Goby Wars...

[SquidBreath]

OK...so after a 7-hour epic man-v-shrimp battle I finally got this orange pistol shrimp out of my tank. Had to take out pretty much everything in the tank to get him...but I finally got him.

I was killing two birds with one stone and also removed all the substrate, for a true glass bare-bottom.

Got an orange spot shrimp goby and got them both in quarantine together now. Whew.

This is what I should have done in the first place...Quaranine, quarantine, quarantine. If my wonderful clowns live through this blunder I will owe them....something...I dunno...clown treats, or something.

SO, now I get to see up close what is happening between these two. The hope is I can get them to bond, and share a burrow and be nice and low-stress, when I put them in the caldera. (The caldera us a pond-foam and rock structure I built just for this purpose...so I could have shrimp/goby and still have bare bottom.) As the caldera represents the ONLY substrate left in the tank, I hope this will influence their housing choices when I introduce them back into the DT.

I put some rocks and substrate into the QT to give them a start. The goby seems to be making overtures toward the shrimp, but the shrimp keeps running him off.
Sometimes I will see the goby actually near the burrow, or at one point IN the burrow but a minute later I hear POP POP POP...and the goby has retreated back to the far corner.
At one point the pistol shrimp actuallylowered its claws like a little bulldozer and pushed the goby sideways away from the burrow.
It's been a few days now...still no love. The goby is making an attempt..but this pistol shrimp is just crabby. (rimshot)

Should this continue, someone will be getting a great deal on a pistol shrimp. Either way they are not going back in the DT until they are bonded, healthy and taking food.

My takeaway from this experience...Quarantine.

Hopefully I will have some good news to post about these guys soon.

Happy Reefing all!

 

[CRW Reef]

Re: Goby Wars...

Great idea with the caldera, following along. Any pics of this creation btw?

 

[SquidBreath]

I can take some pics when I get home from work today...they will be bad though...craptastic camera phone.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Re: Goby Wars...

Pistols bulldoze the crap out of the sand, you may have to make a bigger caldera.... or give him pistol shrimp treats to reward his good behavior

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk HD

 

[SquidBreath]

Hey all....update on the Goby Wars....
Well I got a little orange spot goby and tried to pair him with this anti-social red pistol shrimp. Didn't work out. The shrimp kept running the little goby off every time he would get close or try and get into the burrow with him. At one point the shrimp even lowered his claws and actually pushed the goby about 6 inches across the bottom of the tank.
Poor, sad, rejected little goby :-(
(After seeing all this shrimp/goby behavior, I am starting to get the idea that the pistol shrimps are the landlords in this relationship)
So...eventually I took Mr. Grumpy back for store credit, and I am now looking for another--hopefully more social pistol shrimp.
Problem is...the Goby isn't doing well....no signs of stress or disease...he's just not eating...and he's getting thinner and thinner.
(Glad I am doing this in Quarantine this time)
Water params in the tank are good...he's the only one in there. Been trying to get him to eat mysis and/or cyclopeze..to no avail.
Anyone have and ideas on how to get a hunger-striking goby to eat?

Thanks
Dave

 

[SquidBreath]

I finally got some pics...but as I feared, they are not good.

Basically I cut the bottom inch off a 2.5 gallon water bottle and used that as the center of the caldera.
Took a nice big piece of cardboard, laid it on the kitchen table, then spread a layer of crushed coral over that.
Put the cut off water-bottle bottom in the center of the table and then shot a circle of pond foam around the edges.
The crushed coral keeps the bottom from sticking to the cardboard and provides a nice texture.
As the pond foam expanded (and it DOES expand), I kept shoving pieces of rubble into it and kinda shaping it the way I wanted it to look.

The final touch was some low, 1/2 inch legs on the bottom to holdthe whole thing up off the glass--waterflows under it and prevents a dead spot.
The end result is a "Volcano" that can hold a 11" round area of sand, about 2-3 inches deep.
The diggers get their sandbed and I get my bare-bottom.
Getting them to actually USE this item is still a work in progress.

