Pairing up watchman gobies?

[hllb]

I have a watchman goby and pistol shrimp in my small tank that I plan on moving into my bigger tank. My watchman was yellow when I bought her, but now is gray and I believe that means it's a female. Can I purchase a yellow one, would they pair up, and would it stay 'male', assuming that's the explanation for the color change?

 

[Llyod276]

They either will or will not pair. It's honestly as simple as that.

 

[Steve2113]

I ended up with two by accident I thought one had died and when I got a new one I discovered their two now
They live in the same cave and get along perfectly I was surprised
There is now a hair difference in color but they are both yellow with one being a little less yellow

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I have a watchman goby and pistol shrimp in my small tank that I plan on moving into my bigger tank. My watchman was yellow when I bought her, but now is gray and I believe that means it's a female. Can I purchase a yellow one, would they pair up, and would it stay 'male', assuming that's the explanation for the color change?

To my understanding, color is not an actual determinant for sex in these critters, but to answer the main question- you can pair the watchman gobies, yes; you can also pair shrimp if you'd like:

(Info showing you can pair them):

It's absolutely worth a shot.

They are monogamous and will share a burrow - and not just for the mating season, but permanently (and most Alpheus spp. are this way - see the links at the bottom). I would assume they have two separate sexes (i.e. that they aren't hermaphroditic), but I don't know for sure. Additionally, I'm not sure how to sex the shrimp, but I've heard it's quite difficult to do without taking the shrimp out of the water.

If you're careful with the pairings, you can get two gobies and two shrimp living and breeding in the same burrow:

"When the sexual maturity is reached, normally a pair male-female of gobies shares the same burrow together with a pair of shrimps."
(Quote from the reefs.com article linked below.)

A quick note here on pistol shrimp diet - pistol shrimp do not seem to be predatory, rather they seem to be more opportunistic, omnivorous scavengers (the only "hunting" that seems to take place outside of the burrow is done by the gobies, not the shrimp, and - to my knowledge - no one has ever confirmed if the shrimp actually eat the "prey" brought to them by the gobies; it might be that the goby eats them rather than the shrimp, or the shrimp might eat them as people generally assume):
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-014-1143-4
For examples of the shrimp and goby pairings (both in and out of aquariums), see these links:
https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/nftt/index.phphttps://reefs.com/magazine/aquarium...-the-pistol-shrimp-and-the-shrimpgoby-s-life/
http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/f2012/merkes_juli/reproduction.htmhttps://academic.oup.com/jcb/article/34/5/593/2547834

(Info on how to pair them):

I can't find the paper where it was discussed, but I remember reading through where someone tested four different methods for introducing/pairing broodstock. 3 of the 4 were pretty effective for getting them to pair while the fourth had frequent aggression.

I only remember two methods off-hand: one method was just dropping them into the same tank; the other was putting them in breeder boxes (or breeder box like setups) where they could see each other and sense the chemicals in the water from each other but not actually interact with each other physically. Dropping them in is the one that often resulted in aggression, so I wouldn't recommend that. I'd introduce them through the breeder box method. In theory, you should be able to tell if they're aggressive/calm and if they're bonded or not within a few days/weeks. (That said, these methods may be more effective on fish that do more swimming and less sitting in a burrow; I'm not sure, but I'd be curious to find out.)

With the shrimp, you can theoretically sex them (though you may need some magnification help - see the quote below) and introduce them to hopefully pair the same way as the fish; but if you're unable to sex them, then you'd basically just get two and skip to the introductions.

How to sex the shrimp according to Bob Fenner (I know this method holds true for Synalpheus spp., but I can't find any verification that it works for Alpheus spp. as well):

"Very hard to distinguish sexes externally... Females are characterized by gonopores with U-shaped slits on the coxae of the third pereopods (first walking legs) while males have oval gonopore openings on the coxae of the fifth pereopods (third or last walking legs"*

*Source:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/alphreprof.htm

 

[tryingtoreef]

Color isn't sex dependent. Mine went yellow/grey/yellow
My guess would to the color change would be environmental