pistol shrimp/goby question

NemesisAqua · Nov 25, 2021

so i had a goby and a pistol shrimp(pistol is still alive), the goby jumped from the tank one night a few weeks ago, ironically the same night i was telling my fiance that he was my favorite fish and id be so upset if anything happened to him and then i wake up to find him on the floor the next morning.

but what im wondering is if i get another watchman will he(the pistol) pair again? thanks!

zwschutz · Nov 25, 2021

I had my watchman pass away this past year and the new one paired with my pistol shrimp the same day.

shakacuz · Nov 25, 2021

yes, it can pair again. i had a similar situation happen but instead of the goby jumping it, it just died. no idea why. bought another and it paired with the shrimp the same day

Karen00 · Nov 25, 2021

NemesisAqua said:
so i had a goby and a pistol shrimp(pistol is still alive), the goby jumped from the tank one night a few weeks ago, ironically the same night i was telling my fiance that he was my favorite fish and id be so upset if anything happened to him and then i wake up to find him on the floor the next morning. but what im wondering is if i get another watchman will he(the pistol) pair again? thanks!

Oh, so sorry for your loss! I know exactly how you feel. I would be so upset if I lost my Hi Fin goby. This is my first SW tank and first goby/shrimp pair so I'm not expert but I have read they will pair again. They kind of just naturally gravitate to each other but I will let others chime in just in case others have had a difference experience. At least you'll know what to possibly expect if there are cases where they don't pair. I read one situation where someone had a goby pair and a pistol was added in hopes that all three would shack up only to have one of the gobies dump its goby mate to run off with the pistol. Then the new goby/pistol pair kept chasing the other poor goby away. It was so sad to read.