Yellow watchman acting strange/not eating

Landers

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So ever since I got back from a week long vacation a week ago my yellow watchman has been acting weird. He is paired with a candy cane pistol shrimp and for several days I never saw him come out from under the rock, even when I put food in the tank. Thinking he was dead mid-week, I lifted up their rock and found him alive. Then he went into hiding again. After a couple days I did this again (I know at this point I’m stressing him out but I don’t know what to do) and still found him alive under it. Then he hid until yesterday when I found him sitting on my sand bed away from the rock. He has been moving aimlessly around the tank since and even when I fed yesterday and food went right past his face he did not eat. My other fish, corals, and other inverts are acting normal. Also, he looks sad (fins close to his body instead of extended) but other than that he looks healthy. My parameters are normal:
Salinity: 1.027 sg
pH: 8.1
Nitrate: 0.5 ppm
Phosphate: 0.00 ppm

Anyone have any ideas?
 

jsker

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Any pictures? That would help out a lot
 
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Landers

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I just found him back by the rock that my pistol shrimp lives under. But he isn’t in a spot that my shrimp comes out from under the rock which tells me that they haven’t paired back up. I tried feeding him and literally got some brine shrimp in my turkey baster and shot it RIGHT next to his face and he did absolutely nothing which is very concerning. One of my snails also passed right by his face almost touching him and thankfully he at least flinched but he would normally hide from a snail that close. Below are some pictures. He looks healthy from what I can see so I’m very confused:(
139BBB50-14A5-47B6-BE8C-89FB119EC4C1.png
2E55C89F-D2E7-407D-AFA9-7AB8F43F069F.png
B27B92A6-818E-4C45-9AA2-2F2B9407371C.png

Does anyone have any possible explanations?? I haven’t seen this fish eat for almost a week and a half...
 
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homer1475

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Typical goby behavior to be quite honest.

I currently have a candy cane pistol and randal's goby. This pair has been with me for about 3 years now. Even with previous pairs, they often hide for weeks at a time. Your stressing them out by lifting rocks to look for them. Leave them alone, and just watch.

Whenever I'm worried because I haven't seen them for a few days, listen to the tank when the lights are out. If you hear the shrimp snapping, they are eating and alive. It's when you don't hear the shrimp snapping at night, is when you should start to worry.
 
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Typical goby behavior to be quite honest.

I currently have a candy cane pistol and randal's goby. This pair has been with me for about 3 years now. Even with previous pairs, they often hide for weeks at a time. Your stressing them out by lifting rocks to look for them. Leave them alone, and just watch.

Whenever I'm worried because I haven't seen them for a few days, listen to the tank when the lights are out. If you hear the shrimp snapping, they are eating and alive. It's when you don't hear the shrimp snapping at night, is when you should start to worry.
So with that being said, do you think the only reason my goby wasn’t under the rock with my shrimp for a couple days is because I lifted the rock and stressed him out? It just seemed weird to me how long it took my goby to get back under the shrimp’s rock again. And thank you for your reply! I’ve never heard of shrimp and goby pairs hiding for extended periods
 
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homer1475

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I recently had to tear my tank down, actually thought i had lost my shrimp. Didn't see or hear him for about 3 weeks, and my goby wandered around the tank like he was lost. They eventually found each other, in a completely diffent spot then they originally had setup. They have been happy ever since.

It's quite possible lifting the rocks has force the shrimp to find a new "home", and your goby has not found him yet
 
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Mr. Mojo Rising

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I agree with Homer, the fish will live or die, but flipping rocks is keeping the fish in a stressed and defensive position. To be honest, the only symptom you provided is that the fish looks sad, and despite not eating, you admit the fish looks healthy, to me it looks healthy in your pictures. Fish can go several days without food.
 
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