I have not seen my watchman goby for 2 months

[UkiahTheTurtle]

Hi I have Not seen my watchman goby for 2 months but I know my pistol shrimp is alive also I'm pretty sure that the goby is alive but is it normal for a goby to hide for 2 months and I only see the shrimp

my tank is a 20 gallon saltwater reef tank and the fish and coral in it are:
The fish are:
2 frostbite ocellarus clownfish
I purple firefish
And I think a yellow watchman goby
The crustaceans are:
1 candy cane pistol
1 skunk cleaner shrimp
2 emerald crabs
1 scarlet hermit crab
5 blue legged hermit crab
The snails are:
1 nasarius snail
2 star astrea snails
2 cerith snails
1 turbo snail
5 trochus snails
The coral is:
A Green star polyp
A Kenya tree coral
A Devils hand leather
A Toxic bicolor hammer
A cyphastrea
A Setosa montipora
A green rhodactis mushroom
A candy cane coral
and a Red Acan

Also This tank was set up about 6 months ago. Can anyone give me a idea of where my goby is Thanks

 

[j.falk]

If the goby ever gets sick or dies, the pistol shrimp will eat them. That's one explanation.

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

Thanks also the goby was white the night before it disappeared also yesterday I saw a trail in my sand that looked like a snakes trail could that be the goby

 

[j.falk]

The gobies usually stand guard at the entrance of the hole to the pistol shrimps burrow. If it's not poking it's head out of the burrow hole then I would suspect foul play.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Well, I once had one of those disappear for a good six months after I introduced a fuzzy lion to the tank so anything is possible.

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

Does a trail in the sand mean anything could it be my goby swimming and dragging his tail?

 

[j.falk]

More likely a snail trail or a sea snake.

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

oh so he is probably dead? Also the store i got him and the shrimp from had them together as a pair why would one kill the other?

 

[Glass Algae]

oh so he is probably dead? Also the store i got him and the shrimp from had them together as a pair why would one kill the other?

Goby could've died form something else and the pistol shrimp ate it. Or maybe very sick and dying so it was eaten

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

does the goby being the color white before disappearing signal anything

 

[Glass Algae]

does the goby being the color white before disappearing signal anything

I believe female goby turn white as they sexually mature.

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

so could my goby be alive?

 

[Glass Algae]

so could my goby be alive?

That im not sure about. I wouldn't be hopeful about it personally, but I have seen weirder stuff!

 

[xxkenny90xx]

It could be dead. Sometimes that happens with new fish.

Fwiw when I got my ywg and pistol shrimp the goby disappeared for maybe 6-8 weeks. I thought it was dead for sure. Then one day it started standing guard for the shrimp. Now I see it all day every day.

 

[Tankkeepers]

Id vote for jt more then likly being dead but stranger things have happened

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

Okay thanks but could the shrimp be bringing it food also could any of my fish, Inverts or Coral be the cause of its disappearance

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

Do you think I should replace my goby?

 

[jaxteller007]

Ours routinely disappears for weeks upon weeks at a time then we randomly see him again.

 

[GatorDoc70]

I had a watchman goby go MIA for two months, so I decided to get a new one to add to the tank, and give the pistol shrimp a new buddy. The next day I found a dead watchman goby on the sandbed, and a watchman goby standing watch at the burrow. They seem to disappear for a while then reappear.

 

[Jib]

20 gallons seems a little small that he could seriously disappear if you were on the lookout for him. Is your tank design in a way where its feasible he could hide that long?