Mixing diamond and gold headed sleeper goby?

[gsiegel]

I have a 280 gallon tank which has a gold headed sleeper goby that has been in the tank for several months. I am thinking of adding a diamond goby to the mix. I have a deep sand base and plenty of hiding spots along with several other fish so the gold headed goby is always actively sifting. I figure the diamond goby could help but just want to make sure that they should be compatible before I add him. The diamond is also bigger than the already existing gold headed goby. Okay to mix and had the diamond? Thanks.

 

[gsiegel]

Fish is being held at my lfs (only one I trust) so any input would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[IUfan]

FWIW I have 2 diamond watchman gobies and 3 Yellow WG, in a 180.

I was hoping that I'd be able to form a pair of DWG and YWG but everyone likes going it alone. The DWG likes to roam all over the tank stays in one place for maybe half a day and then moves on, sifts sand a lot! and the bigger one bullies the littler one, but no fight as of yet, the little one just knows to get out of the big ones way.

The DWG doesn't bother the YWG at all, the YWG all have separate holes and pistol shrimp mates, so they stay to there same spot, the DWG is twice the YWG size and doesn't mess with them, if it gets too close to one of there holes the YWG will pop out and posture a bit and the DWG always backs away.

No experience with gold headed though. I would say your fine, could be a bit of posturing every now and again, but in a 280 I think there's enough room for one to back down and find somewhere else to go.

To note, be extremely careful in first few hours of acclimation, they are very jumpy in that stage, once settled in they are fine but in first few hours are prone to jumping out, even out of the acclimation bag/bucket, so take extra precaution there. If your tank is rimless, then put a cover on for a few hours.

Hope that helps

 

[gsiegel]

Thx IU fan. Like the logo. I graduated there in '93

Any other experiences?

 

[IUfan]

There's so many IU fans on here!

Nothing else to really add, I lost one from jumping out and I didn't reallize in time, this is when I tried to introduce a 2nd to try form a pair, like I said there jumpy in first couple of hours.

They sift sand really well, but I supplement that by feeding frozen food, while I'm feeding my other fish, I'll just direct some towards the sandbed and they'll eat it up.

They can stir up the sand quite a bit, so much so that sand flakes can get picked up by the power head and blown around in water column, which is kind of annoying at times, but they keep the sand very clean so I don't mind so much.

Make sure your rock is on the glass, and not resting on top of the substrate. They dig some serious tunnels. Again, I don't mind this.

They really are good at keeping the sand clean, mine used to look a bit brownish dirty looking, now with the DWG's it looks bright white! I think there the best fish for this job.

Oh.. And despite there name diamon WATCHMAN goby, I don't believe they from a bond with pistol shrimps, I intro'd a pistol directly into the hole the DWG was in, and 10 seconds later the DWG swam out with the shrimp in its mouth and spat it out far from its hole, don't worry, shrimp was absolutely fine, he just picked him up with his mouth, he wasn't trying to eat it. The shrimp then went and found a YWG

Hope this helps