Strange Angel Acrivity

Fossilman06 · Tuesday at 10:59 PM

Picked up a Lemon Peel Angel almost a week ago from LFS. I started to notice that the Angel has been going in and out of my Tiger Pistol Shrimp hole. It also does a little booty shake at one of the entrances when the shrimp comes out. I purchased the Tiger Shrimp and a Pink Bar Goby at the same time, but they haven't found each other yet to pair up. Seem like the Angel is taking over that duty now. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

Decamicron Labs · 2026-10-21T00:13:42-0400

We go through a lot of angelfish. I would have written this off as the angel just wanting the cave for itself, but the second video convinced me this is something else.

I have never seen this behavior before, but I also haven't kept any pistol shrimp with any of our angelfish. The dance they do reminds me of the pairing dance many Centropyge do when they are first paired.

mcarroll · 2026-10-21T02:46:04-0400

Fossilman06 said:
Picked up a Lemon Peel Angel almost a week ago from LFS. I started to notice that the Angel has been going in and out of my Tiger Pistol Shrimp hole. It also does a little booty shake at one of the entrances when the shrimp comes out. I purchased the Tiger Shrimp and a Pink Bar Goby at the same time, but they haven't found each other yet to pair up. Seem like the Angel is taking over that duty now. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

Too cool!

Boreas_SA · 2026-10-21T02:56:56-0400

Do you have any cleaner shrimps? Almost looks like it is advertising for the shrimp to clean him, even though he is barking up the wrong tree there with a pistol shrimp.

Fossilman06 · 2026-10-21T06:08:03-0400

Boreas_SA said:
Do you have any cleaner shrimps? Almost looks like it is advertising for the shrimp to clean him, even though he is barking up the wrong tree there with a pistol shrimp.

I do not have any cleaner shrimp, but when I first witnessed this behavior that same thought crossed my mind. I just worry that the angel will scare the pistol shrimp inadvertently and the shrimp will pop it out of self defense. I may try to move the shrimp closer to my goby side of the tank so they can pair, and then bury the caves. Anyone have thoughts on that idea and why maybe I shouldnt?

joseph scott · 2026-10-21T10:47:24-0400

So cool! It really does look like the Lemon peel is pairing with the shrimp!

Decamicron Labs · 2026-10-21T21:49:19-0400

Boreas_SA said:
Do you have any cleaner shrimps? Almost looks like it is advertising for the shrimp to clean him, even though he is barking up the wrong tree there with a pistol shrimp.

I think this is probably the explanation of whats going on. It does very much look like the shimmering dance they do to pair though.

Fossilman06 said:
I do not have any cleaner shrimp, but when I first witnessed this behavior that same thought crossed my mind. I just worry that the angel will scare the pistol shrimp inadvertently and the shrimp will pop it out of self defense. I may try to move the shrimp closer to my goby side of the tank so they can pair, and then bury the caves. Anyone have thoughts on that idea and why maybe I shouldnt?

I think this is not a bad idea. Gobies sometimes don't venture far and the shrimps are quite literally blind. Sometimes it takes forever for two to pair.