our pair of diamond gobies staring eachother down and dancing around?!

[racinghart]

hey everyone

so we just started getting back into the hobby. a brother-in-law of mine donated his 55 gallon tank to us a few months ago

few days ago we got a pair of diamond gobies who followed and stayed next to eachother at the LFS store tank and now that they have been introduced to our tank they still follow eachother around and seem to be OK for the most part. did some nice sand sifting but we were able to catch a few video clips of them acting a bit more strangely.

here is a video of them staring at eachother and spinning together in small circles like they are each trying to bite eachothers tails but no actual biting is taking place. we are watching them carefully but they do live together in many caves that they have dug out around our rocks. has anyone experienced this before? are they fighting, dancing, or just playing around? we are concerned but also entertained.

check it out on our youtube video and subscribe if you want because we will document as much of this activity as possible and share it with you guys.

staring at eachother and spinning around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w6B2ZVzoHk

here they are kinda getting a bit more rough but still doesnt appear to be an attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIMu_miAUEw

my theories are they are doing some type of mating ritual or pairing dance (so thats what i hope anyways)

please share your thoughts!

 

[alton]

I have had several pairs over the years, where one went the other was never far behind. Both stayed in the same burrow, the only drawback to me was they don't live very long. My longest pair lasted 5 years, and when one died the other lasted maybe a month longer before moving on to the next life.

 

[Betta132]

Very nice gobies!
Yeah, it looks like some kind of courtship thing, especially since the larger of the two seems to be doing more posturing. I wouldn't be concerned about them, in a 55g there's some space for them to get away if they really need to. Besides, I don't think it's serious aggression, gobies can actually bite if they need to. You could have some breeding going on... keep an eye on them.

 

[racinghart]

got an update and some interesting video clips to share... so now the two diamond gobies have split up, maybe they broke up. the smaller one i am assuming is the female has moved into a burrow on the left side of the tank while the larger (meaner) one i assume is the male has taken refuge in a burrow on the right side of the tank. but the interesting thing is he has paired with our yellow watchman goby and they live together and everything.

here is a video clip we caught of the diamond laying on top of the yellow watchman goby. strange right? they are actually always close to eachother.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQl7XqQXMt8

this 2nd video gets even crazier, the diamond picks up the YWG with his mouth and shoves him out the hole but as you can see the YWG doesnt see this as any threat and swims under him and then back into the burrow. we continued to watch them and they seem peaceful together even after this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipDH-j_hmI

 

[alton]

I don't think you have a pair, mine never left each others side nor did they fight. Your large DG likes the YWG more.

 

[Betta132]

Seems like the watchman knows he's safe in there with the diamond? The DG seems to see the WG as being in its way, hence why he's moving it like it's a piece of rubble. Apparently the WG would rather hide in there where he knows it's safe. Whatever it is, it's funny!