Diamond goby and pistol shrimp

Zane24

Zane24

New member
I have a 6 month old tank. I have a diamond watchmen goby. He has been great. Today I decided to get him a partner and got him a Randell pistol shrimp. Within minutes of putting the pistol shrimp in the tank he found his way to the entrance of the gobys home. The diamond goby came out of his cave and put the small pistol shrimp in his mouth and took him in the cave. I saw the goby a few seconds later but haven't seen the shrimp all night. I'm afraid the goby ate the shrimp. Has anyone ever seen this before. Did he eat him or did he immediately know and take the shrimp to his new home. Please any advice or experience is appreciated. I'm hoping they are together but worried

Thanks
 
I've had a pistol shrimp and yellow prawn goby paired for years. It sounds like they should be ok. Listen for the pistol shrimp snapping his claws. You can also usually see the Antena touching the goby when the goby is out of the hole.
 
That's the goby going "Come here, you are my digger now."
It seems to be reasonably common with large gobies and small shrimp.
 
I realized this was the wrong section after I submitted the message from my cell phone. This was only my 2nd post so please bear with me. Thanks for all the comments I really do appreciate it. I kind of figured that was the goby showing him his new home. The pistol shrimp is a little guy and my goby is about 4" already. I'm hoping to see some sign that the pistol shrimp is ok but it's only been 24 hours. He's probably not comfortable with his new surroundings yet. Hopefully I'll hear or see him soon.
 
If you have a diamond watchman goby (Valenciennea puelleris) then he won't pair with a shrimp as he is a sifter. It is the shrimp gobies that pair up.
 
That makes perfect sense now. But just about every online store recommends diamond watchmen gobies with pistol shrimp. It's been 48 hours and I have not seen or heard anything from him. I have to assume the worst at this point.
 
I would not assume the worst after only 48 hours. I suspect he is just in shock from the new environment and hiding out. I can goes days without seeing my pistol shrimp as well. He is paired with a watchman gobie as well. Give it a little time.
 
The common names for gobies can be misleading; i.e. not all watchman gobies are the same. For example, the yellow watchman goby is also known as the Yellow Shrimp goby and will pair off but the Diamond Watchman goby will not pair off.
 
I thought I would give an update. I believe the pistol shrimp is dead. It's been close to a week and I have not seen or even heard him. I made the mistake of trusting websites. The diamond watchmen goby does not pair with pistol shrimp even though he's a watchmen goby. A lot of online sites list them as pairing but after reading more they definitely do not since they don't need the shrimp to dig. I have since got a small yellow watchmen goby and Randalls pistol shrimp for my other tank. I've seen the YWG but not the shrimp. I have heard him though. It seems they have both taken the home I set up and started for them.
 
Bummer. Thanks for the update I was wondering how it was going. Yellow watchmen and a Yasha gobbie are on my list along with a pistol shrimp or two. I hear if I get two pistols they will just live on opposite sides of the tank.
 
The yellow watchmen is very cool. He's just a little guy but luckily he settled in very easily. He's still in the cave I made for them. He's learned very quickly what my feeding stick is. Every other day I feed them live brine shrimp (after soaking in selcon). Once he sees the feeder he comes right out and up to it. After eating goes right back to his burrow. If another fish comes by he tries to scare them off but it hasn't worked yet. The diamond goby pays no attention to him. I was worried at first but they are fine together even with the size difference
 
my lfs has a gobby and pistol shrimp pair. I don't remember which gobby but i am pretty sure it was a tiger shrimp. anyway, my question is that will the gobby or shrimp kill and eat my other inverts, worms, or pods? how about corals, especially zoanthids. will they munch on or destroy them? I was at the lfs and was watching them. I saw the shrimp drag what looked like a hermit crab into the hole. I told the owner of the store who was standing next to me and he went in and lifted the rock up and found a lot of shells in there. he seems to think it was probably an empty shell and the shrimp uses them to shore up his cave. I was pretty sure there was a hermit crab in it. anyway my concern is them decimating my clean up crew of snails and crabs, or eating all my worms, I have a lot of spaghetti worms and bristle worms, pods, and other creatures that i have painstakingluy introduced and cultivated into my 150 gal system. one time I bought a 6 line wrasse at the suggestion of the lfs and all of a sudden I didn't have any more worms or pods, it took me a while to notice and figure out. anyway, that was a costly mistake, wouldn't want to happen again. and then I had the tangs with bad behavior who tore up my tank eating all the zoanthids.

can anybody give me insight on the eating and hunting habits of the shrimp and gobby pair? again I don't know which gobby but the lfs said it was not a sand sifting one.
 
petemichelle said:
my lfs has a gobby and pistol shrimp pair. I don't remember which gobby but i am pretty sure it was a tiger shrimp. anyway, my question is that will the gobby or shrimp kill and eat my other inverts, worms, or pods? how about corals, especially zoanthids. will they munch on or destroy them? I was at the lfs and was watching them. I saw the shrimp drag what looked like a hermit crab into the hole. I told the owner of the store who was standing next to me and he went in and lifted the rock up and found a lot of shells in there. he seems to think it was probably an empty shell and the shrimp uses them to shore up his cave. I was pretty sure there was a hermit crab in it. anyway my concern is them decimating my clean up crew of snails and crabs, or eating all my worms, I have a lot of spaghetti worms and bristle worms, pods, and other creatures that i have painstakingluy introduced and cultivated into my 150 gal system. one time I bought a 6 line wrasse at the suggestion of the lfs and all of a sudden I didn't have any more worms or pods, it took me a while to notice and figure out. anyway, that was a costly mistake, wouldn't want to happen again. and then I had the tangs with bad behavior who tore up my tank eating all the zoanthids.

can anybody give me insight on the eating and hunting habits of the shrimp and gobby pair? again I don't know which gobby but the lfs said it was not a sand sifting one.
Click to expand...

Post a picture of the goby.

Maybe one of the mods can move this thread to a more appropriate forum?
 
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