Watchman goby and firefish...roommates?

[stephent89]

I have a firefish and yellow watchman goby who seem to have become best friends using their pistol shrimp partner as a home builder. Every night they stay right beside each other...and I mean literally touching each other side by side. Is this normal? I just thought it was kinda funny.

 

[DC650]

Any pics?

 

[ReeferBatman]

It's possible as their both goby species, but a little less typical than common!

My firefish and pistol/goby live on opposite side of tanks.

That's so cool for yours though!

 

[stephent89]

It's hard to get pics. All you can usually see at night is the two heads way up under the rock lol

 

[Mikefallen13]

I would also love to see pics! I've never heard of two different goby species sharing one shrimp, and I didn't know fire fish would even form a relationship with shrimp.

 

[stephent89]

Sorry for the late post. This is the best picture I could get of them. They don't show themselves very well at night. You can see the two mouths

 

[trmiv]

That's cool. My watchman does his "I'm a giant mean goby don't mess with my shrimp" act whenever my firefish gets anywhere near him.

 

[meegwell]

Sorry to hijack this thread but while ive got a few goby owners...i have a watchman and after about 4 weeks he still makes a complete mess of the tank, stirring the bed up (its not fine, it caribsea seafloe special)....is there any chance this will eventually stop...either the goby stop or all the smaller particles getting filtered out? Any experience?

And what do you guys mean by the relationship between a shrimp and a goby, what do they do?

 

[stephent89]

It's hard to say if he'll stop. Mine doesn't stir the sand at all, but I've seen others like yours that does. It really just depends on the personality of the fish, but gobies do tend to sift sand in general. As far as the shrimp goes...certain watchman gobies will pair with pistol shrimp. It's a relationship like a clown and an anemone. The shrimp will dig a home for it and the goby and in return the goby will provide protection and alert it when predators come close. The shrimp is almost blind so it touches the goby and senses when it should shoot back into the burrow to hide. It's pretty cool to watch, but the shrimp will almost certainly sift sand. I'll go to sleep with the sand looking one way and wake up with it looking completely different. I enjoy watching it though so it's worth it to me. How much is he stirring your sand up? It can be a good thing to have something that sifts the sand.

 

[trmiv]

My watchman doesn't do any sand stirring. His shrimp does all the digging, he just hangs out all day and occasionally puffs up and looks tough when another fish swims by.

 

[stephent89]

Mine does the same thing. They have great personalities!

 

[meegwell]

The personality is great. This is why im concerned. He stirs up enough so that it is constantly snowing in the entire tank (90g). He mia all night and when the lights come on the water is so perfectly clear it looks like you can stick your hand right through the glass. An hour later after he gets to work, its a mess and remains that way.

I really like him but man it is difficult to look at what he does to the water.

Maybe if i get him a pistal he will spend less time stirring up sand. Most of his actions are gulping up sand and filtering it out under his fins. The hole digging is much less often, he has established holes.

Another thing I've considered is getting him some food that will immediately float to the bottom. He struggles to compete for the floating food with the other fish. He doesn't like to ascend up to high.

One other thing on the shrimp....i put some little sexy shrimp in the tank he devoured one right in front of me and my daughter. Chewed it all up. I guess pistols dont taste as good

 

[MrClam]

Well pistols are larger than sexy shrimp so I think the goby would have a hard time. I have an Aurora goby/ tiger pistol pair. The pistol is an amazing little engineer, so if you want stability in your sand I would stay away. He uses rocks and shells to build retaining walls and then piles sand on the other side to extend the entrance to his burrow. Most humans couldnt figure out how to do it so well.

Anyway I drop some sinking formula 1 pellets that the goby loves and he eats some mysis as well. Fed once a day and Ive never seen him really dig or sift sand at all. HTH

 

[meegwell]

Yeah the sexy shrimp were tiny. The partner shrimp, who witnessed the goby eat his friend, still remains in the tank. After weeks of MIA, I assumed he was also eaten, he showed up hiding under a duncan coral. He is getting bigger.

Are there specific "sinking" formula one pellets or do you use the normal ones?

 

[trmiv]

I use regular Formula 2 and New Life Spectrum pellets to feed my shrimp and watchman. They sink pretty fast.

 

[cordell]

My YWG and firefish do the same thing. They hang out under the rocks with my pistol shrimp. The shrimp does the digging all night it seems, as I can see mounds of freshly dug up sand in the morning (slightly aggravating now!). While the two fish aren't usually side-by-side, they do hang out under the same rocks that the shrimp has made caves under.

Sometimes I can get inside the stand and look up at the bottom of the tank and see where the shrimp has completely cleaned out the sand down to the glass, and can watch him doing his thing from underneath the tank! Kinda cool...

 

[stephent89]

These are the pellets I use. I found them at petco. They also have garlic which helps out with several different things. My goby eats them right up before they even touch the sand. You might have to distract the more aggressive eaters with food on the opposite side of the tank while you feed him. Or I will also use a turkey baster (like a dollar or two at your local grocery store) and use that to feed him frozen food. Mine will take it right from the end of the baster.

 

[stephent89]

My YWG and firefish do the same thing. They hang out under the rocks with my pistol shrimp. The shrimp does the digging all night it seems, as I can see mounds of freshly dug up sand in the morning (slightly aggravating now!). While the two fish aren't usually side-by-side, they do hang out under the same rocks that the shrimp has made caves under.

Sometimes I can get inside the stand and look up at the bottom of the tank and see where the shrimp has completely cleaned out the sand down to the glass, and can watch him doing his thing from underneath the tank! Kinda cool...

It's so funny! I never see mine at night without the other right by its side.