Nesting Royal Gramma??

[land locked]

I have two royal gramma's that were the first fish I put in the tank after it cycled. Lately the larger of the two has been packing tank debris into a hole in the rock. The opening is packed with broken off calerpa leaves, sponge pieces, shell pieces. She spends a good deal of time in the cave, could she be nesting? Do they do that? I have watched her pack the pieces in so I know it is her but I don't know why she is doing it. I cannot see down inside of the cave to see if there are eggs or something. Has anyone seen anything like this??

 

[melosu58]

I dont know for sure but it looks like that could be the story. Keep an eye out and let us know.

 

[land locked]

I finally got a pic of her loading the hole. The other picture is of all of the stuff she has stuck in there, you can barely see there is a hole there. She is protecting it with all her might she opens her mouth and chases anyone that comes near even the larger fish.

 

[pat8you]

Thats really interesting. Do you have more then one that you could have babies on the way?

 

[cmor1701d]

I was able to find this post:
"The male will make a nest by bring bits of algae into his den. He entices the female into his den to lay eggs by swimming up to her shaking his body and then turn to swims to his den. He does this repeatedly until she follows him into his den. The pair deposits the egg mast inside the den of the male. I was lucky to be able to actually observed the egg mast for a while when the den of my male RG was in an easily viewable spot for a while. The male the stay around the den and guard the eggs until they hatches about one week later. I was able to observe the male carry the larvae in his mouth and spitted them upward into the current one time (in six years of observing my RG) during the night. It was about 3 hours after the light turn out at the time. Male RG do not incubate the eggs in their mouth because they will eats though out the incubation period. "

From Fish of the Week: Gramma loreto,the Royal Gramma

 

[land locked]

Pat, yes I have two one much smaller, and not nesting.
Thanks cmor, That was totally cool now I am excited. The only thing is that the one I have seen building the nest is the bigger one and usually in fish that's the female isn't it? I don't watch them much at night either so I may have missed that whole dance. Even with a flash light I can't see down in the cave. I will let you know if I see . then

 

[pat8you]

Haha wow they make those little smiley faces for everything don't they. Very cool i hope it works out and there are little RG running all over. Must be an interesting process to watch.

 

[cmor1701d]

From that same article "They have sexual dimorphism where the males are larger and the ventral fins on the males are longer and do not have a sharp point while the female RG have shorter that ended in a sharp point. "

This is great. Please keep us posted on the progress.

 

[land locked]

Could you guys give me the link to that article, please? I would like to read it.
I will keep you informed if anything develops.
If he is the male, do they guard the eggs? Because he won't let her near the cave.

 

[Sadistic]

Sorry everyone, I'm new, and not trying to hijack. I just put a Royal Gramma in my tank about a week ago, and I had to leave out of town for 2 days. When I came back home, my RG was in my Live Rock. I thought at first he had jumped out, but if I use a flash light I can see just a small portion of his tail sticking out of a hole deep in the rock. I've tried to get him out. Shaking the rock under water, nothing seems to be working. Is it a female nesting, or is he stuck? I really don't know what to do at this point, other than break the live rock to pieces to get him out. If he's stuck, he's going to die and then I'm really screwed.

Any ideas?

 

[Sadistic]

Just to end my portion here. I came home today and the fish was laying on the rocks. He ended up dying shortly after that. Not a scratch on him, everything else in the tank is lively and doing fine, so I'm clueless.

 

[land locked]

I am sorry for your loss. Mine is still packing debris in the hole but nothing new.

 

[cmor1701d]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Land Locked, did you find the article link in my previous post?

 

[land locked]

cmor, by article did you mean the link to the forum about his breeding rg? I did get that and I loved it. My male is doing all of that mentioned. But my other fish has no interest in him. If you meant a formal article though no I did not get it.

 

[leoslizards]

That's cool!
I wish I could get a mate for mine. I have a small royal gramma and I once added a larger one that someone gave me and the smaller one would follow the larger one constantly for days until eventually the bigger one got tired of it and started chasing it away. I had to sell the big one because it kept bullying the smaller one.

 

[cmor1701d]

Yes, that's the article I was referring to. Keep us posted if anything develops.

 

[land locked]

will do!