Will an engineer goby eat shrimp gobies?

[squidsreef]

I am searching for an interesting fish to add to my 60g reef tank, and came across the engineer goby. I've heard they're mostly model citizens, but will it eat a small ray-fin goby paired with a candy cane pistol shrimp if they're under different rock structures?

 

[Stigigemla]

Yes. And it will probably eat the shrimp too. Reaching over a foot the engineer goby is a very big fish for a 60 gallon tank.
Its a calm fish living mostly in its cave so maybe its possible but i would prefer at least 150 gallons for the goby.
I have seen one in a 4 foot 7 cube that was doing well but at 10 inches it went out because of eating small fishes.

 

[hikermike]

Absolutely NOT. I've always had engineer gobies and they've never bothered anything. (Always means since 1968) Right now my 2 engineer gobies share the "same" burrow with my shrimp goby and lawnmower blenny. The term "same is in quotation marks because it is not the same every day which is why they are called engineer gobies. your tank will look different every day so make sure your main rock work is all tied down good and solid as they are constantly remodeling. Mine have a tunnel which goes from one end of the tank to the other with feeder entrances everywhere so all 4 fish will pop up anywhere. I found a research article somewhere where they were trying to find out what the adults ate in the wild by analyzing what they found in there gut but they couldn't discover anything. There best guess was "slime". i.e. they're very hardy. They are fast eaters though and grab food before slower fish can get it. In the fish store they seem to spend there time swimming around but as soon as you get them home they'll quickly disappear maybe not reappearing for weeks. then they'll start popping there heads out and grabbing food. There good for people who want something eel-like in there tank but afraid of having eels around little fish. It's really cute to see all 4 fish sitting next to each other in the same hole waiting for me to feed them. I have them in a 29 gal tank.

 

[squidsreef]

Absolutely NOT. I've always had engineer gobies and they've never bothered anything. (Always means since 1968) Right now my 2 engineer gobies share the "same" burrow with my shrimp goby and lawnmower blenny. The term "same is in quotation marks because it is not the same every day which is why they are called engineer gobies. your tank will look different every day so make sure your main rock work is all tied down good and solid as they are constantly remodeling. Mine have a tunnel which goes from one end of the tank to the other with feeder entrances everywhere so all 4 fish will pop up anywhere. I found a research article somewhere where they were trying to find out what the adults ate in the wild by analyzing what they found in there gut but they couldn't discover anything. There best guess was "slime". i.e. they're very hardy. They are fast eaters though and grab food before slower fish can get it. In the fish store they seem to spend there time swimming around but as soon as you get them home they'll quickly disappear maybe not reappearing for weeks. then they'll start popping there heads out and grabbing food. There good for people who want something eel-like in there tank but afraid of having eels around little fish. It's really cute to see all 4 fish sitting next to each other in the same hole waiting for me to feed them. I have them in a 29 gal tank.

Yes. And it will probably eat the shrimp too. Reaching over a foot the engineer goby is a very big fish for a 60 gallon tank.
Its a calm fish living mostly in its cave so maybe its possible but i would prefer at least 150 gallons for the goby.
I have seen one in a 4 foot 7 cube that was doing well but at 10 inches it went out because of eating small fishes.

After seeing some back and forth about whether or not engineer gobies will be harmful to my other tiny fish I'm still very torn about whether to get one or not. For the time being, I am leaning towards not purchasing one out of fear of my fish being eaten, unless someone convinces me otherwise.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

After seeing some back and forth about whether or not engineer gobies will be harmful to my other tiny fish I'm still very torn about whether to get one or not. For the time being, I am leaning towards not purchasing one out of fear of my fish being eaten, unless someone convinces me otherwise.

Mine doesn’t bother anything. I’ve had him for over 8 years now (we don’t know his exact age because dad had him before me but I think he’s close to 10-11 years old).

That guy saying they’re too big of a fish for a 60gal is nuts. Mine is approximately 18-20” long and he’s in a biocube 32 led with a 3” four strip damsel and doing fine. He doesn’t really bother anything or anybody, he used to share his burrow with my corris wrasse and coral beauty angel before they passed.

He moves a TON of sand though. My tank never looks the same for long. He’s also got a bad habit of grabbing snails that get into his burrow and spitting them out of it lol.

He does get testy when I feed the tank. Him and my damsel will go to war over the end of the sea squirt but I think he only does that because my damsel is a turd and if he didn’t he wouldn’t be able to eat.

 

[squidsreef]

Mine doesn’t bother anything. I’ve had him for over 8 years now (we don’t know his exact age because dad had him before me but I think he’s close to 10-11 years old).

That guy saying they’re too big of a fish for a 60gal is nuts. Mine is approximately 18-20” long and he’s in a biocube 32 led with a 3” four strip damsel and doing fine. He doesn’t really bother anything or anybody, he used to share his burrow with my corris wrasse and coral beauty angel before they passed.

He moves a TON of sand though. My tank never looks the same for long. He’s also got a bad habit of grabbing snails that get into his burrow and spitting them out of it lol.

He does get testy when I feed the tank. Him and my damsel will go to war over the end of the sea squirt but I think he only does that because my damsel is a turd and if he didn’t he wouldn’t be able to eat.

Do you think he would be fine with a 1 inch clownfish and a 1 inch ray-fin shrimp goby?

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Do you think he would be fine with a 1 inch clownfish and a 1 inch ray-fin shrimp goby?

I mean I know mine would be fine with them. He’s a big goofy doofus. Some people I’ve talked to said they’ll eat smaller fish but I just don’t see it happening. Especially if you get a juvenile goby to start. They don’t get big fast in my experience. Mine started in a massive tank (185gal) and was given to me about this size. I’ve seen them transition to maturity (color changes and they body gets a little longer) in tanks at the LFS and still be about 3-4” long as adults. I feel like they kinda learn what’s food and what isn’t when they start out small like their tank mates.

