How many gobies?

TheAquarian · Mar 30, 2018

i have a 75 gallon tank with a 3” sand bed. Current livestock is a yellow watchman and a yellow eye tang. I am thinking of adding another goby for sifting the sand bed. My watchman is about 1-1/2” and stays in one area of tank. Anyone ever keep more than one in the same tank?

sfin52 · Mar 31, 2018

I have a ycg and a ywg. Both are fine.

ChadLo · Mar 31, 2018

TheAquarian said:
i have a 75 gallon tank with a 3” sand bed. Current livestock is a yellow watchman and a yellow eye tang. I am thinking of adding another goby for sifting the sand bed. My watchman is about 1-1/2” and stays in one area of tank. Anyone ever keep more than one in the same tank?

From what I've read... if they are both really small or paired would be the only suggested way. Sorry, wish i could share aasn experience but I can't. I have one diamond Goby in my 125 and he does a fantastic job of keeping it clean

40B Knasty · Mar 31, 2018

Had a Randall's prawn goby and he attacked everything. Until he met my dwarf flame angel ;Blackeye Had to get rid of the little terror.
Try a Grammica Lined Dartfish. Very goby esk. Great tank mate. He was cool with the prawn goby, but the prawn wasn't cool with him. They come out and stay suspended like a firefish, but lower in the tank. There is different kinds of Dartfish. Here is mine.

eatbreakfast · Mar 31, 2018

IME the above mentioned case of an aggressive randalls goby is an outlier. I have, on numerous occasions, had several gobies housed together.

In one tank I took care of, 3 different watchman species even shared the same burrow.

Being that a sifter goby is even more distantly related than other watchman species they should be fine. I have kept sifters and watchmen often together.

40B Knasty · Mar 31, 2018

Do not discredit what I say with an opinion like that. Cleanings someone else's tank when the fish all run for the hills when you go digging around in the tank or seeing them go through a shop is not exactly experiencing the fish and what they become over the years settled in their own home. My case is not the only case of a Randall's prawn goby being super aggressive. People I know who have actually owned one have shared the same "experience" with me. They change. I was cute and cuddly at one point. Times change.

eatbreakfast · Mar 31, 2018

I have had them before as well.

In client's tanks they are together before I get started. In fact my livlihood is tied to keeping fish alive and well. If it were a risk I wouldn't even try it. I am not an outlier of success either. I strongly encourage getting other 1st hand experiences, and you will see quite a few others that have had similar successes. Somewhere on this forum there was a thread of fish odd couples with randalls behaving well with other fish.

Some just over value their own skill set, so if they aren't successful at something then they believe nobady else can as well.

40B Knasty · Mar 31, 2018

Oh I was successful at keeping him. He was just evil. Just like the other people who owned one as well. 2 are also in the same line of business as you. So need to discredit the success either. There was plenty of room. Not over stocked. Plenty of enjoyable holes to call home. Did not have to out compete for food. In fact the person I bought mine from wouldn't sell me a fish if he felt like it wasn't a good fit for my tank, because his reputation is more important than a sale and he wouldn't sell a fish to person that would just end up killing the fish. You ever leave a customer that would pay you 60k a year to take care of tank? He did, because he didn't care for his fish.
Keeping our fish living and well is what most of us here do. Whether you get paid to do it or not. So that goes without saying..
If anything a suggestion of pairing one up with a pistol shrimp to keep their mind occupied would have been a better route. Since overtime they have evolved into that way of life. I do not have the experience to know that to credit it or discredit it, but people who have had a Randall's prawn goby said they didn't have a problem with theirs that was paired up and that maybe the underlying cause of the evil tendencies I and a few others experienced could be the reason why they were a horrible tankmate. And since I was talking about the fish and not it paired up. It is to be credited whether you say so or not.
If anything I would say you got lucky with yours if you actually owned one, but I don't believe it, because anyone can say what they want behind a screen to credit what they say or go take a picture of a client's fish.
Last word ;Stop

sfin52 · Mar 31, 2018

As soon assomeof my leathers grow out I’m going to add a gcg

TheAquarian · Mar 31, 2018

Ok can we get back on topic here. What gobies can co habitate and what should I avoid in a 75 gallon with a 3” sandbed with 100 lbs of LR?

GoldeneyeRet · Mar 31, 2018

I've kept randall gobies for 25 years and I have kept them with almost every goby there is without issue. I currently have one for about five years with 2 hi fins, rainfordi, hectori neon and black barred circus gobies without issues. Randalls, hi fins and a firefish share a cave.

I think you can keep all the above with little risk although they aren't really sand shifters. Watchman gobies have been a little fiesty for me and I don't keep diamond gobies so I can't comment on those.

Good luck, I just love gobies!

40B Knasty · Mar 31, 2018

Chocolate Goby (Amblygobius phalaena) seems to be a good choice for a sand sifting one that has a better chance for survival. They take to foods better than other sand sifting gobies from what I have done for leg work for you.