (2 or more) small ones if your tank is larger than 60 g. The largest one is the male and the other ones are females. I don't know if they change sex or not. I was never able to find out from an authoritative source that they do or don’t change sex. It seems from my experience that they do. It is possible that two male will fight. I never have serious aggressive interaction between Royal Gramma before. From the start, I followed Scott Michael's advice of keeping one large one with several small ones. I have kept them for about 5 years now. I never keep a reef tank without them. They have always spawned in my tank every few weeks. Certainly there are people out there that have problem with Royal Gramma killing each other. Initially, I though that they may have mistaken Royal Dottyback for Royal Gramma. Now I think they may have put two males together.
Good luck with your tank and with these beautiful fishes. Please let me know if you find out any information on these beautiful fish that is not anecdotal from reefers.

[JRegs]

Minh,
Have you ever raised their spawn? I haven't seen RG's available commercially bred but that may be because it's not financially viable yet. Thanks for any info.

[BLUESMAN]

Minh, Thanks for your advice and experiences.The BLUESMAN

[OrionN]

I never try to raise them. I think you can raise them in a small tank feeding rotifer as first food.

[BLUESMAN]

Can I keep a pair with my clowns in a 55g tank?And do they get along with Neon Gobies?

[OrionN]

My Royal Gramma never give any other fish in my tank problem. I got Ocellaris clowns and a varieties of peaceful fishes. Orcasionally, Royal Gramma show their big mouth to each other and to other fishes but never actually bite and cause a would that I can see. I never kept Neon Goby so I don't know specific but I don't see why not. You can keep 3 RG in your 55 g tank.

[BLUESMAN]

Minh,Thanks for the info.You said I could keep 3 RG"s in my 55g....why 3 and not a pair?Also I have 4 clowns(Tomatos and Cinnamons) along with 2 PJ cardinals.BTW I have a 29g rear sump that has 35# LR and 6"DSB.I was planning on first putting the RG"s in the 29 to see if they were going to not to kill each other.I believe you also had info on Cardinal fish......another fish I'd like to breed in my bottom 2-25g tanks.I have 2 clarkii's and 2 saddlebacks clowns in them.One of these days I'll hook up the Digital camera for some pics!

[OrionN]

In the wild, RG live in harem with one male and a group of females.

[OrionN]

Originally posted by BLUESMAN
....Also I have 4 clowns(Tomatos and Cinnamons) ......
How are your 4 clowns doing. I only have experience with Ocellaris and Maroon clowns. Back when I was a neewbie, I keep a pair of juv. Maroon clown and a pair of Ocellaris clowns together in a 100 g tank. This did not work too well. They were fighting all the time. I have to return the Ocellaris. Seem like you have lots of clowns. Are these matures clowns? Are they doing well together or are you going to separate them. In the future when I have some time, I plan to taank raise these beautiful fishes.

[BLUESMAN]

Minh....The Cinnamons and the Tomatos are doing great.I brought them the same day and they all play together.The large Cinn. I believe is the female (2 1/2") and the large Tomato (2") I beleive is still a male....He wants to breed with her it seems.So I guess at this point a have 1 female and 3 males.I will have to separate them at some point....I hate to they get along so well.The female loves "her and only her Bubble Anemone"!The Clarkii's I have in one of the Petsmart 25g display tank.They are very large size(4" and 3") so they are a pair.The Saddlebacks are in the other 25g tank(the 25's are side by side...4' length).They are (2 1/2" and 1 1/2").....so they have a while.Beleive or not I still want to get a pair of Maroons and True Sebaes and Perculas!I figure I can put a pair in my 55's rear sump(29g) and the others in my brother's 100 square tank and his 25g sump.Can you tell I just love these Clowns?!!!!Of course I'll be busy if they ever all breed at the same time!!!!!And now I want Bag. cardinals and Gobies and of course RG's!My 55g might go to an 80 if and when i can find a good price on one.Sounds like I have a few more tanks to set up!My tanks have been set up since Nov. of 2000.See ya....Michael

[joezkool]

maybe I can help on the royal gramma thing. I own one, only one, and for a good reason. I read up on these guys for a long time. As far as getting along with other fish, no problem. Royal Grammas are peaceful, EXCEPT!!! with fish of there kind, or similar looking fish, such as a blackcap blasset, which is basically a RG but different color. Even a pair of male/female royal grammas with kill eachother, unless they are a pre-mated pair from a group. The only way supposedly to have them breed, is to have a group of them, say 4,5 or 6. I would love to breed them, but I don't want that many, I woulda liked 2. There is also no visable way to tell male from female, not even by behavior, unless again they are a group. Any time ya see them in your LFS, notice how they are all kept seperate, i hope anyways :) I've seen 2 in my LFS ripping each other to shreds! Watch for your clowns too, they may want to try & pick on them, but the RG will use his ole wide mouth trick (they stand up for themselves most of the time) Hope I helped.