Royal Gramma or Pseudo.

[KB 99]

I have a 90 gallon w/ Purple Tang, Coral Beauty, and Watchman Goby. I want to get a Pseudo. of some type or a Royal Gramma or both. What does everyone suggest for color and personality and keeping two types together? Thanks for any help!

[Biomanjcs72]

It's pretty much flip a coin. Gramma's are a little more visible in tanks than Pseudo's, Pseudo's (IMO) are prettier. Your tank's probably not big anough for 2 pseudo's, and if you get and orchid and gramma, sometimes, I've seen the orchids chase the gramma's, so if you want a gramma and a pseudo, I'd recommend a springeri, or another one that's not fuschia. JMHO

[Ninong]

If you get a pseudo, I would suggest Pseudochromis fridmani (Orchid Dottyback) as the best choice. This is the "best behaved" of all the dottybacks. It has a beautiful swimming style and beautiful coloration and is more visible than the other dottybacks. It is the least aggressive of all the dottybacks and the only one that might be a good risk in the same tank with a Royal Gramma. (That is also the opinion of Martin Moe, Robert Fenner and Scott Michael.)

Ninong

P.S. - Be sure that the LFS does not confuse the Orchid Dottyback with the Purple Dottyback (both are the same color). The Orchid Dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani) is much, much better than the Purple Dottyback (P. porphyreus), which is cheaper and a holy terror in the tank. P. porphyreus is sold as the Purple Dottyback, the Strawberry Dottyback and the Magenta Dottyback -- don't ya just love common names.

[Marsey]

Ninong- How might I be able to tell the difference on my own? I have a pseudochromis- but that's exactly what the lfs called him. He hasn't caused any trouble - yet- but I would like to know which he is. Thanks--Marsey

[Ninong]

Originally posted by Marsey
Ninong- How might I be able to tell the difference on my own? I have a pseudochromis- but that's exactly what the lfs called him. He hasn't caused any trouble - yet- but I would like to know which he is. Thanks--Marsey

Pseudochromis is the name of the genus. There are more than 60 different species but fortunately only about a dozen are commonly available in the trade.

Here is a link to all of the species: http://www.fishbase.org/NomenClature...ry&backstep=-2

Here is a much more user-friendly link to all of the species that are commonly available in the trade, with pics of all of them together on the opening page for comparison: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/pseudoch.htm

You can check out the pictures until you find a match. If you are talking about the difference between Pseudochromis fridmani and P. porphyreus, they are really very easy to tell apart. P. fridmani has a black slash through its eye, P. porphyreus does not. The fins on P. fridmani are purple, the fins on P. porphyreus are clear. Also the body shapes are different.

Ninong

P.S. - Looks like Mr. Fenner has just registered on the board: Welcome! I hope you don't mind that we quote from your site frequently!

[KB 99]

Ninong or anyone, do you feel the P. diadema would be a bad choice?

[Ninong]

Originally posted by KB 99
Ninong or anyone, do you feel the P. diadema would be a bad choice?

There is no such thing as a "bad" choice. You have to understand the natural behavior of dottybacks and allow for that in choosing tankmates. It's just that Pseudochromis fridmani is not nearly as aggressive as most of the other members of the genus. With most dottybacks, you should avoid other fish with the same shape or the same feeding habits. You have to be aware that most dottybacks will eat all the bristleworms they can catch and many of them are a threat to small shrimp. Also, it is best to keep only one dottyback per tank unless you can get a mated pair or you are willing to get two captive-bred juveniles and go through the sexual determination process in your tank. (Same as with clownfish except that the dominant gender will be the male. Only try this with juveniles.)

Ninong

[Firefish]

My Grammer is very territorial (sp?) Hides most of the day in his little cave and comes out to eat every now and then. I've had him for about 18 months and he seems pretty hardy,never been sick. FWIW

[Marsey]

Thanks for the links, Ninong.
It looks most like the Pseudochromis paccagnellae, but it also has the black or really dark purple line diagonally through the eyes. I guess I'm still working on it. I found the info about their jumping habits somewhat humorous. I rescued mine yesterday from his first jump out the back of the tank. I'm working on a way to close that off now.
He was a lucky little guy- we'd been gone all weekend and just happened to be studying the tank when he took flight. We noticed something moving behind the sump tank, and there he was. Seems to be fine today- all little mad, that's all.

[gramma royale]

from my experience with my royal gramma, it got along fine with my dwarf angel, even thought the dwarf was always bouncing around the walls. After about a week together, the two actually shared the same hole! . I miss them both dearly