substrate requirements for goby-shrimp pair

[eleodes]

i am pondering a goby-shrimp pair for a new tank. it is smallish, just twenty gallons. is this large enough? it won't hold too much else, maybe just some snails and soft corals and seaweeds.

i also wonder about substrate???? i understand that the shrimp like to do lots of burrowing. the tank currently has just 1" of fine aragonite sand. i plan to also introduce a couple large pieces of LR. would i need to add any rubble or pebble-sized material for the shrimp to dig around in?

additionally, are there any good threads on general shrimp-goby husbandry that you can link me to? i of course need to find out more about species-pairing.

thanks a bunch.

-D

 

[bigbenji]

I read somewhere that a mixed substrate helps. Maybe the aragonite fine sand with another inch of crushed coral or something bigger, that won't cave in when he digs. Mine dug all over in that mixture. I definately think he'll need more than 1 inch of substrate.

 

[SDguy]

Add some rubble or emtpy snail shells in the area of the pair. The shrimp will actually use these materials to construct a stable burrow. BTW, he'll do it with living snails too

hth

 

[eleodes]

so what about species pairings? are there any good threads on that?