New royal gramma

[fishybuisness]

I brought home a new royal grammar today..he looks fine when I got him..I acclimated him for about an hour..scooped him in and he went straight for the corner of my tank..the return of my biocide and was laying against the return like something was wrong..I poked him and he moved into a crevice of my rock and was just lying there..I don't know if he's doing better because I had to go to class. Is this normal?

 

[huma-huma]

its fairly common for fish to do this. heck my clown does it everynight when she goes to bed in the bottom back corner of the tank. i would suggest just observe from a distance and dont do anything to startle or scare the fish. given some time, the gramma will calm down. when i brought mine home, genius fish hid in a hole for 3 days before he started to inch his way out into the open. now he always hovers in the same open spot.

 

[fishybuisness]

Well my royal gramma came out of the hole and is eating good. however hes still shy and timid. even of the other fish. i noticed he was hiding under a rock today and my lawnmower swam through next to him and he was scared and back away quickly with his mouth open...does this go with the territory of a new fish? ive never had a fish act like this.

 

[Sniperhank]

This is typical territorial behavior, but royal gramma are also notorious 'hiders' in tanks. When I had mine he has a spot in the rock where he hung out laying on the rock upside down. This is normal behavior for them, even though it seems quite odd to us.

 

[huma-huma]

the mouth open is a typical basslet/ goby trait. idk exactly what they are trying to accomplish but a gaping mouth is supposedly a defense