Can someone ID this Goby for me?

[Mwil79]

I picked up this little guy from the LFS that is closing its doors. I don't recall what type of Goby he was but he's very shy. I see him once every few days and usually with a mouthful of sand to clean out his lair. I don't think it's a diamond Goby due to no real orange color but wasn't sure if the color develops later on as they grow older.

Thank you in advance.

 

 

Regards,

Mark

 

 

[Clown79]

Looks like a watchman

[RoyalGramma001]

Probably a species of watchman goby is it yellow or a different color.

[TerraIncognita]

If we could see the pattern on his skin a little better would help.

 

blue spotted YWMGs kinda look like that when they’re young but also hard to see again.

[Tired]

Definitely one of the watchman gobies. Head shape doesn't quite look like a yellow watchman, but I've never seen a really small baby one. Maybe a bluespotted watchman? 

 

How big is he, and can you take a picture in just white lights? 

 

Whatever watchman he is, he'll pair up with a pistol shrimp, if you get one that wants to live with him. A tiger pistol would be an excellent match. I used to have a yellow watchman and tiger pistol, and they were a lot of fun to watch. 

[Mwil79]

Thank you for the replies all. Trying to get a picture of him tends to be very difficult as he hides most of the day and as soon as I get the opportunity he runs for the hills lol. Nothing seems to be bothering him in my tank he may just be very young.  I actually think my Solar Fairy Wrasse sleeps in the cave with him nightly.

 

 

Also in white light he does seem to be a yellowish color.

 

[TerraIncognita]

12 minutes ago, Mwil79 said:

Thank you for the replies all. Trying to get a picture of him tends to be very difficult as he hides most of the day and as soon as I get the opportunity he runs for the hills lol. Nothing seems to be bothering him in my tank he may just be very young.  I actually think my Solar Fairy Wrasse sleeps in the cave with him nightly.

 

 

Also in white light he does seem to be a yellowish color.

 

 

HE is this in a couple years.

 

I got my Randall's goby as a baby as well so this is from IME.

 

They will be super finicky for about 6 months. They aren't able to even sift sand yet due to size. Just give him 6 months' he'll adjust. Dont try to feed him directly until he starts coming out looking for food when you feed the rest of your tank, trust me, he will find his food, if you try to shove food down his burrow or something because you think he's too scared to get it on his own I'm worried you'll put nutrient somewhere they wont be exported.

 

My goby didn't even start coming out of the burrow during the daytime for 5 days after I introduced him. I only knew he was okay because my pistol shrimps clicks went from like 2 an hour to maybe 2 a day. (They mute pistol shrimps as they stop clicking all the time because they have the goby for reassurance that nothing is gonna get (eat) them)

 

So while I told myself in my head "Im sure this MF is dead...." I just thought naw... he must be alive.

 

5 days later I saw his TINY little head haha he was probably 1/2 inch big. He was super cute.

 

Good luck they're one of the quirkiest pets.

 

 

[Mwil79]

1 hour ago, TerraIncognita said:

 

HE is this in a couple years.

 

I got my Randall's goby as a baby as well so this is from IME.

 

They will be super finicky for about 6 months. They aren't able to even sift sand yet due to size. Just give him 6 months' he'll adjust. Dont try to feed him directly until he starts coming out looking for food when you feed the rest of your tank, trust me, he will find his food, if you try to shove food down his burrow or something because you think he's too scared to get it on his own I'm worried you'll put nutrient somewhere they wont be exported.

 

My goby didn't even start coming out of the burrow during the daytime for 5 days after I introduced him. I only knew he was okay because my pistol shrimps clicks went from like 2 an hour to maybe 2 a day. (They mute pistol shrimps as they stop clicking all the time because they have the goby for reassurance that nothing is gonna get (eat) them)

 

So while I told myself in my head "Im sure this MF is dead...." I just thought naw... he must be alive.

 

5 days later I saw his TINY little head haha he was probably 1/2 inch big. He was super cute.

 

Good luck they're one of the quirkiest pets.

 

 

100% this is exactly what he is. I lost him for about 10 days and figured him for day. Finally when doing a water changed moved around some rocks and poof there he is. I have not been trying to force feed him anything as he has lived this long without coming out of his home. He has actually started to come out more often and I'm seeing later in the day towards ramp down times.   Thank you so much!

[TerraIncognita]

Yeah, once he starts sand sifting he’ll be out a lot more.

 

i don’t know how old they have to be until they start.

 

Also if you want I’d get a pistol shrimp.

 

they seem incomplete without each other. And pistols IME are actually super peaceful. They don’t bother anyone unless bothered

 

also sorry just to be clear your gobys name is a blue spotted goby as tired suggested. Randall’s goby is the name of my goby, but all Shrimp gobies tend to behave very similarly with the exception of Yasha

[Leo_ian]

On 8/6/2020 at 1:52 AM, TerraIncognita said:

Yeah, once he starts sand sifting he’ll be out a lot more.

 

i don’t know how old they have to be until they start.

 

Also if you want I’d get a pistol shrimp.

 

they seem incomplete without each other. And pistols IME are actually super peaceful. They don’t bother anyone unless bothered

 

also sorry just to be clear your gobys name is a blue spotted goby as tired suggested. Randall’s goby is the name of my goby, but all Shrimp gobies tend to behave very similarly with the exception of Yasha

Haha reviving an old post

 

I don't really understand what you mean by "with the exception of the yasha" I have never had one and cant seem to find a link about it.

[Mwil79]

Just to follow up since this was revised my goby does have himself a new bff Pistol Pete the shrimp and they spend all their time together 🙂

[TerraIncognita]

3 hours ago, Leo_ian said:

Haha reviving an old post

 

I don't really understand what you mean by "with the exception of the yasha" I have never had one and cant seem to find a link about it.

haha np, they're super defensive of their homes and burrows and will use scare tactics, other goby's are very finicky and flight more than fight.

[Tired]

That's actually pretty typical behavior. Most shrimpgobies, once they have a home established, will puff their face up and try to scare away other fish that come too close. I have a picture somewhere of an antenna goby doing it.