Unexpected Aggression

[ellebelle]

So, I just added a Cebu tailspot blenny to my tank (fairly small in size). I tossed him in, and he started happily swimming around right away.

Then, the royal gramma caught sight of him and has been chasing him with his mouth all wide open for the last ten minutes. The blenny is holding his ground (despite being 1/4 the size of the RG) and swimming back at him with his mouth wide open.

Do you think this will stop, or should I try and trap one of them out? This was totally unexpected as my royal gramma was the third fish I added, and has never acted aggressively towards any new fish, including ones smaller than him (firefish, yellow assessor).

Thoughts?

 

[ellebelle]

Stupid royal gramma. My poor little blenny has stress stripes all over him now.

 

[crox99]

Get the gramma out asap. they are very territorial.

 

[ellebelle]

:arg: He's never done this before. I guess since I lost the most dominant fish in the tank he thinks its his tank now. I didn't even think about that. sigh.

 

[prattreef]

This is totally normal behavior for a gramma. It will subside pretty quickly once the blenny knows the Gramma's boundaries. I disagree, Royal Gramma's are not aggressive, all bluster IME, but they will protect their territory.

 

[DevIouS]

All bark...no bite..

 

[KathyC]

I agree..MY RG does the same thing but he chills out pretty quickly once the newbie avoids the area he sleeps in.

 

[daisy]

I'm with Kathy - my RG also would rush even the most dominant fish in the tank from time to time, but only when the maroon would cruise past the RG's sleeping niche. Should be fine!

 

[ellebelle]

They settled down last night eventually - hopefully everything will be taken care of and they'll be fine when the lights come on.