Setting up for a Shrimp/Goby Pair?

[pearl]

I'll be picking up a new watchman goby/pistol shrimp pair this weekend. While I know that they will more than likely settle where they darn well please- I'd really like it if they made their new home somewhere where I can see them!

Are there any tips on making certain areas of the tank more or less desirable than others? I have a couple of places in the front of the tank that would be good spots for them to set up housekeeping (at least in MY opinion!) I've already deepened the sand in these areas of the tank and have added extra rubble for burrow building. Any other suggestions to make these areas more desirable?

Also, this will be my first experience with a goby/shrimp pair- any other advise on keeping these guys would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[JeremyR]

I've set a few people up with goby/pistol pairs, and the feedback has been great in nano/smaller tank situations, bad in larger tanks. Seems that in larger tanks they tend to go behind the rockwork, and the pistol in his digging can throw up alot of sand and make a mess, especially if you use something fine like aragamax.. but in a smaller tank it can be very cool.

 

[Colin Smith]

Tetra: They set up a symbiotic relationship. The shrimp builds and maintains a burrow, and the goby hangs out at the entrance and protects the nearly blind shrimp. Any time the shrimp ventures out of the burrow he will keep an antenna on the goby. They have a system of body language that means "OK", "stop", and "run for it!". The shrimp's building activities can be a kick to watch, but there are some things to be careful of, as listed below. Overall, they're very hardy (having survived ich and two tank crashes) and fun to watch.

Pearl: The first thing they will do is set up house under your live rock. My LR is all against the back of the tank, and the goby is usually hanging out in front of the LR. The shrimp has a tunnel system that runs most of the length of the tank (36" tank) and the goby pops out of any of the many entrances. The shrimp is infrequently visible, but if you watch long enough you can see him working. There is an opening behind the live rock, but that seems to be used mostly as a dumping ground for sand. There's a 3.5" pile of sand now where there was none.

Before you get these guys, make sure your LR is stable, and sitting on the tank bottom if at all possible, as the shrimp will excavate tunnels underneath it and THEN begin to tunnel out into the sand bed. Anything near the sandbed could get sand dumped on it, so keep an eye out for buried corals. Also, anything the pistol can reach is fair game for tunnel decoration. They are amazingly strong. Mine pulled a decent sized fox coral 4" over to it's burrow. Didn't hurt the fox, but I was amazed that the shrimp was strong enough to move it that far. He had the best front porch in the tank.

HTH,

--Colin

 

[tetra]

Are we talking about yellow watchman golby and pistol shrimp? I heard something about that a while back..but what is so great about it? I have a yellow watchman golby now, can I get a pistol shrimp?

 

[Jazzcat]

Could you isolate them to an area where you'd like them to live? Maybe cage them in that area until they create their burrow there?

 

[Anonymous]

Mine started digging under the first rock he came in contact with. They are just about blind so they will not roam very far and will be excited to find something to dig under. Once they start digging though it will have tunnels all over the tank.

 

[dela]

I wonder if putting in some kind of tub would help contain the digging? Say you put in a 4-1/2" tall Rubbermaid tub and your sand bed is 5" deep so it's completely buried. Then the shrimp digs all he wants within the confines of the tub, but has to turn a corner when he bumps up against a tub wall.

 

[Blue_Mosquito]

I've had a pair of pistol shrimp that came in on the orginal LR I put in. They 1st bilt a burrow in an O shape I made with the ruck, then made a burrow under a natural lip in the front and centre of my tank. Very cool. They've been moving road sized gravel around as well as some other substrate.

And...

One of my Yellow Tail Damsels.... has taken up residence in the burrow. Especially at night when these guys work!

 

[Alice]

Don't different sp. of Pistols take up with different sp. of fish? I've had a pistol shrimp in my sump for well over a year, I just upgraded to a 125 and have been debating on whether or not to had the shrimp to the main tank or put him in the new sump. I've always been fascinated by the shrimp/goby symbiosis but first I need to ID the shrimp. Any good sites?

Thanks!

~Alice