Midas & Pistol, Re-pairing w/ YWG

[Fish.Bum00]

Hey everyone,

I had a YWG & Pistol shrimp paired for about a year. The YWG slithered out of the tiniest edge gap in my screen top one day and went bye bye.

I was looking to purchase a YWG from a QT vendor, but before I pulled the trigger I noticed that the Midas B took over the YWG’s role. So, the Pistol is now paired with the Midas B. It’s kind of cool, so I thought, whatever.

Fast forward two months, and I’m over the pairing. Midas B used to be out and swimming all day, he was funny, I liked him a lot. Now he only hides except when eating, and to help his new found friend, he grabs piles of sand and sprays it everywhere. It ticks off my coral, and makes a mess of aquascape.

This is what I’m planning:
1) Remove Midas B, place in holding tank.
2) Add new YWG and wait for pairing. Will try help expedite this if possible.
3) Reintroduce Midas B.

Im wondering what those more experienced than I think. Have you ever had this happen? If so, did you leave the pairing? Any chance of re-pairing with YWG, with the above plan?

 

[cdw79]

Interesting! Never heard of a Midas blend doing that lol.

I suppose I don't see any issue with that plan, but keep in mind in my experience / those I've seen in other DT's, Midas blennies like to have a "spot" they go back to. Sometimes a little covered ledge does the trick, more often than not it's a hole of some kind.

If you do go through with this, make sure he's got some options in terms of suitable "spots" for it besides the hole your pistol shrimp is occupying. I've seen dart fish join the pistol shrimp - goby pairing, so I suppose if there's a lack of suitable spots your plan might just mean they all move in together lol.

Back when I had a lawnmower blenny, I kept a fake barnacle in the tank too (it looked much better than it sounds haha) as I originally wanted a barnacle blenny. My lawnmower blend loved it and would hang out there all the time. If you can find one that might increase the likelihood he leaves the pistol shrimp to its own devices, but fish are weird and they'll ultimately do what they want to do. Post a pic of the pair if you can though, never seen this before!