TheCheat Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 Well, at long last, they've hooked up. I got the Yellow Watchman Goby back sometime in January, and just put the Red Spot Pistol in several weeks ago. At first, the shrimp just dissappeared for a couple weeks. I had no idea if he was even alive. Recently though, I started seeing little caves and tunnels, so I was pretty confident he was still alive. Now, I've been able to see the little shrimper every day as he excavates various caves with the utmost care, all under the supervision of his construction foreman, the goby. The neatest thing I saw last night was that the shrimp was cleaning his buddy just like cleaner shrimp are known to do. The goby seemed to allow it, and didn't really mind that the shrimp was virtually riding the fish like a jockey on a horse. I tried to get a quick pictures, but they're a little skittish. Anyways, just thought I would share this info with the reef world: Red Spot Pistols and Yellow Watchman WILL form a symbyotic pair Lata, b Link to comment
ninhsavestheday Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 COOL! CONGRATULATIONS! Link to comment
bjk Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 cool, what size tank are they in, and what are their other tankmates? Link to comment
Uniballer Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 i had my yellow watchman for around two months before adding in my pistol and before my pistol had the time to hit the bottom of the tank from the bag my goby ran over to him and stood watch and they have never been apart since. Link to comment
TheCheat Posted April 28, 2004 Author Share Posted April 28, 2004 bjk, to answer your question, the goby/shrimp pair are in a standard 10g. i've got a decent amount of lr and just a couple inches of sand bed. this is key because the shrimp is constantly excavating his cave. seriously, i don't think he ever stops re-decorating. also in the tank, i've got a few snails (desperately need more though), 2 zebra hermits, and an emerald crab. the beauty of this combo is that they stay strictly on the sandbed, therefore leaving the rest of the tank available for a fish that will utilize the space and/or a shrimp that will be out and about. it makes for very good tank dynamics i think. hopefully i'll be adding another fish or shrimp when the rediculous cyano and hair algae goes away. lata, ~b Link to comment
MrKrispy Posted April 28, 2004 Share Posted April 28, 2004 is there a good way to arrange rubble on the side of a tank so you can watch the pair? I wanted to get a pair, and bought base rock for my main rocks for stability. I am trying to figure out a way to arrange rubble in the corner or side that will be enticing to the shrimp and goby. Link to comment
TheCheat Posted April 29, 2004 Author Share Posted April 29, 2004 krispy, i've only got about 5-6 fairly large pieces of lr in my tank. i wish i had gotten smaller pieces of rubble so that i could aquascape better, but alas, i did not, so i'm stuck with these rocks that are pretty difficult to arrange. basically i just arranged them next to each other in the back of the tank so that the front half of the tank was only sand (it looks like hotels on a beach!). instinctively, the shrimp made caves that face the front of the tank, i believe, because it affords the goby the best view of whats going on everywhere (just in case hermits try to bum-rush the shrimp). that said, there are caves and tunnels throught the tanks, so they don't just limit themselves to one small area. mine digs all over the place, but it almost always in view. they are an amazing pair to watch. ~b Link to comment
MrKrispy Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 cool. I broke up a minor rock into small rubble, might arrange a pile on the side and see if it takes. Thanks Link to comment
TheCheat Posted May 5, 2004 Author Share Posted May 5, 2004 krispy, did they dig out a nice cave where you could watch them? what kind of pistol shrimp do you have? mine is a red-spot, and i heard it "fire" it's pistol for the first time yesterday when i had him out of the tank for a few minutes. he wasn't supposed to come out, but he was in a piece of live rock that i removed. when i tried to put him back in, he was a little upset. other than that, i've never heard him at all. so anybody out there who's worried about them making too much noise.... it hasn't been a problem at all for me. lata ~b Link to comment
MrKrispy Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 I don't have them yet, I have been waiting for a tiger pistol at AW here in san diego. Link to comment
reefsrule Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 my yasha gobie paired up with my randall's pistol shrimp in a 10 gallon. Pretty interesting to watch. Link to comment
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