Fish Profile- Royal Gramma Basslet
 

This month we are featuring the Royal Gramma Basslet (Gramma loreto). More information about this beautiful species can be found here...

Great writeup!

It is a fantastic fish, and a nice article. Like the author of the article, this was also one of the first fish I kept in a salt water tank back in the 80s... Here a photo of one in Belize:

http://www.luizrocha.com/fish/G_loreto.jpg

does anyone have a photo of the northern variation?

the one with 3/4 yellow colouration and only a little more than the head is purple? i have yet to see it for sale

i managed to find a few photos of them online.

but i really wanna see photos of them in aquariums. anyone found and bought them before?

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1...rybasslet4.jpg

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/1...rybasslet7.jpg

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/6973/dsc0081copy.jpg

One of my all time favorite reef fish!

~Michael

Definitely on my "list" of future tank inhabitants!

My favorite reef safe fish. I've heard it said that they are aggressive, or they hide all the time. I've never had these problems with mine.

I love these guys. They add great color to the tank and have some personality.

Love the write up BTW! I didn't know they can be kept in harems!

+1

I'll definitely have to add a group to a tank one day.

How many does a harem mean, exactly?

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Only if there's enough room.
Back in the day, Sea World had a touch tank full of royal grammas. They were monsters too. 4+" and fat. I haven't seen any that big since, and that was 15 to 20 years ago. I'm starting to think they may have been the Brazilian gramma's????????

While diving in turks and caicos last october i saw hundreds on the reefs. It renewed my love for them. I have a good size one in my 300 now.

3 or more... (but NOT exactly!)
I have 3 in my 450g DT for about 13 months...after the first 3 months, they became a pair, and 1 outcast 6' away, on the other side of the tank. I have been thinking to add 2 or 3 more.

in this video, the 'lone wolf' is at the 1 minute mark (rear/center)...the pair is just before and after the 2 min. mark
<object height="349" width="425">


<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JuvhYs8vH90?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="349" width="425"></object>

Question, do basselets suffer from diseases like ich? Are there any medications that they are sensitive too?

IME, yes I do think they are a "hardy" fish once extablished in the tank, but they are still succeptible to ich. I have never had a problem using copper (Cupramine) with a RG. I just did 4 weeks at .5ppm and there were no issues.

Great write up, by the way. I love Royal Grammas. Once upon a time they were REALLY expensive. Now, they can be had for $10-$15. Such a bargain for a strikingly beautiful fish!!

So if they are aggressive to other bright purple colored fish, would that mean that a velvet fairy wrasse would be out of the question as a tank mate in a 125?

? who said that? IMO, they would be aggressive to other basslets, more so than wrasses.
I have never seen a problem between any of my Grammas and my velvet wr. !

I have a nice RG (about 3") in with many wrasse and the RG does just fine and minds his own business. They really like a hole in a rock to hide in.

I know the Florida Aquarium had a tank like that last time I went.

Okay then that is good. BTW I love your tank!!!:D

mine got to 12.8cm passed around xmas time, the larger it got tho it lost colouration and the definitive colour change was not so apparent.
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/v...r/IMG_0089.jpg
everyone who saw him was amazed by his ginormous size.
what is the age span for these fish?

I have a collector getting me 5 small ones. Should have them in a couple of weeks. Can't wait!

It sounds like you're talking in the 'past' tense...so I guess he's gone? At any rate I got a Royal Gramma over 7 seven years ago, kept him in a 5', 170g tank with about 12 other fish. After a few years, he lost his color and faded out (looked like yours)...when I upgraded to my 450g DT,last year, I moved him and added 2 more smaller grammas...within weeks his color was back...you can see him in the video (previously posted), he is paired with 1 of the new RGs now!