Shrimp for my Goby and Anthias question

dlp211

New member
I have a Dracula goby and I would like to get it a shrimp. I was wondering:

1) I also have blood red shrimp and cleaner shrimp, bys adding a shrimp for my Goby will there be a conflict?

2) What is the best species to pair with my Goby and since my Goby is already in my DT(180g), what is the best method for getting them to pair?

I also want to add a few species of Anthias. I was thinking about Bartlett's, Ignitus/dispar, squareback, lyretail. I was wondering:

1) Which of these species will coexist?

2) The aggressiveness of each of these species? And will I have problems with firefish/gobies and the anthias.

3) Should I put a more aggresive fish, ie) a yellow tang to prevent the anthias from bullying other species in first?

Finally, I was planning on a powder blue/achilles as my last fish, but I was also planning to put a coral beauty and/or flame in the tank as well. Should the Angles go last or the Acantharus?

Thanks guys and happy reefing.
Dave
 
I have four lyertails and three square spots with no issues. male square is the boss and the male lyretail seems to know it. I don;t have any little gobys but i think they would not bother with them .
 
Can't help you on the anthias but for the goby with pistol:

You can look at a candy stripe which will stay small and will dig but is not a terror. The hardest part will be to get the shrimp to the dracula in a 180g tank. I have succeded but that was in like a 30g cube. A tiger pistol will get bigger but is a huge digger. They can burrow forever and like creating new burrows just for the heck of it. Again having them pair could be a challenge in that sized tank.

I have kept pistols with all types of shrimp with no issues, they occupy totally different parts of the tank.
 
Thanks MikeandNicole, that's what I figured would be the hardest part, getting them to pair up.

Thanks triggerman, I really like the Bartlett's the most, but I have read that they all turn male and then get aggressive towards one another. Lyretails and Squarespots are a definite possibility though.

I'll wait for some more comments hopefully.
 
I'll comment my experience (limited) with the pistol and goby pairs. Its pretty much a crap shoot I think.

My first pair (Randall's goby and tiger pistol), I had the goby in the tank for a week before adding the pistol. I released the pistol on the same side of the tank as the goby and they paired up within 30 min.

My second pair (YWG and candy cane pistol) I actually acclimated them together and they paired up in the acclimation box, but once they hit the tank they went their separate ways. Took about 2 weeks of the YWG wandering over and trying to get to the tiger pistol (the Randall wanted no part in that) and also him jumping in my overflow(and me fishing him out) before he finally found and paired up with the candy cane.

I think your best bet is dropping the pistol near the goby and hope they find each other. I love the pairs which is why I have 2 and have no issues with my pair of cleaners and the one peppermint that is in there.

Now regarding which one you want, the tiger is much more visible and active though he stays to one side of my tank. I don't really see the candy cane very much though he comes out more now that he is with his goby.
 
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