My shrimp gobies

[Tomoko Schum]

Hi y'all,

I bought a shrimp goby a few weeks ago for my 120.
There was already a shrimp goby and a randal's shrimp pair, so I added another randal's shrimp (Alpheus randali), hoping that the new goby will live in a new shrimp's caves. However, this is what happened:

They paired up :inlove:

It's hard to see, but they are in the same goby shrimip hole:

I cannot tell which one is male and which one is female. One has a longer dorsal spike than the other.

Here's the one with short dorsal spike:

Here's the other one with the longer dorsal spike:

Initially I thought I lost one of them. I thought they might have fought and one died since I only saw a goby with the old shrimp. What I didn't know was that I was seeing two different gobies at various entrances. When I was feeding my goby the night before last, the other one came flying out of the same hole (it must have smelled the food and travelled through the long tunnel.) Since then they are hanging out together at the same entrance. Shrimp does not seem to care if there is one or two tenants in the house.

Tomoko

 

[kg4izw]

WOW, one of those gobys is fat! It must be the one you have had for a while.
I wish I could get my scooter blenny that round in the belly. He only eats 3 pieces of mysis each meal. Then he just looks at it. I'll bet you put some live food in that tank too. I wish I could do that for my tank residents.

 

[PaPa_Johnny]

That is great, thanks again for sharing with us. Do you have a thread anywhere on your 120? I'd love to see shots of it.

 

[NicoleC]

Cool!

Now it's time to add a second shrimp and get yourself a foursome going.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thank you all

I think you're right, kz4iz. I think that the one with a short dorsal has been here longer. I wonder if it's a female.

Papa Johnny - I don't have a latest picture. A full tank shot is hardest to take, at least for me. You can see a part of my tank in my Leopard wrass thread. There is an old full tank shot sitting somewhere in my gallery, too.

Nicole - I am wondering where my other randal's shrimp went. I was hoping that it moved over to the opposite side of the tank. Then I can have another pair without the squabble over territories.

Tomoko

 

[NicoleC]

I have no idea how to tell a male shrimp from a female shrimp -- I am not sure if in this species the female carries eggs whether they are fertile or not. But I do know only a male and a female shrimp will share a burrow. If you think one is fun...

My old shrimp pair were a gift from someone who had no idea how she ended up with a pair. But it was great to have a foursome -- even better that I rigged their tank so that the shrimp make their burrows up against the glass and I could spy on them

Female with eggs:

Shrimp spawn, aka free food:

 

[Tomoko Schum]

How neat!

I am hoping that my sexy shrimp will pair up. I only have two in my pico tank with a nano goby. I doubt that they are a pair since I never saw any sign of them mating or resulting larvae. Then again, I never fed them consistently and the tank parameters fluctuate a lot since the tank is so small. It would be really neat if I could pair up sexy shrimp, too

Tomoko

 

[timrandlerv10]

YOU TWO SLAY ME!!!

here i am happy that the mated pair i bought arent divorced, and look what you two do!!!

i'm going to feed more live food...seems like the key to success here

 

[timrandlerv10]

what kind of sand is best for shrimp burrows? i read that you need larger chunks in the substrate--like shells, rubble, etc. True?

my rainfordi seems very interested in living in the very bottoms of the rock crags...but the nano is BB. if i had sand, would the rainfordi be interested in a shrimp burrow?

i assume a cleaner shrimp wouldnt make a burrow...true? can i mix shrimp in a tank that small?

if any, what shrimp would 'pair' best with the rainfordi?

if the answer to most of those is no, thats fine, cause that rainfordi is neat!

thanks,

tim

 

[NicoleC]

For the gobies, a fine sand without sharp edges is best. Aragonite is perfect; silica is bad for gobies. For the shrimp, they will use any shells, small rubble and chunks of anything they can find for their burrows -- sometimes including snails who are still in their shells and ruin everything by crawling away. You can provide whatever you like that suits the bill.

You don't need a lot of sand it you provide some starter burrows for them. PVC pieces, flat pieces of rock leaning against the glass, etc. Then the sand and rubble will just be for them to fix up their palace. You may find that you want to give them more and more.

You really need to plan ahead for them. The amount of sand and rubble they move is amazing, and they are constantly rebuilding. You have to be very careful they can't undermine your rock, so I suggest any rock rests on the bottom and is very stable and preferably secured together with cable ties or some other method.

Cleaner shrimp and pistol shrimp should be fine together and will ignore each other. No, cleaner's don't burrow. They do kill everything they possibly can, though; not a good tank mate IMO if you want to have infauna, pods and small snails.

You could have a very nice nano dedicated to shrimp and goby pair(s). I know my breeding tank for the gobies and shrimp was always the big hit. I also kept some non-photosynthetic corals in there that did very well since the small breeding tank (attached to a larger system) tended to accumulate all the detritus, so I managed to keep the non-photosynthetic corals well fed with only haphazard spot feeding.

I REALLY would like to get up my pretty new tank sitting in storage. Can someone please buy my house already so I can move and set up the new tank?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Tim,

Rainford goby (Amblygobius rainfordi ) is not known to live with Alpheus shrimp or other goby shrimp/prawn.

Although Rainford goby is very neat, if you want to see a goby and a shrimp goby living together, I recommend that you try Alpheus randali (tiny candy striped pistol shrimp) and a yellow watchman goby in your 10 gallon. I got all my alpheus shrimp at The Aquarium Shop. They are very sturdy and live a long time.

If you want to keep them in your 10 gallon, you can gently put a thin layer (1/2 to 1 inch) of aragonite sand in your tank and put both of them in it. They will soon find each other.

I have a pair of them in my 15 gallon. The shy watchman goby is always hanging out right in front of the tank at one of the entrances for the shrimp tunnel (where I feed them.) At night the goby goes into the tunnel and shrimp place a door (shell or a small live rock rubble) on the entrance. They are really cute together.

As Nicole pointed out, the tiny shrimp bulldozes an amazing amount of sand around. I find my landscape in 15G often a little different in the morning. It's fun though. It does not bother me.

The alpheus is a pistol shrimp and just like any pistol shrimp, it makes a snapping noise. It sounds so loud at night that it sounds like an aquarium glass may be cracking

Tomoko

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I don't have a picture of my alpheus shrimp and yellow watchman goby. But I found a video of the tag team here.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/pistol-shrimp-and-watchman-goby/4124878142

My pair looks just like them.

Tomoko