teg Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 (edited) My little Royal Grammer had been hiding most of the day yesterday, only coming out to eat. This morning I can still see it in the rock hole with a flash light. Around 3pm I saw it dead on the sand, its mouth wide open (looked just like when he defended his hole from one of the firefish before) and 1/4 chunk of its tail fin missing. I immediately check my waters parameters and it was all good. The suspects are the two purple fish, this pair had their "hole"/home right next to where the RG usually hides. I did see the RG and one of the firefish battle once; the RG retreated to its hole and opened its mouth really big trying to fend off the firefish (happened about 1 week ago). I haven't seen them fought since, and they did swim together throughout that 1 week. So I'm still puzzled why the RG died all of the sudden. I dont know if my purple firefish are mated pair or not, but they have been spending a lot of time together these 2 days, versus before they just swam around the tank separately. They do show a lot of aggression today even toward my sailfin tang (extending their fins, and raising their spike). Has anyone had similar experiences or different experiences to share? Edited December 10, 2009 by teg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Yep, I have one of each in 58 gallon. Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Sorry that happened Teg...I can tell you when I had a bunch of RG's a few months back, they killed EACH OTHER rapidly...they were in my 55g frag tank, being held to sell. Let's just say out of 20, I didn't have too many left to sell after a couple of days Lesson learned... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Mine are peacfully coexisting, but I only have one of each. Perhaps the pair are territorial. Sorry for your loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnj Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 (edited) Usually, Bassletts (like dottybacks) are Firefish killers. Edited December 10, 2009 by pbnj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teg Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 Usually, Bassletts (like dottybacks) are Firefish killers. I guess my RG is a real wimp since my two firefish are still alive. On a side note, my firefish got really aggressive since today; normaly they would just swim around the tank. Does anyone that owns firefish see similar personality? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteorflower Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 That's very surprising to me! I've had my Royal Gramma ( the one in my picture) for over two years, and I've had him with several red firefish and never saw any aggression between the two species. But the purples are more cryptic than the reds, so the conflict might have been over who gets the best hiding holes. +1 for possible mated pair aggression, since that seems like the only plausible explanation. That, or rabies! Sorry to hear about your gramma. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeeperKeeper Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 I only have one firefish, but I've never seen him show any aggression. He's probably been in my tank for 3-5 years. He's like an ornament. He's always in the same spot and usually the only fish not hiding, but even when I put new fish in (which is rare) I don't see him show aggression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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