Wheeler Goby HELP Behavior Situation

[anizato]

Hey everyone!

I have a 10gal NANO reef. Day 40ish
2 Clown, 6 Sexy Shrimp, 4 Nassarius, 10 Ceriths (or so), 4 large snails (vibex?), 1 Randal Pistol Shrimp & our protagonist.

I got the Pistol and Wheeler from bluezooaquatics.com and requested they be from separate tanks so I could see them pair up in my tank.
After 5 minutes of being in the tank they seemed to have paired up nicely. He looked happy and was in his little cave just peeping out and doing his thing.

Two days or so later and he found another cave with the pistol, they hid for like a week, nobody saw them at all. Suddenly, one day, we hear snaps, and saw that the pistol was just messing around in another cave, but no Goby.

The goby has not shown up AT ALL, since. It has been over a week. We worry something is wrong? but he is NOWHERE TO BE SEEN. I don't want to stress anything out by moving rocks and stuff.

Is it normal for them to be hiding ALL the time?

We don't even see him when it is feeding time.

Is it normal they are not together?? (pistol/goby)

We see the pistol a lot lately, I guess he is comfortable in his multiple cave system LOL.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[Dalmatia]

Not with a shrimp!!! They are the shrimps eyes!! He's most likely gone (dead) , sorry
Shrimp builds while goby keeps an eye out for trouble, so no goby seems very weird

 

[Naiad]

It kind of sounds like the he died in the caves. I see both my shrimp gobies more than the shrimp themselves.

 

[Dalmatia]

It kind of sounds like the he died in the caves. I see both my shrimp gobies more than the shrimp themselves.

That's why it's strange to me

 

[anizato]

Buuuuu!
I will search for him today. My nitrates never went above 10 nor did I ever have an ammonia spike. So that means there is an incredible amount of beneficial bacteria?
Im so sad. I will have to look for his tiny body ):

 

[Dalmatia]

No such thing as too much of bb!!!
How did you put him in?? Drip, measuring cup??

 

[mrcoffee2]

I try to buy paired couples. That way you know its going to work.

 

[Naiad]

To be honest the if he died the shrimp may have ate him. So you wouldn't see a large jump in water parameters. It is possible you got an oddball though that is letting the shrimp do everything in the partnership and is just chilling in the cave. We all know they are out there.

 

[FLipp]

he must of not made it, but best luck to you.

 

[anizato]

Yup everybody. As Naiad suggests, Pistol probably ate him. Moved all LR yesterday and no Goby body was found.

When I acclimated, it was for about a 2 hour drip. He seemed super happy. But looking back we never saw him come out to eat.
The store has sent us another Wheeler Goby.
I will post you guys on his arrival tomorrow.
Thanks everyone.

RIP Goby ):

 

[anizato]

Ok. So I called the store and asked them to hold off on the Goby as I already had placed an order for some corals which should arrive this week.

I want to hold off at least another month before he is introduced.