Your opinion on this RTGG

Flying Fox

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 26, 2010
30
5
8
Pine Mountain Club, CA
I have an interesting question for the knowledgeable folks at MFK forums. This is my RTGG. I am pretty sure it is one. However, I have never been able to find another that looks like him or even close. Most RTGG I have seen are all grey or blue-grey or grey on top and white on the bottom with the red fins. Mine has a red body and fins with a blue-grey mask. The camera kind of washed him out, but the red is the same in the fins as the body and it is a brick(brownish) red, not the brilliant red that is more prevalent (I feel these are commercially raised some how and not natural. I could be wrong).

I little back story on him. I got him from a LFS in Los Angeles, CA back in 1992 (the same year the RTGG were identified). He was only 3" and horribly chewed up in a tank of green terror juvies. He had no fins at all, and the pectorals were bleeding stumps. The owner figured he was close to dead anyway and gave him to me for free. Score on my part! Nursed him back to health by hand feeding him because he could not swim w/o fins (and he still gets hand fed after all these years, sort of like a special bonding moment every day). All the fins grew back normal except the pectorals which grew back horribly crooked. You can see that in the pictures. So, yes, I have had him for 22 years, he is holding at 16" TTL. In those 22 years I have not seen another like him. Either on the internet or elsewhere. So I am curious, have you guys seen something like him before? I would welcome any comments , opinions, theories. Also, if you have a RTGG of your own, post it and let's compare.rtgg4_s.jpgrtgg3_s.jpgrtgg2_s.jpgrtgg1_s.jpgrtgg5_s.jpgrtgg6_s.jpg

rtgg1_s.jpg

rtgg2_s.jpg

rtgg3_s.jpg

rtgg4_s.jpg

rtgg5_s.jpg

rtgg6_s.jpg
 

Flying Fox

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 26, 2010
30
5
8
Pine Mountain Club, CA
Also, I wanted to mention his disposition growing up. He was fairly tolerable of other fish until he hit around 6", then he started to become aggressive. At around 5 years of age and 12"ttl, he became so aggressive that he killed or seriously injured most fish he was kept with. I noticed the aggression was aimed at fish starting at 6" or larger. Smaller were mostly ignored. Even cichlids that grew up with him , as soon as they hit a certain size, they were toast. Mind you, he was in a 250 gallon tank (96"x26"x26")and it still wasn't big enough for him and other fish. So , he was relegated to his own tank (125gal) for 17 years until a month ago where was moved to a 90gal tall tank. He has remained very aggressive and tries to get at the 12" oscar in the tank next to him when the mood strikes. At his size, I would be hard pressed to find anything that could stand up to him if I wanted to put him back into the 250gal. But he seems pretty content by himself and I don't need that headache.

One last thing. I have noticed that Juvenile RTGG coloring are grey on top and white on the bottom. Mine did not look anything like that. at 3" - 5" he was all light grey ( almost silver) with a more pronounced black spot at the base of the caudal fin. You can still faintly see that spot in his current pics. Between 5" - 7" was when his coloring started to change and aggression picked up. Started in blotches and gradually filled in to complete red and the light grey became the blue mask on his face. Hope this gives some insight and feel free to ask any questions.
 
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