adding a royal gramma and a purple pseudochromis

[PapaKlix]

a guy at the LFS told me that a royal gramma would murder my cleaner shrimp. i've been meaning to get rid of the cleaner shrimp anyway as they're always stealing brine from my chalices but would there be anything to worry about in adding one of each of these little guys to my 80 gallon?

current stock:
2 false percs
1 juvenile sailfin tang
4 yellow tail damsels
2 cleaner shrimp (getting rid of these)

[buffalo123]

Royal should be fine with the shrimp unless the shrimp is tiny

[thomasp123]

I have a Royal gramma and two cleaner shrimp and a pepermint. I have no problems at all. I did have once for a short time a purple and yellow pseduochromis and he was the meanest fish ever. went after every living thing in the tank. I returned him after tow days and a lot of ripped fins.

[noahm]

I dislike my purple psuedo. He is fine with the fish that are in my tank currently, but will attack anything new until it is removed or dies. Nice looking though. In the sump now. He also picks at the snails when they are out. I did not realize why they quit coming out until I put new snails in and they hadn't learned to duck yet. Now that he is out, all of my snails are much more active. Royal gramma should be ok though.

[PapaKlix]

so i got one today and added her to the tank. the yellow tail damsels are giving her a hell of a time, i see she is missing a little piece of her tail already. i don't really care for the damsels anyway, should i get rid of them?

[rowjimmy]

Originally Posted by PapaKlix

so i got one today and added her to the tank. the yellow tail damsels are giving her a hell of a time, i see she is missing a little piece of her tail already. i don't really care for the damsels anyway, should i get rid of them?

When I added my Royal Gramma to an established reef tank with my (single) Yellow Tailed Damsel the damsel gave it hell right off the bat. I guess cause they both have yellow tails. It would constantly "hunt" down the Gramma and fight with it picking at the fins.

Once the Royal Gramma got used to my tank and picked out a safe territory to defend it was able to hold its own and fight off the attacking damsel. Now they are both fine together. Once in a while they take on an aggressive "stance" with one another, but one or the other will quickly head back to their hiding spot diffusing the situation. The nipped fins of the Gramma healed quickly with regular feedings/good water quality.

If you have 4 Yellow Tailed Damsels though I would be concerned. If indeed they are all picking on the Gramma. A one on one fight and the fish has a fighting chance, but a 4 on one situation where the fish is constantly being picked at by 4 different fish will be too stressful IMO with what I experienced with just one damsel.

The one damsel was relentless, ripped the fins and tore a small hole in the underside of the gut of the Gramma. I thought I would lose the fish, but it started fighting back once it got used to my tank. The fins healed and the gut wound healed up nicely. Now it gives the damsel hell if it gets too close to its' territory.

If it had 4 damsels to fight off I don't think it would have made it, and would have probably died from stress/wounds/starving from hiding. Just my experience with these two fish FWIW. Best of luck!

[PapaKlix]

Originally Posted by rowjimmy

When I added my Royal Gramma to an established reef tank with my (single) Yellow Tailed Damsel the damsel gave it hell right off the bat. I guess cause they both have yellow tails. It would constantly "hunt" down the Gramma and fight with it picking at the fins.

Once the Royal Gramma got used to my tank and picked out a safe territory to defend it was able to hold its own and fight off the attacking damsel. Now they are both fine together. Once in a while they take on an aggressive "stance" with one another, but one or the other will quickly head back to their hiding spot diffusing the situation. The nipped fins of the Gramma healed quickly with regular feedings/good water quality.

If you have 4 Yellow Tailed Damsels though I would be concerned. If indeed they are all picking on the Gramma. A one on one fight and the fish has a fighting chance, but a 4 on one situation where the fish is constantly being picked at by 4 different fish will be too stressful IMO with what I experienced with just one damsel.

The one damsel was relentless, ripped the fins and tore a small hole in the underside of the gut of the Gramma. I thought I would lose the fish, but it started fighting back once it got used to my tank. The fins healed and the gut wound healed up nicely. Now it gives the damsel hell if it gets too close to its' territory.

If it had 4 damsels to fight off I don't think it would have made it, and would have probably died from stress/wounds/starving from hiding. Just my experience with these two fish FWIW. Best of luck!

this was a great response, many thanks. the gramma has found a perfect hole in one rock to hide in (see pic below) and there are a couple of damsels that are particularly aggressive towards her. i tried catching them but that is a task in and of itself.