Orange spotted goby (A. gutata) pair broke up

[avijay23]

I have a pair of the orange spotted gobies (bought as a bonded pair from LA 6 months ago). They used to share a tunnel with candycane pistol shrimp. About a month ago, one of them moved out of the tunnel and hangs out during the day at a different part of the tank. I can't find the other one at night. Either it's hiding really well or goes back to his tunnel 'home' again.

Any ideas what could be going on? Do they change sex? Just getting more comfy in the tank?
Thanks.

 

[avijay23]

bump

 

[teemee]

this happened to me, too, with this species. they went from being as thick as thieves to one chasing the other, living on different sides of the tank...

 

[avijay23]

Update: FWIW, they have been back together the past 3 months. Maybe the clowns did couples therapy interesting behavior changes....

 

[ilikefish34]

I had a pair of YWG that were together in a 10 gallon, split after a couple of months when I moved them to my 125 then rekindled when I upgraded to a 180... fish are like people I guess.

 

[SecretiveFish]

That is interesting behavior! My only pairing attempts have been with clownfish..

I have a pair of clownfish that I joke are separated but not divorced. They hang out and sleep at opposite ends of the tank, but if stressed will huddle next to each other. The two are not fighting so I have just let them be in the 150.

I had tried to pair a naked clown with a snowflake clown, and the two were getting along fine for many months. Then the naked clown began to mercilessly hunt the other one until I had to separate them.

Maybe I just have poor luck with clowns!

 

[avijay23]

Maybe the thread should be named "Angry couples". I wasn't really trying to pair them. They were on diver's den advertised as bonded pair with pistol shrimp. I wrongly assumed that to mean gobi shrimp pair. So when I got a pair of gobies I was pleasantly surprised.