Royal Gamma bullying yellow Goby

[Cas]

Hello, I am having an issue with my Royal Gramma bullying my yellow Goby. I’ve had Royal for just over a month and bought my Goby a week later.

Royal and the other fish in the tank, a pink streaked Wrasse who I’ve had for months, have both been showing hostility (raising fins and opening mouths), but it’s gotten worse recently.

Royal has started buffing Goby and has been opening its mouth far wider than used to. There have been no mouth attacks yet, but I am worried there will be.

I have heard of the partnership between a Pistol Shrimp and Goby, and believe that if they would be able to partner, Goby would be much safer and happier?

Would you suggest I purchase a Pistol Shrimp and what would you suggest I do to make the pair happy?

Any help would be appreciated,
Thank you

 

[P-Dub]

Well, it's a Royal Gramma and are known to be territorial. Sounds like it has a large territory or your tank is small. So, how big is your tank, for starters?

 

[Cell]

I would not recommend adding a pistol simply to make the goby feel better. Only add a pistol if you want a pistol and are prepared to accept the good and bad.

 

[WMR]

How big is your tank? Grammas are mostly bluff, they usually settle down after a couple of days, unless it’s another gramma or fish that’s similar in size, color & habit that occupies same niche as itself. Since they don’t for either, should be ok, but, if they do attack it, put aggressor in sumo, acclimation box(timeout) for a few days to give goby time to settle in, hope this helps

 

[suta4242]

Royal has started buffing Goby and has been opening its mouth far wider than used to. There have been no mouth attacks yet, but I am worried there will be

The coral goby is probably still settling in, does it have a piece of acro to feel comfortable (even if it’s dead)? Once it settles in it will ignore the gramma who is usually all talk IME.

Would you suggest I purchase a Pistol Shrimp and what would you suggest I do to make the pair happy?

There are pairings between various watchman gobies and shrimp. In these relationships the shrimp is very fussy about the fish it pairs with.

Is this what you mean? They won’t pair with random gobies so it won’t make a difference here.

 

[Cas]

Well, it's a Royal Gramma and are known to be territorial. Sounds like it has a large territory or your tank is small. So, how big is your tank, for starters?

I have a 94L tank with lots of rock with places to hide. I used to have the same breed of Goby but had a tank crash a few months ago which killed it with only Wrasse and a few corals left. There were no issues before with Wrasse and my previous Goby.

 

[P-Dub]

Every fish has a unique personality. Let it ride and hope they fgure it out.

 

[Cas]

The coral goby is probably still settling in, does it have a piece of acro to feel comfortable (even if it’s dead)? Once it settles in it will ignore the gramma who is usually all talk IME.




There are pairings between various watchman gobies and shrimp. In these relationships the shrimp is very fussy about the fish it pairs with.

Is this what you mean? They won’t pair with random gobies so it won’t make a difference here.

The closest to an acro is my tree coral, but that’s the sexy shrimps’ coral. Would you suggest I buy another with a form similar to an acro? There are a large amount of rocks and holes for it to hide in. I am trying to stay away from hard corals at the moment as I had a rank crash a few months ago and the tank is just becoming stable again.

And yes, the pairing is what I mean. I have heard that some will completely ignore each other if they weren’t paired earlier, and some will pair almost immediately. Just depends on the personality of each animal from what I have seen

 

[Cas]

How big is your tank? Grammas are mostly bluff, they usually settle down after a couple of days, unless it’s another gramma or fish that’s similar in size, color & habit that occupies same niche as itself. Since they don’t for either, should be ok, but, if they do attack it, put aggressor in sumo, acclimation box(timeout) for a few days to give goby time to settle in, hope this helps

My tank is 94L with lots of rock and places to hide. And my three fish are just about the same in size which I assume is one of the reasons why they are showing hostility

 

[WMR]

My tank is 94L with lots of rock and places to hide. And my three fish are just about the same in size which I assume is one of the reasons why they are showing hostility

Question, is your goby a yellow watchman or clown(coral) goby? I could see them threatening the coral goby because it will inhabit the same areas as the gramma and the wrasse, I’m assuming you have a watchman goby because you mentioned pairing it with a pistol shrimp, initially, they’ll harass him because he’s new, but, he inhabits the bottom of the tank, which shouldn’t be an issue

 

[WMR]

My tank is 94L with lots of rock and places to hide. And my three fish are just about the same in size which I assume is one of the reasons why they are showing hostility

Question, is your goby a yellow watchman or clown(coral) goby? I could see them threatening the coral goby because it will inhabit the same areas as the gramma and the wrasse, I’m assuming you have a watchman goby because you mentioned pairing it with a pistol shrimp, initially, they’ll harass him because he’s new, but, he inhabits the bottom of the tank, which shouldn’t be an issue

 

[Pbh-reef]

One more question - are you sure it is a royal gramma and not a bicolor dottyback? I mean no offense by asking it’s just that the dottyback looks similar enough to sometimes be mistaken for the gramma and is much more aggressive so just wanted to
Rule out this possibility.

 

[suta4242]

Hi cas,

Sorry, I assumed you had a yellow coral goby. Ignore what I said if it’s a different species!