 

[FullSend]

.I found a research article somewhere where they were trying to find out what the adults ate in the wild by analyzing what they found in there gut but they couldn't discover anything. There best guess was "slime".

I think I read this article, wasn't it describing adults that were guarding fry?

 

[High Desert Reefer]

Absolutely NOT. I've always had engineer gobies and they've never bothered anything. (Always means since 1968) Right now my 2 engineer gobies share the "same" burrow with my shrimp goby and lawnmower blenny. The term "same is in quotation marks because it is not the same every day which is why they are called engineer gobies. your tank will look different every day so make sure your main rock work is all tied down good and solid as they are constantly remodeling. Mine have a tunnel which goes from one end of the tank to the other with feeder entrances everywhere so all 4 fish will pop up anywhere. I found a research article somewhere where they were trying to find out what the adults ate in the wild by analyzing what they found in there gut but they couldn't discover anything. There best guess was "slime". i.e. they're very hardy. They are fast eaters though and grab food before slower fish can get it. In the fish store they seem to spend there time swimming around but as soon as you get them home they'll quickly disappear maybe not reappearing for weeks. then they'll start popping there heads out and grabbing food. There good for people who want something eel-like in there tank but afraid of having eels around little fish. It's really cute to see all 4 fish sitting next to each other in the same hole waiting for me to feed them. I have them in a 29 gal tank.

Do the engineer gobies move more material than the diamond watchman gobies. I had a diamond watchman but he has been MIA for at least two weeks now, I think he may have been crushed by an unstable rock...I am looking for a replacement gobie to keep my sand clean in my Redsea Max 650. What would be your choice gobie? Also because the Diamond moved so much sand I am considering build stands of around 1-2 inches tall of the plastic crates and pvc to support the live rock then I could add more sand around the rock and not have any movement your thoughts on that idea?

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Do the engineer gobies move more material than the diamond watchman gobies. I had a diamond watchman but he has been MIA for at least two weeks now, I think he may have been crushed by an unstable rock...I am looking for a replacement gobie to keep my sand clean in my Redsea Max 650. What would be your choice gobie? Also because the Diamond moved so much sand I am considering build stands of around 1-2 inches tall of the plastic crates and pvc to support the live rock then I could add more sand around the rock and not have any movement your thoughts on that idea?

Yes they move WAY more sand. I have a huge one in my 32 biocube and he’s got 40% of the sand in the tank piled against the back tank wall. I set my rocks directly on glass so he can’t drop them on himself. Truth be told though I’ve not ever had him get close to causing a rockslide or anything. He seems to know how to make tunnels to keep from burying himself. They’re really good at sifting sand and between him and my conch I don’t have to worry about gas or deritus buildup.

 

[hikermike]

Sorry to get back so late...The engineer goby will move WAY more sand. The watchman will move just enough to keep the surface of the sand around him looking white but the engineer will give you 100% tank turnover every 2 weeks or so. Yes I did have a watchman kill itself but not an engineer (convict) goby. However, I figure you've probably found him elsewhere in your tank by now or on the floor. I found 1 of mine a year later when I upgraded to a new tank cuz my 40 year old tank started leaking. (yes, those Aqueons are worthless!)

 

[Auquanut]

Just my experience with my engineer gobies:

Gregg is going on 4 years old. He had a mate until about 6 months ago when Mazey suddenly died (broke Gregg's heart and mine). He resides in my 125 reef, and rarely exposes more than 6 inches of himself, but he is well over 12" long. They both grew very rapidly in the first 2 years.

As far as aggression, I routinely see Gregg and one of my peppermint shrimp poking their heads out of the same hole at dinner time. I've never seen any aggression toward any tank mates, and he often shy's away from even my smallest fish.

He moves an INSANE amount of sand. He's constantly closing old tunnels under the rock work and opening new ones. Try to imagine how much sand one 12" fish could possibly move. Nope. It's more. My substrate is his to do with as he pleases. One good thing is that he keeps the sand under the rocks turned over and clean(ish). You'll want to make sure your aquascape is extremely stable.

I would say that an engineer is suitable for a 60 gallon tank, but not if you have a minimalist aquacscape. They need to tunnel and have room enough to hide. From my experience, I wouldn't worry about aggression. On the rare occasion when they come out to show off, it's truly a sight to behold.

 

[najer]

I don't see aggression as an issue, I have two small clown gobies amongst other things and have never seen it bother anything.
As everyone has said if you're precious about your sandbed being level and even then give it a miss, love mine.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

You won't have aggression issues. My old man finally died but he was large enough to completely swallow the damsel who shared his tank. He was terrified of said damsel. He was a gentle giant.

 

[99gtbaby]

I know this is an old post, but I have a fairly big engineer goby in my 93 gallon tank, it has never bothered any of the other goby’s/blennies in my tank, hasn’t eaten my coral banded shrimp or my blood shrimp. My lawnmower blenny and mandarin goby are probably small enough for it to eat if it wanted to but it doesn’t, it prefers small chunks of meaty foods, I’m actually thinking about adding a 2nd one to my tank because I love how they look and swim.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

I know this is an old post, but I have a fairly big engineer goby in my 93 gallon tank, it has never bothered any of the other goby’s/blennies in my tank, hasn’t eaten my coral banded shrimp or my blood shrimp. My lawnmower blenny and mandarin goby are probably small enough for it to eat if it wanted to but it doesn’t, it prefers small chunks of meaty foods, I’m actually thinking about adding a 2nd one to my tank because I love how they look and swim.

I know this post is old but mine died earlier this year. We measured him at 18” long. He never messed with anyone.