How Long Do I keep a Juvenile Gramma In An Acclimation Box?

[TinkL]

I made a similar question regarding box placement, but this is a different but still related question.... How long exactly should I keep this juvenile gramma in the acclimation box? when considering a damsel who bullied a previous juvenile to a stress death (pretty sure it was ich driven, but caused by the stress from bullying). I was thinking a week or 2 since it's so small but any opinions are welcome, I want to make sure there is as little aggression as possible when releasing it. Also is it wise to release it at night as well?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

It should not be there long. Its a timid fish that likes to hide in the rocks, and if its out in the open with no hiding spot then the stress is increasing.

Any tank with an established damsel will be difficult to add a new fish, the smaller the tank the more aggressive it will be.

 

[TinkL]

It should not be there long. Its a timid fish that likes to hide in the rocks, and if its out in the open with no hiding spot then the stress is increasing.

Any tank with an established damsel will be difficult to add a new fish, the smaller the tank the more aggressive it will be.

I moved the box down to about mid level and the damsel is definitely not happy with it lol. It's going after the box pretty consistently so HOPEFULLY it dies down over a few days to a week. If after a week it's still being aggressive towards the box I might consider putting the gramma in my other tank instead because I really don't want it to be killed again by this ******* fish

 

[doodledreads]

Damsels are vicious. Grammas are timid when new to the tank - most fish are. May be put damsel in the acclimation box and let the gramma establish itself? And change the rock work a bit so damsel is thrown off a little?

 

[TinkL]

Damsels are vicious. Grammas are timid when new to the tank - most fish are. May be put damsel in the acclimation box and let the gramma establish itself? And change the rock work a bit so damsel is thrown off a little?

Moving rocks / taking them out to catch the damsel isn't an option unfortunately otherwise I would've done it a long time ago. I expect eventually I'll get sick of it enough to take rocks out to move him though, but not atm. Grammas are my ONLY issue with him though and it's difficult to find a larger one at stores around me, even ordering them... I'm just hoping a longer box acclimation will make him less aggressive on release, because this damsel had 0 aggression towards a new cardinal and court jester goby when added before

 

[TinkL]

It should not be there long. Its a timid fish that likes to hide in the rocks, and if its out in the open with no hiding spot then the stress is increasing.

Any tank with an established damsel will be difficult to add a new fish, the smaller the tank the more aggressive it will be.

It's about the 4th day now and the damsel stopped being aggressive towards the box entirely yesterday... I want to say this is a good sign but who knows with these chihuahua fish. I'm leaning towards letting it out later today or tomorrow

 

[Kens Bees]

Any results come back? I’m in the exact same boat with a b_tch damsel and a small gramma in acclimation. The gramma has been in there a week now.

 

[TinkL]

Any results come back? I’m in the exact same boat with a b_tch damsel and a small gramma in acclimation. The gramma has been in there a week now.

Sorry for the late reply... haven't been on in a while.

After releasing the gramma out of the box my damsel went straight for it even after the week it was in the box, so I ended up taking rocks out to catch the damsel. He's been long gone since which sucks because I did like him, but way more peaceful and eases my mind for future additions.

I assume you've dealt with it by now since its been almost a month, but hopefully you found a solution that worked! If not... get rid of the damsel lol.