Pairing watchman gobies

[keddre]

Currently in my reef tank I have an established yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp that have been there for three months. I was wondering what the likelihood would be that if I add another YWG (~1 inch) it would pair with my existing pair. And even riskier, what if I added another pistol shrimp?

Thanks in advance

 

[eatbreakfast]

It may or may not work. Sometimes watchman gobies pr right up, sometimes they just do their own thing, sometimes they fight.

Pistol shrimp are more likely to fight.

 

[keddre]

It may or may not work

I have in store credit so I might try it. Worse case scenario I take it back

Pistol shrimp are more likely to fight

I wasn't sure how the shrimp worked to start with so I may not try this one

 

[Maritimer]

Have only done it once, in a 65 gallon tank.

Had a small yellow watchman, added a large grey one, hoping they'd pair. She didn't want to be bothered with "little boys", so chased him into about 1/3 of the tank for several months - until he had a bit of size on him.

Now they're inseparable.

~Bruce

 

[keddre]

Have only done it once, in a 65 gallon tank.

Had a small yellow watchman, added a large grey one, hoping they'd pair. She didn't want to be bothered with "little boys", so chased him into about 1/3 of the tank for several months - until he had a bit of size on him.

Now they're inseparable.

~Bruce

Interesting, I was thinking it would be like clownfish (at least maroons) where you put an established large with a small, but maybe not.

 

[4FordFamily]

I paired two in my 180 reef. Honestly, they ignored each other entirely for a few months and then came home one day and they shared the same pistol shrimp and hole.

Then the small one was sucked in to my overflow and eventually sump. I ran my tank fallow assuming he was dead.

So basically that entire 76 day fallow period was for nothing -- it didn't actually run fallow because of the little guy! Little turd!

 

[keddre]

I paired two in my 180 reef. Honestly, they ignored each other entirely for a few months and then came home one day and they shared the same pistol shrimp and hole.

Then the small one was sucked in to my overflow and eventually sump. I ran my tank fallow assuming he was dead.

So basically that entire 76 day fallow period was for nothing -- it didn't actually run fallow because of the little guy! Little turd!

Lol, thanks for the info

 

[Zionas]

Old thread but I’d love a pair myself. I’m going to go for it if pairing them is as easy as pairing Ocellaris / Percula / Skunk Clowns. Having two share a burrow and a Tiger Pistol would be really cute.

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

Have had 1 YWG for a month just put another similar sized one in today,hope it all works out they're hashing out their differences atm. Btw the new one isnt all yellow it is a grayish yellow with black stripes on her tail so I might begin luck

 

[Zionas]

Good luck! How much aggression have you seen so far?

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

They just paired up! Soooo happy right now!.
Heres what happened:
So what I seen when I put the new female in there is she went right for the males den peacefully. He shot outta there like a bat outta hell. Then they did this like dance they were taking turns puffing their fins up swimming up and down to the bottom hard opening & flaring their mouths gradually closing the distance. When they were finally face to face without an inch to spare they get into a quick scuffle/nipping & chaceing,then they stop and stare at eachother forever then the male goes to his hole and the female follows. Now 2 yellow watchman gobies are poking out the burrow beside eachother.
I wantes to record but it was too long. Oh and I looked hard for my male and my female both of them were in tanks where they were by themselves guess they were lonely.

 

[Zionas]

Wow congrats! Nice!

 

[Zionas]

Think I’m gonna go ahead and get a pair too and just have 1 damsel.

 

[brandon p]

Currently in my reef tank I have an established yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp that have been there for three months. I was wondering what the likelihood would be that if I add another YWG (~1 inch) it would pair with my existing pair. And even riskier, what if I added another pistol shrimp?

Thanks in advance

I like the question. I’ve got a small watchman and pistol in a 29 gal sps tank. This MAY be of some small use- My shrimp and goby aren’t completely paired. By that I mean the shrimp has made a labyrinth throughout the entire tank and the goby has a designated, specific home at one of the many tunnel entrances; he’s always there. I have a starry blenny, urchin, and typical CUC... everyone is cool with each other. I very seldom hear the pistol shots anymore. I hand feel him a chunk of fish every few days as a treat on top of whatever he’s scavenging. Everyone is satisfied. In MY tank, I’d like to and feel comfortable adding a mate to the GOBY ONLY. I’d feel 100% okay doing that. Adding a 2nd shrimp... that second shrimp could quite possibly even kill the original shrimp.

 

[Zionas]

Did you add the shrimp after the Goby, before it or were they added together? Which species of Pistol Shrimp do you have?

 

[Zionas]

Is it seldom that the YWG and a Pistol Shrimp don’t pair up or don’t pair up entirely?

What would be very interesting for me is the Tiger Pistol digs a burrow for my YWG couple, and when they venture out of the burrow the TPS has an antenna on each one of the Gobies like the 3 of them traveling in style aha.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Is it seldom that the YWG and a Pistol Shrimp don’t pair up or don’t pair up entirely?

What would be very interesting for me is the Tiger Pistol digs a burrow for my YWG couple, and when they venture out of the burrow the TPS has an antenna on each one of the Gobies like the 3 of them traveling in style aha.

I can’t speak for others, but I added my pistol shrimp at the beginning of a fallow period, and he was by himself for a couple months. I never saw him once during the whole time. When I added my goby at the end of the fallow period, the shrimp came out with it a lot for a while. Now, I haven’t seen the shrimp in probably six months. I’m really quite disappointed because I loved it when my shrimp and goby were out together. This is a tiger pistol by the way.

 

[Zionas]

I wonder why Maybe they’re having an argument?

 

[brandon p]

Did you add the shrimp after the Goby, before it or were they added together? Which species of Pistol Shrimp do you have?

I got the Caribbean Pistol (orange body with a white horizontal line and some BRIGHT blue legs) from my LFS and the watchman online within a day or two. It’s not a great body shot but here’s a very short feeding vid. He’s a real cool little guy.

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

I like the question. I’ve got a small watchman and pistol in a 29 gal sps tank. This MAY be of some small use- My shrimp and goby aren’t completely paired. By that I mean the shrimp has made a labyrinth throughout the entire tank and the goby has a designated, specific home at one of the many tunnel entrances; he’s always there. I have a starry blenny, urchin, and typical CUC... everyone is cool with each other. I very seldom hear the pistol shots anymore. I hand feel him a chunk of fish every few days as a treat on top of whatever he’s scavenging. Everyone is satisfied. In MY tank, I’d like to and feel comfortable adding a mate to the GOBY ONLY. I’d feel 100% okay doing that. Adding a 2nd shrimp... that second shrimp could quite possibly even kill the original shrimp.

Yes good idea, add a goby it was easier than I thought. Odds are they'll pair up, get a grayish looking one if yours is yellow. I was soo excited done went and drove her n a half to grab a candycane pistol dropped em in an hour ago. He's real tiny like big as an inch worm,was gonna get the tiger but didnt know if he'd kill my fire shrimp. Candy canes cool so far started digging soon as his butt hit the sand. I'll try n get a pic of all 3 of em. Gobys ain't seen him yet but his burrow is on the other side of the same rock they're occupying looks like he's digging under towards them.