Multiple shrimp goby pairs?

[MantisShrimpMan]

I'm a big fan of gobies and I'd like to acquire a handful of the ones I find to be the coolest. I love western Pacific white caps, flaming prawn gobies, Yasha's, Dracula's, watchmen, and more. I am considering getting several gobies since I know that even in tanks under 100 gallons, multiple gobies could develop their own territories. I currently have a 20G cube but I'm considering upgrading to a 74 G tower, which is a 60G cube footprint with 6" extra height. I would like to have at least two, maybe even three or more, different gobies, and all of the ones I really like form symbiotic relationships with pistol shrimp- which, I think is super super cool. I'm wondering if a tank can feasibly support more than one pair of goby+shrimp without them ever intermingling, fighting, forming one mega 4 group, etc. For instance- if I got a white cap, and a flaming prawn goby. Could I pair the white cap with a snapping shrimp, and the flaming prawn with another snapping shrimp, so that each couple has a separate burrow system? Would you suggest having different species of pistol shrimp, or all the same species in one tank? Is there an order you'd introduce them in?

 

[i cant think]

I'm a big fan of gobies and I'd like to acquire a handful of the ones I find to be the coolest. I love western Pacific white caps, flaming prawn gobies, Yasha's, Dracula's, watchmen, and more. I am considering getting several gobies since I know that even in tanks under 100 gallons, multiple gobies could develop their own territories. I currently have a 20G cube but I'm considering upgrading to a 74 G tower, which is a 60G cube footprint with 6" extra height. I would like to have at least two, maybe even three or more, different gobies, and all of the ones I really like form symbiotic relationships with pistol shrimp- which, I think is super super cool. I'm wondering if a tank can feasibly support more than one pair of goby+shrimp without them ever intermingling, fighting, forming one mega 4 group, etc. For instance- if I got a white cap, and a flaming prawn goby. Could I pair the white cap with a snapping shrimp, and the flaming prawn with another snapping shrimp, so that each couple has a separate burrow system? Would you suggest having different species of pistol shrimp, or all the same species in one tank? Is there an order you'd introduce them in?

You can pair the black cap goby with a pistol shrimp however you can’t just pick any random pistol ‘off the street’ and the black cap only pairs with Alpheus rubromaculatus.

However, unlike the name suggests the ‘Flaming Prawn Goby’ Discordipinna griessingeri does not pair with any pistol shrimp. Instead this species hides in small crevices that are close to the sand in rocks. Also this is a species that will vanish in a tank larger than an 18” cube. I highly recommend going against a Griessingeri and going for a larger goby species.

Are there any other Shrimp Gobies you enjoy? You can have them however it’s unlikely you’ll be able to have them all with pistol shrimps as pistol shrimps tend to fight to the death.
P.S. Not all Watchmen Gobies will pair with pistol shrimp, you really need to know the scientific name when it comes to gobies.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

You can pair the black cap goby with a pistol shrimp however you can’t just pick any random pistol ‘off the street’ and the black cap only pairs with Alpheus rubromaculatus.

However, unlike the name suggests the ‘Flaming Prawn Goby’ Discordipinna griessingeri does not pair with any pistol shrimp. Instead this species hides in small crevices that are close to the sand in rocks. Also this is a species that will vanish in a tank larger than an 18” cube. I highly recommend going against a Griessingeri and going for a larger goby species.

Are there any other Shrimp Gobies you enjoy? You can have them however it’s unlikely you’ll be able to have them all with pistol shrimps as pistol shrimps tend to fight to the death.
P.S. Not all Watchmen Gobies will pair with pistol shrimp, you really need to know the scientific name when it comes to gobies.

I saw a post on here a few years ago (and the owner has not been active in a VERY long time) about an experiment whereby the owner took some pipes that were cut down the middle and made some natural looking tunnel systems positioned against the glass, which her pistol shrimp ended up using as. template to build its burrow inside of. Of course, it still rearranged sand both inside the tube and rearranged rubble at the entrances, but by making the tube pressed against the glass, the goby and shrimp were visible even in their burrow system. What I'm curious about is if this could be implemented multiple times. I'm considering a 74G tower build (24x24x30) but it will be placed in the room sort of like a peninsula tank- it will be visible from three sides. My question is, if I made separate tube systems for each of the three sides, if each one could separately house a pistol shrimp (and its respective goby) without them butting heads.

