Royal Gramma hiding

[roinesaad]

Hi everybody
We have a Fluval Evo 13.5g tank with 2 clowns a nano Gobi and a Royal Gramma. We recently remodelled the rock in the tank and moved our corals to the sand bed on the advice of our LFS. The Royal Gramma was initially very lively and greedy when food made available but now has taken to hiding in caves in the rock and has become very shy. We’re not sure if he’s eating much either, is this normal behaviour for a Gramma? We’re worried we might loose him - we just lost a firefish which was fine but then started hiding out under the rocks and then within 24 hours died

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

4 fish in a 13 gallon is too much, try to keep it to 3, especially with the 2 clowns in the tank, they can be territorial and aggressive.

My royal gramma hides all the time, I see it for a second at feeding time, but it stays behind the rocks all days. Some gramma's swim out in the open, so it depends if you have a skittish or a brave one.

So you have to find out if its being a normal skittish gramma or if its being bullied by the clowns.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Grammas are a hider, but IME when comfortable tend to be out a lot. For it to suddenly start hiding, I’d look at that as a sign something is wrong.
The clowns are definitely my guess. My pair would (and already has) kill anything that touches their 13.5 (they had to be pulled from a 40B for aggression). The firefish hiding before death sounds just like when my pair killed a firefish, and the same for a royal gramma. The best thing you can do is separate the gramma from the clowns.

P.S., why did the lfs suggest moving corals to the sandbed? Most corals do best on the rockwork where sand won’t irritate them.

 

[Uncle99]

You change the scape!
All new territory again for everyone
Not good advice from LFS.

Like starting over from fish perspective especially clowns and RG.

 

[NanoNana]

Imho you’re overstocked. Also, check your water parameters. Literally anytime my gramma has hidden it’s been because my skimmer was running too wet and my ATO diluted the tank a little too much.
My gramma likes when I redecorate. It’s a new world to explore. But my gramma is unusual.