Some one please

[mx#28]

Originally Posted by florida joe
No disrespect intended my friend but if one thing I know for sure in the many years I have been in this hobby is that what is listed and what is fact are at opposite ends of the spectrum that is why I go to you my fellow hobbyists for insight
None taken.

I agree. I've read things from the most 'scholarly' sources that have been directly contradicted by my experiences and the experiences of others.

 

[hefner413]

The RG is the only fish that I have not been able to keep in my tank. I tried 3 over the past year. After the 3rd died, I just figured they were cursed and I didn't get any others. I just figured it was my luck. The LFS said that they hadn't heard of others having similar probs, but after reading this... I'm glad (relatively speaking) that I'm not the only one. But just to add, even SWF does list their care level as "moderate". Not sure why exactly... But I would like to have one eventually. I'm glad to see that others have had success after their bad luck.

 

[travis89]

I've had a royal gramma for over a year and its doing great so far.

 

[florida joe]

I may be taking delivery of my RG via over night mail tomorrow I will start a new post giving QT size water parameters and acclimation procedures and pics as I go along maybe we can make this a joint boards fish and get one to live for me

 

[aquaknight]

Royal Grammas were one of the first fish that got me into the hobby. It's the first fish I remembered the name of back when I was 10 or so, and often went with my Dad to the 'fish stores.' Loved the colors.
If I had to point a finger at something shipping is what seem to do it, IMO. One LFS story, they had just gotten a bunch of RG's, and just put them on the tanks still in bags to temp accl. and half were already gone. That is a good point about them being deepwater howeverm maybe collection is the issue?

 

[groupergenius]

Deepwater fish need to be acllimated on the rise to the surface. Anything over 30' deep. They have air bladders that expand on the trip to the surface and need to slowly bleed the excess air off. Some collectors will use a small hypodermic needle to manually release the pressure, but there is a bigger chance for infections to set in then.
I'm not sure about all RG's being a deep water fish though. I do remember seeing them in the shallows while snorkeling in Grand Cayman.

 

[florida joe]

some info I culled
. The two valuable species and their congener are found in the same sorts of steeply (seventy percent plus) inclined reef fronts, aka "walls". The Royal Gramma occupies the shallowest waters, very generally from the surface to 60-80 feet, being dislocated by the Black-Cap, Gramma melacara, which is in turn is displaced by the third Gramma species, the yellow-cheek Gramma linki, at 120-160 feet on down You can understand, given the necessary hang-time (hours) to decompress and limited diver collecting minutes, why the deeper water species cost so much more. The single most important 'tip' on picking Grammas I can grant you is to be patient; wait a good week or two after your supplier receives theirs to purchase them Freshly imported caught specimens way too often suffer from post-decompression stress... and something else; the ill-effects of chemical tranquilizing. Florida outlaws the use of Quinaldine and MS-222 (tricaine) but their use in other capture areas of the Caribbean is pervasive. Though not the scourge of cyanide use, there is decidedly higher mortalities associated with true anesthetic versus 'pure' hand netting..

 

[srfisher17]

You're sure right about info at "opposite ends of the spectrum". The on-line source I can usually rely on says " Because the Royal Gramma Basslet is a deep-water dweller, it prefers caves and extensive rockwork, as well as a somewhat subdued lighting arrangement." I called (can't list name), just because I had too much time today and they said almost all of their RGs are collected at over 70 feet. But with sound collection practices shouldn't make much difference. My $ says the new one does just fine; but, then my$ doesn't back up the guarantee! Good luck with him. BTW, it was a LONG time ago...but I'm sure we caught these (with slurp guns) when I lived in the Keys and we could make quick bucks selling to a dealer with no regulations...and we weren't going deeper than 30 feet or so.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by srfisher17
You're sure right about info at "opposite ends of the spectrum". The on-line source I can usually rely on says " Because the Royal Gramma Basslet is a deep-water dweller, it prefers caves and extensive rockwork, as well as a somewhat subdued lighting arrangement." I called (can't list name), just because I had too much time today and they said almost all of their RGs are collected at over 70 feet. But with sound collection practices shouldn't make much difference. My $ says the new one does just fine; but, then my$ doesn't back up the guarantee! Good luck with him. BTW, it was a LONG time ago...but I'm sure we caught these (with slurp guns) when I lived in the Keys and we could make quick bucks selling to a dealer with no regulations...and we weren't going deeper than 30 feet or so.
Mr T pm me your e-mail address I found out something about the place (you can not name ) which I think I know that you will just not believe

 

[teresaq]

this last one I got from ocean aquatics on 41. it was in one of the bottom tanks and had prob been there a while. it has done great so far.

knock on wood.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by TeresaQ
this last one I got from ocean aquatics on 41. it was in one of the bottom tanks and had prob been there a while. it has done great so far.

knock on wood.
thanks T i have not been there yet i will give them a look see

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by srfisher17
You're sure right about info at "opposite ends of the spectrum". The on-line source I can usually rely on says " Because the Royal Gramma Basslet is a deep-water dweller, it prefers caves and extensive rockwork, as well as a somewhat subdued lighting arrangement." I called (can't list name), just because I had too much time today and they said almost all of their RGs are collected at over 70 feet. But with sound collection practices shouldn't make much difference. My $ says the new one does just fine; but, then my$ doesn't back up the guarantee! Good luck with him. BTW, it was a LONG time ago...but I'm sure we caught these (with slurp guns) when I lived in the Keys and we could make quick bucks selling to a dealer with no regulations...and we weren't going deeper than 30 feet or so.
Called an old friend last night who lives on Key Largo and he said that in the old days when he was fishing for SQUAIRE GROUPER he would also free dive and catch RG to give to his girl friends

 

[lesleybird]

Are you sure that you don't have a fish in your tank that is killing them like a mean 6 line or antheas or other fish? I had a sixline that killed one of mine. Lesley

 

[florida joe]

Lesley in one of my rare moments of clarity I checked my 20g QT and im pretty sure there is no sixline in there actually it think my RG is the only one in there