Royal Grammar Behaviour

[timsedwards]

Hi Guys,
Just wondered for any of you who have or know about Royal Grammars, I have one and it seems very happy swimming about but always go back to the same spot, perches himself between two rocks and lies on his side - is this just how they act? He otherwise seems veyr content with life in my tank.
Hope to hear some peoples thoughts!
Tim

 

[jumpfrog]

They do that. Don't be surprised to see him upside down on the rocks or just hanging looking like he's about to croak. They just do funny things.
Great fish though!

 

[timsedwards]

Thanks for that reassurance!
I thought it was normal - yes they are gorgeous fish - a wonderful splash of colour for my tank!
Tim

 

[ophiura]

Originally posted by timsedwards
know about Royal Grammar
Does this have anything to do with the Queen's english?

It is actually just Royal Gramma, aka Gramma loreto.
And they do indeed hang around, sometimes upside down.

 

[ophiura]

I thought it was pretty cute, and since Tim is English, heck, I couldn't pass up the comment.

I appreciated a bit of light-heartedness today!

 

[timsedwards]

LOL, glad i amuse you all!
I just let that one slip thats all was not concentrating!
Tim

 

[lathen]

OUCH ! I have not had much luck with these guys during the first two months of my tank. Gone through 3 of em 8^(.Now going on month 3, and things look great with everything else. If I can unload some of my chromus, I might try another one soon - heheh
Love their colors.
Lathen

 

[tkblazer]

i have a royal gramma that does the same thing...he would just lay on the rock in one spot and just seems to hang out for a while. very strange behavior

 

[wrassecal]

They also like to hang out in crevices of live rock. Mine hangs out in one open area. If it's not there I always find it peeking out of a hole in the lr, probably where it sleeps too. I love mine, had it for almost a year. When we first got it, it like to hide in the rock a lot. Once we were moving some live rock around and put some in a laundry basket. My husband picked up a piece and the royal gramma was in the bottom of the laundry basket flopping around! He grabbed it and popped it back in the tank. The fish has never hidden much since then. It pretty much shows itself all the time. I don't think it wants to visit the laundry basket again

 

[dsa_mom]

I often see ours coming out of a crevice in the rock that I never would have thought he could fit into! They do like to hide in their own little piece of the tank. Ours seems to swim at kind of a 45 degree angle sometimes--we used to think he was either drunk or sick, but then he'd swim straight up too, so we just figured it was his normal behavior. Ours fights with a peppermint shrimp by opening his mouth real wide and looking scary. Nobody told the shrimp that was scary, though, so he just ignores it. great fish!

 

[col]

Hey Tim
Are you a taffy or just live in Wales - ophiura says you're English!!
I have a Royal Gramma that acts kinda strange. Hides away a lot, scratches off rocks (had it 4 months).
Some days he looks riddled with whitespot, next day gone.
I do know they are cave dwellers and like to hide away.
Col (England)

 

[ophiura]

Originally posted by col
Hey James
Are you a taffy or just live in Wales - ophiura says you're English!!
Col (England)
It is times like this that I realize the impact of that little disagreement in 1776. It is the same language, and yet I have no idea what it means. Somehow I feel I have walked into an inside joke!

 

[col]

ophiura
It is the same language, and yet I have no idea what it means
Same Language??? Have you heard them Welsh folk talk?

 

[timsedwards]

Hehe,
I am English (Bristol) living in Cardiff, Wales!
Well yes Ophiura in Wales (part of the United Kingdom with England/Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland) about 5% of the population speak Welsh, an older language than English, I however, do not, lol.

 

[ophiura]

Phew. For a minute there it was almost like that scene in Goldmember with the rhyming slang. Wasn't sure I was getting it all without subtitles.

 

[timsedwards]

LOL! Thats a very funny bit in the film...
Anyway, gotta back to the fruit me ol' china otherwise Ill be all sixes and sevens in the lawnmower, although this toast was a bit of a walk up the garden path and a giraffe up the apples and pears!
Tim

 

[ophiura]

Nope.
Don't understand a word...well, I understand the WORDS just not how they are tied together.
But I have to say I still love the name of this thread. I still smile when I see it, so this will bump it up to the top, and I can smile some more.
I am also quite amused with SWF "Clam-free shipping" and similar (which would really suck if you wanted clams...you would need to order a clam with crab-free shipping"). Very tricky, but makes me smile.
Simple mind.
Yes.

 

[jim672]

Col,
Sounds like your Royal Gramma has ich. Scratching and white spots that may appear and disappear are pretty typical of ******. I don't know what else you have in your tank but I'd begin treating all your fish for ich ASAP.
Do you have a hospital/Q tank you can use? Most effective method of treating ich is hyposalinity. You could either do a search for "hypo" or post on the Disease and Treatment Forum for more help.
Jim

 

[col]

Jim
I thought it was ich at first, especially as it happened soon after I bought it. 4 months later it is still the same.
It scratches wether there appear to be spots or not.
One day it will look covered in spots, the next they are gone. I think they must be bubbles rather than spots (they do look raised rather than flat). If it was ich it would not disappear as soon from fish.
Also nothing else in tank show any signs.
After 4 months you would think the gramma would have died if it had been anything serious.

 

[jim672]

col,
I hope you're right. The fact that your gramma hasn't gotten sicker or that none of your other fish have gotten sick may be a testament to your good water quality and overall good tank conditions. The immune systems of the animals may be able to fight the infection if they have no other stressors to weaken them.
I had a hippo tang that behaved similarly to your gramma. He'd have spots off and on, scratch alot,etc. Other than that, he seemed fine for a long time.....weeks and weeks. Then I added a new fish to the tank.
That stress caused him to get very sick, very quickly. Within two weeks all of my fish had died of ich.
I'm not wishing this on you! I'm just sharing my experience so you don't have to go through it. By the way, one of the fish that died in my ich outbreak was a Royal Gramma.
Jim