New Royal Gramma evicted Firefish

[4d-Rock]

Hey all,

I’m new to the hobby and I have a two month old Fluval Evo 12.5. 
 

I had it cycling the first month before adding my first fish, a purple Firefish.  A bit timid to start but things went well and it found a nice cave under one of the rocks which had a front and back entrance, pretty sweet digs.  
 

Now after getting comfy for a month, we had a trip into the city and picked up our second fish, a Royal Gramma.  I knew it could be semi-aggressive but mostly the consensus in my research is that they should do ok together.  I also got one that is half the size of the Firefish to hopefully deter aggression.

 

After acclimation last night it hid against a rock and a wall which was to be expected, but coming home from work today I find that the Royal Gramma has evicted the Firefish from his cave and is opening its mouth wide or nipping at anything that comes close.  
 

Both are fine during feeding tonight but the gramma is back in the cave and the Firefish is now staying out and cruising around.  I’m not upset about seeing it more, but should I be worried about it getting stressed out now that it’s forced into the open? Or worried about their interactions at all in general?

There is plenty of rock so maybe it’ll find a new home?

Sad for our Firefish though 😞 

 

Thanks

[Jakesaw]

My guess is that it's a heirarchy of aggression.  The Gramma will likely defend the cave he's claimed but leave the firefish alone everywhere else.  The firefish will have to dig another hole to hide in.

 

Grammas bark they don't bite

 

[4d-Rock]

Thanks @Jakesaw

kind of unfortunate but I guess that’s nature right? 
 

The Firefish kinda looked lost this evening but after lights went out I noticed it disappeared.  After further inspection I think I spotted a new hole under the rocks on the opposite side.  Hopefully it can make a nice roomy spot for itself.  

[jambon]

In my opinion.. the gramma will settle down in time. As long as there are multiple hiding spots for both fish.

[Tired]

I'm not sure that tank has enough hiding spaces for them both. You should have more good hiding places than you have fish, and I'm not seeing very many spaces at all. 

[4d-Rock]

Ya I could see that. There is one sand burrow under each of the main rocks and each fish settled into one.  From there they mostly got along other than some posturing.

Ultimately it doesn't matter at this moment.  The Royal gramma started showing signs of ich about a month in as well as a new little clownfish.  Sadly, both had succumbed to the parasite and am left with the solo firefish which seems to be ok for the time being.  

 

If I end up re-scaping the tank down the road I'll keep the hiding spaces in mind and see if I can get a few more in there.

[Tired]

You should pull the firefish out of the tank, treat it for ich, and leave the tank fallow for 76 days to let the ich die off. Otherwise you'll continue to have ich in your tank, even if the fish don't show symptoms, and it'll pop up if it gets any opportunities. New fish, or any sort of stress on existing livestock, are opportunities.