Regarding Shrimp Gobies, Pistol Shrimp the Tank Substrate

[Rython]

Hi,

I was hoping some of you experienced fish keepers can give me some advice. I'm planning on keeping a Yellow Watchman Goby and Pistol Shrimp in the reef tank I am putting together.

I have some questions about substrate though, and wanted to learn from the community's experience before buying anything. I'm considering the zeovit system, and it recommends a 1" substrate. CaribSea Special Grade Sand is also recommended which is sized at 1.25mm to 1.95mm.

From watching the pair in videos and reading up a bit I know they like to tunnel, and the shrimp will use bits of broken shell and such to fortify the tunnel walls.

I'm wondering if that will be possible with substrate so shallow and with sand of this size rather than crushed shell.

I thought I might help them out by putting some of my rockscape on eggcrate standing just shy of an inch off the bottom using pvc "legs" forming ceilings next to rock walls in some cases. Would this work? And is an inch enough clearance for them to tunnel under those rocks?

Also, do I need to add some crushed shells here and there for the shrimp to find to use in his tunnels? Or does he have a way to pack them where they won't collapse without large shell or crushed coral pieces?

Thanks in advance for any experience you might share.

 

[juniorrocketdad]

One inch special grade is fine, if you have any extra rock rubble you can break it up really tiny and give that to them to help fortify there hole

 

[ThRoewer]

One inch is enough if you provide some rocks that form shallow caves where they can build the bulk of their burrow. Though you should still mix in a few larger pebbles, shells and the like.

What shrimp are you planning on? Tigers would be the right for the larger gobies like YWM, but they will rearrange the sand to their liking, likely move it all to their burrow site. I had one in the past that basically moved all the gravel of the tank into one big pile.
Randallis/candy-canes are less invasive and usually don't do too much ground movement.

 

[Rython]

I was going to go with a Tiger shrimp, because I read they are highly likely to pair up with YWG. But I'm glad you mentioned its behavior, I don't like the sound of that. Maybe I'll go with a Randal's shrimp instead. Do you happen to know if he's still fairly likely to pair with the YWG? Or am I significantly better off trying to pair him with a Yasha's or Randal's Goby?

 

[ThRoewer]

If you get a relatively large shrimp and a small YWG (better two to make a pair) with roughly the same diameter they will pair up.

 

[Rython]

Awesome, thanks!

 

[Evolve29]

Hi,



I was hoping some of you experienced fish keepers can give me some advice. I'm planning on keeping a Yellow Watchman Goby and Pistol Shrimp in the reef tank I am putting together.



I have some questions about substrate though, and wanted to learn from the community's experience before buying anything. I'm considering the zeovit system, and it recommends a 1" substrate. CaribSea Special Grade Sand is also recommended which is sized at 1.25mm to 1.95mm.



From watching the pair in videos and reading up a bit I know they like to tunnel, and the shrimp will use bits of broken shell and such to fortify the tunnel walls.



I'm wondering if that will be possible with substrate so shallow and with sand of this size rather than crushed shell.



I thought I might help them out by putting some of my rockscape on eggcrate standing just shy of an inch off the bottom using pvc "legs" forming ceilings next to rock walls in some cases. Would this work? And is an inch enough clearance for them to tunnel under those rocks?



Also, do I need to add some crushed shells here and there for the shrimp to find to use in his tunnels? Or does he have a way to pack them where they won't collapse without large shell or crushed coral pieces?



Thanks in advance for any experience you might share.

I am using the fine sand Caribbean that most fish stores carry with small pieces of crushed shell.
I got a Petco Ywg, female I assume from what I read with a med size Tiger now. Had the pair for almost a year now. When I first got him, he was small maybe qtr of an inch, ymg was small too and yellow. They will dig as they like and pretty amazing. I placed my rock work where they wouldn't fall if he was digging. My sand looks to be 1 inch and half and varies since Tiger has been busily rearranging the sand bed and small pieces of reef rock it can pick up. The purple rock he actually moved that rock to his liking at night.
I got some flower anemones with anemone crab that have since moved after pistol shrimp fired at it to move after it got stung. He ignores everything else even the anemone crabs that sometimes leaves the anemones to take a stroll on the reef floor. Such a cool relationship between pistol shrimp and sand gobies.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Rython]

Wow he moved that purple rock? It's much bigger than him. That's amazing! I assumed it would just be small fragments of shell and such they would push around. That's pretty cool.