One of my Favorite Fish....

Royal Gramma Basslet

I have had Peekaboo for about a year and have enjoyed hours of watching this Magnificent fish explore with a personality all it's own.

This is the most coveted of the basslets, the Royal Gramma Basslet or Fairy Basslet is beautiful. The front half of its body and head are a bright purple to violet, while the back half is a striking and vibrant yellow. It is an excellent choice for a reef aquarium.

A single specimen should be housed in a minimum of a 30 gallon tank, while a school requires at least 55 gallons to thrive. Because the Royal Gramma Basslet is a deep-water dweller, a somewhat subdued lighting arrangement is best. When housed in a group, the male will usually be larger than the female. It can become territorial with time.

As a carnivore, the Royal Gramma Basslet will do well on a diet of meaty fare including marine fish, crustacean flesh, mysid shrimp, and quality frozen preparations.

The Royal comes from the Family Grammidae and is found in Tropical Western Atlantic Waters, it can reach a size of up to 3 inches.

Tank Setup should consist of Coral, Rock or Plants. Make Caves for it to explore and retreat at night. It will spend a lot of time exploring every crevice in your tank.

Tank Conditions should be maintain at a Temperature between 72 to 80 degrees, Salinity maintained at 1.020 to 1.025 and PH at 8.1 to 8.4.

The temperament of the Royal is peacefull and cares to be toward the bottom of the tank. A Royal is an easy fish to maintain and will give you endless hours of pleasure.

 

they are a very pretty fish my lfs i goto has one in her nano but he hides all the time every once in a while he will stick his head out to see whats going on

 

I have one in my 29 gallon that harasses(did I spell that right? LOL) my 6 inch baby snowflake eel.

 

It's like they have a personality all there own,,
Mine swims upside down, sideways and did you know they have fangs?...
Yes indeed, when it goes to yawn or something comes near it, watch closely and you will see them, really KOOL....

 

Here is the Royal Dottyback, a fish that mimics the Royal Gramma. This one is Pseudochromis paccagnellae. But you can see that there are noticeable differences between the two fish:

photo courtesy of Fishbase.org

The basslet you have, Steve, is a Gramma loreto. Just so everyone can see the differences, here's the Fishbase.org photo:


According to MarineDepot, the Pseudochromis paccagnellae is semi-aggressive, while the Gramma loreto is a peaceful fish.

Also, the Royal Gramma comes from the Carribean, and the Royal Dottyback comes from the Indian Ocean.

HTH ;D

 

Good Info Steve,,
I had the Dottyback before the Royal and it was mean [smiley=furious3.gif],
I had to take it back to the LFS [smiley=whip.gif]....
The Dottyback despite it's small size was chasing my Purple Tang, go figure,,,, [smiley=rifle.gif]

 

Good info guys.

One of my favorite fish and reef-safe! [smiley=thumbs_up.gif]