Any regrets having pistol shrimp/goby pair?

[DaveMorris]

I have always enjoyed having a goby/pistol combo in my tanks. They are fun to watch and I like the interaction.

 

[Franki]

My pistol killed one of my gobys

 

[Adele]

I am in the minority, but wish I had never added my pair. I thought they would find a home and stay there, but they are constantly on the move so its a challenge to keep any corals on the substrate. I had to uncover an acclimating Duncan yesterday and repeatedly have to recover my Acans. All my substrate is gone from one corner of my tank and moved to the center. I try to spread it back out, but it just gets moved again. The paring is fun to watch but if you have any plans for coral on the substrate you may want to reconsider or just be prepared to have corals moved, buried or pulled into burrows and copious amounts of sand piled hither tither and yon.

 

[ramona]

It was a short video in one of the threads a while ago with 2 angry gobies throwing sand to each other - so funny to watch; cann't find it; anyone seen it?

 

[mta_morrow]

It was a short video in one of the threads a while ago with 2 angry gobies throwing sand to each other - so funny to watch; cann't find it; anyone seen it?

I believe it’s a diamond goby and a jaw fish.

Hilarious video!

 

[Tridacnid]

Love my pair. The pops can be quite loud so keep that in mind. I thought my shrimp popped my firefish but it turns out he's just being a weirdo and joined the goby and shrimp to live in their tunnels.

 

[Gogoggansgo]

None besides the water always looking like crap lol

 

[van7271]

None at all. They are fun to watch. My wife’s favorite. They do a great job of turning the substrate on their end of the tank.

 

[Gogoggansgo]

None at all. They are fun to watch. My wife’s favorite. They do a great job of turning the substrate on their end of the tank.

I got a diamond goby at the moment water looks like a smoke screen most of the time but that sand is just so pretty

 

[Humanzee1966]

They're great additions to any tank. Just make sure you add in extra shells of varying sizes or small pieces of dried/dead coral. In my 120 my pistol would steal frags that were on the sand and drag them into the burrow. I've since downgraded and my new pistol leaves the frags alone in favor of the rubble and shells.

They will make piles of sand in your tank like a sand sifting goby as well.

The only real con to them is depending on where they decide to make their burrow you may never see them.

Any idea where online you can buy these kinds of shells/coral in small amounts?

 

[Tmm87]

Any idea where online you can buy these kinds of shells/coral in small amounts?

The ones I used came in one of my My Aquarium boxes. But there are some available online like these

Empty Hermit Shells

Empty shells that will make for great new homes for hermits as they get bigger. These shells cover micro to medium-sized hermits, like blue leg hermits. Got a larger hermit? You can find shells for...

www.reefcleaners.org

 

[jasonrusso]

They're great additions to any tank. Just make sure you add in extra shells of varying sizes or small pieces of dried/dead coral. In my 120 my pistol would steal frags that were on the sand and drag them into the burrow. I've since downgraded and my new pistol leaves the frags alone in favor of the rubble and shells.

They will make piles of sand in your tank like a sand sifting goby as well.

The only real con to them is depending on where they decide to make their burrow you may never see them.

And once they get their eye on a particular frag, they don't leave it alone!!!

 

[Kayanarka]

Fire gobies aren’t shrimp pairing gobies. They also hang out in the water column, rather than the sand bed.

I know this is an old thread, but I have a set of Fire Dart fish (fire gobies as some call them) and they did pair up with my pistol shrimp. For a while, we thought the pistol ate the smaller fire dart fish, but we saw the larger fire dart going into and out of the cave, and then saw the smaller dart fish inside the cave kind of peeking out. While they seem to have formed up a team, they do not hover around the entrance like I see the watchmen gobies do. Instead, the larger dart fish will hang out in the water column during feeding time, grab stuff and run it into the cave.

 

[Kayanarka]

Edit to remove double post

 

[youcallmenny1]

I know this is an old thread, but I have a set of Fire Dart fish (fire gobies as some call them) and they did pair up with my pistol shrimp. For a while, we thought the pistol ate the smaller fire dart fish, but we saw the larger fire dart going into and out of the cave, and then saw the smaller dart fish inside the cave kind of peeking out. While they seem to have formed up a team, they do not hover around the entrance like I see the watchmen gobies do. Instead, the larger dart fish will hang out in the water column during feeding time, grab stuff and run it into the cave.

You mean firefish right? I've never even heard of them doing that. That's amazing! Video?

 

[Tmm87]

I know this is an old thread, but I have a set of Fire Dart fish (fire gobies as some call them) and they did pair up with my pistol shrimp. For a while, we thought the pistol ate the smaller fire dart fish, but we saw the larger fire dart going into and out of the cave, and then saw the smaller dart fish inside the cave kind of peeking out. While they seem to have formed up a team, they do not hover around the entrance like I see the watchmen gobies do. Instead, the larger dart fish will hang out in the water column during feeding time, grab stuff and run it into the cave.

It's not a true pairing in the sense that an actual prawn goby and pistol have. They're just using the pistol shrimp for their benefit by living in his cave. The pistol tolerates them as they serve a function (lookout/early warning of danger) similar to what the prawn goby would do but without a video to prove otherwise I'd say the behavior is likely far different than what a prawn goby and pistol typically display.

That being said, it's cool that they have that cohabitation going on.

 

[Lasse]

A summary of my experiences of this







Sincerely Lasse

 

[ying yang]

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[ying yang]

It was a short video in one of the threads a while ago with 2 angry gobies throwing sand to each other - so funny to watch; cann't find it; anyone seen it?

Hi I know 2018 you asked question but see you last online today so thought I share which one I think you mean lol

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Trust this thread to start today, pistol shrimp delivered today and long fin goby.... Plus another clean up crew, still battling algae so for me this is only way forward meaning more cuc.. Any other suggestions welcome, I think my light is a big cause which is viparspectra, now on 1% white for 3 hours and 50% blues 6hours, any thoughts appreciated, I have a UV filter also now running 24hrs