New Pistol Shrimp burrowed in undesired location

[KarenLR75]

Put in a new pistol shrimp and a Randall's Goby at the same time 4 days ago as close to each other as we could manage on less populated side of tank.

Of course, this meant BOTH went to the other side of our 112+ mixed reef gallon tank.:headwallblue: And like most, we would have loved to have the pistol shrimp and goby meet up at the front of the tank where we could have watched them.

Other tank mates are a pair of mated Percula clowns, a Melanurus Wrasse, 4 firefish, a Mandarin, 2 skunk cleaner shrimp and 1 red shrimp. The rocks in this area form what we call the main 'highway' in and around the rocks and through a series of caves that are connected to each other. Everyone swims in and around these caves.

The pistol shrimp burrowed inside smallest cave that is the main 'exit' from the fish highway so I have 2 concerns: 1) Cave isn't that big & he's burrowed so much there is a huge pile of sand now and 2) I fear he may hurt/kill one of the fish that is simply just swimming through that area (or like with our mandarin, crawling all of the wall of the cave pecking at pods).:hmm2:

Lastly, the goby and shrimp haven't found ea other yet but I really don't want the goby to find the shrimp while he's in this undesired location. The Goby isn't venturing anywhere so it's unlikely he'll come across the shrimp as he hides on popular side of the tank but towards the side where it is almost impossible to see him.

So...should I even attempt to relocate the shrimp (it will be hard to get the right angle to get him out of where he's at) or am I out of luck and wherever he's at I have to resign myself to it? Finally, is the Goby ever going to find the shrimp? lol.....

 

[Tripod1404]

They will find each other dont worry about that, dont try to force it as they both would probably scare run to opposite directions. They need to find each other on their own. And a pistol shrimp cannot kill a fish unless it is tiny (like half of the shrimp).

About the second part, they generally built several burrows around the tank and periodically move between them. That being said you cannot force it to a specific location. Shrimp has poor eyesight and the goby mainly decides if a location is safe or not. It will not find a hole it cannot fit into with the shrimp safe. So it will most likely move the shrimp form the location you described. For a new pair, the goby will not probably decide the front of the tank is safe (since it will be scared of the owner). Eventually, when it feels safe and understands that the food comes from the front of the tank, it will come front and bring the shrimp with it. But they will still have multiple burrows and move between them. Sometimes they might even be connected by tunnels under the sand.

 

[scuzy]

Once they are in you can't dictate where they burrow. Let them do their thing.


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[Fiver]

Surrender to the shrimp's will and hope for the best. Can't force its location.

 

[Daddi0]

Ours has a main burrow and a summer cottage.

 

[saf1]

Surrender to the shrimp's will

Lol. Yes, surrender as Fiver noted above.

 

[KarenLR75]

lol...yes, Fiver...I had decided the pistol shrimp was likely to get his way in this but I wanted to verify I had no pressing reasons to undo rock work and try to net him.

When we put livestock/corals/etc. in, we do our best to 'plan' but where things end up is often out of our control (well, we do have more control on where coral 'starts' out at).

If there is no urgent reason to force a relocation, I don't mess with new livestock in particular. I hope he enjoys his cave and figure the goby will eventually find him.

 

[KarenLR75]

Ours has a main burrow and a summer cottage.

LOL..I love that...."a summer cottage"...

 

[Daddi0]

LOL..I love that...."a summer cottage"...

Unfortunately now a 7 inch Serpent Star has has taken up residence in the main house and the Gobys and Pistol appear to have been taken hostage. They have vanished.
Cheers! Mark

 

[ROB2005]

Unfortunately now a 7 inch Serpent Star has has taken up residence in the main house and the Gobys and Pistol appear to have been taken hostage. They have vanished.
Cheers! Mark

Meh, they will eventually pop out again.

 

[Sgchick]

My goby and pistol shrimp pop out all over my tank, small tank though (30g) They are so much fun to watch! Agree with others...let them find each other and I'll bet they dig a few burroughs around your tank. Just going to take them some time

 

[makers marc]

I loved my combo of tiger pistol and YWG for the past 2 yrs. Now for my upgrade im trading them in.

The piles of rubble constantly clog flow throughways that I find myself using my baster to blow down the hills again. Or the piles get so high (5 inches+) that they start covering some corals.



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[KarenLR75]

They actually found each other the very next day! I've been watching them in sheer fascination. And they chose a rock which is in the middle and near the front of the tank! They have burrow entrances/exits on all 4 sides of the rock. Fortunately we don't have a ton of sand and with the exception of an Australian elegance coral, our coral is elevated on our rock work.

I googled to learn more about their relationship and found out some of the most interesting things! I didn't realize many of the shrimp they are paired with cannot see very well but have a great sense of smell (how they find their goby if the goby doesn't find them first).

Until I realized there might be a visual impairment issue, I was trying to figure out why the Goby was 'in charge' of the guarding. It seemed like the pistol shrimp came equipped with more at his disposal to use than the Goby...but I guess the way the Goby helps guard the shrimp is by alerting him/her of danger and then making a run for it?

Really fun watching them!

 

[Daddi0]

If you Goby is like ours, it will let the shrimp do all the work.
Cheers! Mark

 

[Tripod1404]

They actually found each other the very next day! I've been watching them in sheer fascination. And they chose a rock which is in the middle and near the front of the tank! They have burrow entrances/exits on all 4 sides of the rock. Fortunately we don't have a ton of sand and with the exception of an Australian elegance coral, our coral is elevated on our rock work.

I googled to learn more about their relationship and found out some of the most interesting things! I didn't realize many of the shrimp they are paired with cannot see very well but have a great sense of smell (how they find their goby if the goby doesn't find them first).

Until I realized there might be a visual impairment issue, I was trying to figure out why the Goby was 'in charge' of the guarding. It seemed like the pistol shrimp came equipped with more at his disposal to use than the Goby...but I guess the way the Goby helps guard the shrimp is by alerting him/her of danger and then making a run for it?

Really fun watching them!

If you watch them carefully, the shrimp would always be touching the goby with one of its antennae. That is how it keeps track of where the goby is and if something dangerous approaches, the goby shakes its body to warn the shrimp to go in.

 

[KarenLR75]

If you Goby is like ours, it will let the shrimp do all the work.
Cheers! Mark

This made me laugh. The Goby is very...well, was going to say protective but I'll say he really is "bossy".

I fed them pellets and some landed near their burrow so the Goby made out like a bandit. The shrimp could smell something good so he kept trying to go around the Goby....there was a small firefish swimming 12 inches overhead so the Goby twitched its tail and the shrimp had the "audacity" to ignore the Goby's warning.

It side-stepped the Goby real quick and grabbed the pellet it wanted. The shrimp also tried it on the other side of their burrow but I guess the Goby was fed up as it swam straight at the shrimp...kind of head butting him back into the burrow.

I understand the Goby being protective if other fish are around but wow..he was...very determined to keep that shrimp in his burrow. I found myself griping at the Goby that for the shrimp to continue doing all the work, he had to let him get something to eat....like they can understand me, right?

I've decided to call the shrimp "Carl" after the Walking Dead show...I kept shouting variations of "Get in the house, Carl!"...."Get BACK in the house, Carl!" lol