 

[i cant think]

I saw a post on here a few years ago (and the owner has not been active in a VERY long time) about an experiment whereby the owner took some pipes that were cut down the middle and made some natural looking tunnel systems positioned against the glass, which her pistol shrimp ended up using as. template to build its burrow inside of. Of course, it still rearranged sand both inside the tube and rearranged rubble at the entrances, but by making the tube pressed against the glass, the goby and shrimp were visible even in their burrow system. What I'm curious about is if this could be implemented multiple times. I'm considering a 74G tower build (24x24x30) but it will be placed in the room sort of like a peninsula tank- it will be visible from three sides. My question is, if I made separate tube systems for each of the three sides, if each one could separately house a pistol shrimp (and its respective goby) without them butting heads.

I doubt it will work, you’ll probably find in the long run one pistol will just claim 2 of the tunnels and kick the other out. I really don’t recommend trying more than 1 pistol shrimp. Several shrimp gobies may be possible although they may fight over the pistol shrimp. But you’ll likely find you only have the territory room for one pistol shrimp. If I could show you the burrow my randalli has in my 3’x16”x1’ tank then I would however it completely covers the entire base of my rockstructure and it’s hard to even get a good photo of the entrances (there’s got to be 5-6 entrances to the one burrow and each one is Atleast 4 inches appart from the other).

 

[Nox.]

I have owned 2 whitecaps in 3 years and I love them to death. The first one I had I wasn't very responsible with. I wanted to see it every day so I would move rocks around so the goby would be forced to be out more often. I also didn't get it a pistol shrimp. One day I came down to it on the table the tank was on. I assume that it got scared by the baby hippo tang I had with it and had nowhere to go so it jumped. I would recomend getting it a shrimp and keeping it in a small tank alone so you could target feed it. The second one I got I had for 8 months as it came in really big and I assume old. It paired instantly with a tiger pistol and ate frozen readily. It was really nice while it lasted, I had it in a 20g with a pair of pipefish. One day it was breathing heavily and the next day it died. I assume it was old age as I hadn't made any changes to the system at all in the past 2 months.

I am friends with an LFS owner that got 2 Flaming prawn gobies in and he said that they were kind of a pain to take care of and they would only eat freshly hatched brine as they were pretty small. I would recomend keeping them alone in a small tank or what he did which was keep them in a critter carrier.

I'm not sure about goby aggression but one time I had 4 tiger pistol shrimp in a 20-gallon tub for 2 months and there was no aggression, I even got two to pair. I think pistol shrimp are very hit-or-miss.

Good luck with the tank!

 

[Baldguy]

I've had three pairs in my 4ft tank for a while now. Thankfully, they've settled in the perfect places. Got a male and female yasha paired with a randalli. A Yellow watchman paired with a tiger. A hi-fin paired with another tiger. I can watch the behavior for hours!

 

[Tchung23]

I currently have a yasha and candy cane, orange spotted and candy cane and also a flaming prawn that doesn't pair with shrimp. They are all happy and leave each other alone.

 

[Tchung23]

I have owned 2 whitecaps in 3 years and I love them to death. The first one I had I wasn't very responsible with. I wanted to see it every day so I would move rocks around so the goby would be forced to be out more often. I also didn't get it a pistol shrimp. One day I came down to it on the table the tank was on. I assume that it got scared by the baby hippo tang I had with it and had nowhere to go so it jumped. I would recomend getting it a shrimp and keeping it in a small tank alone so you could target feed it. The second one I got I had for 8 months as it came in really big and I assume old. It paired instantly with a tiger pistol and ate frozen readily. It was really nice while it lasted, I had it in a 20g with a pair of pipefish. One day it was breathing heavily and the next day it died. I assume it was old age as I hadn't made any changes to the system at all in the past 2 months.

I am friends with an LFS owner that got 2 Flaming prawn gobies in and he said that they were kind of a pain to take care of and they would only eat freshly hatched brine as they were pretty small. I would recomend keeping them alone in a small tank or what he did which was keep them in a critter carrier.

I'm not sure about goby aggression but one time I had 4 tiger pistol shrimp in a 20-gallon tub for 2 months and there was no aggression, I even got two to pair. I think pistol shrimp are very hit-or-miss.

Good luck with the tank!

I have a flaming prawn goby. I hardly see him and hardly see him eat. i assume he's ok since he's been in my tank for over a year. If you want a goby you see often this is not the fish for you. I do get a kick out of it when I actually get a glimpse of the fish. Most of the time I think its dead and then out of nowhere i see him skirting along the sand!