YWG + Pistol Shrimp Questions

[tj1627]

Hi All,

A few questions for you. I'm picking up a yellow watchman goby in a few days and he'll go into my QT for a few weeks once home.

I brought home a pistol shrimp yesterday and he is in my DT. Here's the problem: Of all the places he could choose to make his burrow, he chose the back of the tank under rock work. One of the least visible places in the tank. Now I know, from his perspective the privacy makes sense. I can deal with it. At the same time, am I being selfish for wanting him to be in a more visible location? Will he relocate around the tank on his own?

Once the goby is done in QT in a few weeks, what is the best way to add him to the DT? Will he seek out the pistol shrimp's burrow on his own? Anything I should worry about?

Feeding the pistol - I usually feed a variety of pellets, flakes, arctipods, and rod's food rotating throughout the week in small quantities. Should I target feed the shrimp's burrow? Or not worry about it and let him find his own food from the left overs?

Thanks all!

 

[Guygettnby]

the few pairs i have had in the past were added at the same time. 1 of them decided to burrow right in the front of the tank. the other decided to hide in the middle of the rocks were it could not be seen.

one thing to keep in mind... once they really start to burrow, they will have a whole system of caves in your tank. one problem with this is if your rock is sitting on the sand, as they burrow the rock could come down on them.

now on the other hand my buddy added a YWG after adding his tiger pistol a week or so before. they found each other pretty quickly. he didnt do anything special but drop the fish in the tank.

as far as feeding i have found it easier to target feed a pistol shrimp a small piece of krill. now this was when there was no goby paired with him. when i had the 2 pairs i never really did anything besides feed my tank. he always got food and never went hungry. the fish actually used to bring him back some food at times. pretty cool to watch, almost like how a clownfish will feed an anemone.

i hope that helps you out some. but if you do some google searches i am sure you will find out alot more info to help you on your way.

 

[Fish Biscuit]

They should find each other, if not right away it will happen eventually. Mine moves the burrows all over the place & changes which doors he chooses to use on a daily basis. You can release the goby by the opening of the house & that should speed things up.

My pistol eats whatever he can find but I do try to push a piece of food his way if I see antenae sticking out. A few times a week I will give a piece of an algae wafer & Hikari crab cuisine for iodine supplement.

 

[Triggerfish]

let me know how this works out for you. i recently added a pistol, they havent paired up yet. i know the goby saw it on two occassions as it walked right passed it. in fact havent seen the pistol in about 3 days now.

 

[Allan B]

I have a YWG and want to get a pistol..cant seem to find one more than 1". I got one at that size and he just disappeared into the rockwork and hasnt come back since...

Ill try again soon.

 

[tjmoreci]

I added a tiger pistol shrimp about a week after my yellow watchman and they paired up within a couple hours. I would place the goby near the pistol shrimp's burrow to help speed up the process. My pair have stayed in pretty much the same area, but the shrimp is out more often than he'd probably be without the goby. Target feeding would be fine, but the shrimp is regularly finding food while burrowing also. Good luck!

 

[tj1627]

Glad to hear its working out for all of you!

So I suppose the shrimp is a little psychic... Went home from work to find him on the other side (the front) of the rock work making himself a front door. So now he's more visible. I'm sure he'll disappear to other burrows from time to time, but thats ok.

I target fed him some Rod's last night, he ran out of the burrow and jumped into the water column to snatch it before any hermits could get to it. Dragged it back into his burrow for supper time.

I'll update in a few weeks once the YWG is out of quarantine and going into the display tank.

Thanks again!

 

[Triggerfish]

havent seen the pistol in about 4 days now. doesnt come out during feeding either.. however, it seems like he's been digging around as the sand has piles in different areas.

 

[mtcoins123]

Pistol shrimp do not make just a simple burrow they make a mile of tunnel with many "rooms" for the goby to hide in and eat. I would not be surprised to find a tunnel system that runs the length of your tank. no worries this is one of my favorite species very cool relationship.

 

[tjmoreci]

pistol shrimp do not make just a simple burrow they make a mile of tunnel with many "rooms" for the goby to hide in and eat. I would not be surprised to find a tunnel system that runs the length of your tank. No worries :d this is one of my favorite species very cool relationship.

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