 

[jahmic]

Re: Goby Wars...

Nice job on building that "sandbox"!

Problem is...the Goby isn't doing well....no signs of stress or disease...he's just not eating...and he's getting thinner and thinner.
(Glad I am doing this in Quarantine this time)
Water params in the tank are good...he's the only one in there. Been trying to get him to eat mysis and/or cyclopeze..to no avail.
Anyone have and ideas on how to get a hunger-striking goby to eat?

Thanks
Dave

Those guys are naturally sand sifters...is the fish in QT with any sand? Maybe get a nice-sized tupperware container and fill it with a couple scoops of sand; it may even help if the sand is from an established tank. I have a diamond watchman that's definitely on the skinny side; they need to have an established sandbed full of micro-fauna and be fed multiple times a day to keep them fat and healthy. Mine was a picky eater at first too...even if you go with a container of new sand with no established micro-fauna for him to eat, you can try burying food for him in the sand. I used a syringe and some airline tubing to bury mysis, brine, and bloodworms in the sand when I first got my diamond watchman, and that was the only way I could get him to start taking frozen foods.

 

[Ghosty]

At one point the pistol shrimp actuallylowered its claws like a little bulldozer and pushed the goby sideways away from the burrow. It's been a few days now...still no love. The goby is making an attempt..but this pistol shrimp is just crabby.

That's hilarious, would make a great video!

 

[SquidBreath]

Update...
Sigh. Did you ever get your dog or cat a new toy that you are just sure they will go crazy over, and when you get it home, they are more interested in playing with the box it came in?
So the goby finally started eating and I introduced a new pistol shrimp to the QT tank. The two were instant buddies and started building a fortress under the rocks and sand in the QT tank.

Sooo...after replacing the substrate in the "sandbox" in the DT, I decided it was time to introduct the shrimp to the new home.
From what I have seen...the shrimp will hide and start digging a hole whereever he hits the ground, so long as there is suitable hiding space/substrate. And the goby will go live with the shrimp. Shrimp is definitely the decision-maker in this process.
Soooo I washed out a plastic water bottle, and cut a hole in the bottom of it. I put the shrimp in through the hole and then slowly sunk the bottle until the screw-top was sittin. right at the entrance to the cute littel cave/rubble pile I had made for him.
I slowly unscrew the bottle top and he drops out onto the sand right in front of his new home.
And instead of darting quickly into cover as expected, the shrimp opts for a full run across the open sand and dives over the side of the caldera into the "back stage" of the tank.
GRR.
Remember the only substrate now in the tank is in that caldera.
And yet, he has found a hole in a rock to hide in...not just any rock....the giant main archway rock. How the heck will it get him out of THAT?
With a sigh I just threw the goby in with him. They are now together behind all the rocks...it's my hope that they will eventually discover this paradise of sand and caves that I have built JUST FOR THEM, and relocate.
But I dunno. Most other shrimp are quite inquisitive...but pistol shrimp are not real explorers, imho.

Mustering my gumption to find a way to get him out for another try...

In the meantime...has anyone ever had a pistol shrimp move from its original burrow to a new one?

Film at 11....
Thanks
Dave

 

[Ghosty]

Hahaa, that's great. Just like Anemones, they won't listen to us, will they?!

 

[SquidBreath]

Goby Wars--VICTORY!

Hey guys!
An update on the Goby Wars.

It seems my original pistol shrimp died. No sounds from him for about 3 weeks, and the goby has stopped hanging about the area where I saw the shrimp settle. :-(

I changed out the substrate in the 'sandbox'. After seeing those pics I took, I really just couldn't stand the crushed coral look. Went with some fine sand from another MASC member. That beautiful white sand really makes it pop.

Sooooo
It was payday and I just couldn't stay out of the local reef store. Upon arriving I discover they have a shrimp-goby pair they they had "forgotten about" for several months. The two had paired up and made a burrow in one of their display tanks.
At first I wasn't interested at all, because these two were already paired and I still had a lone orange-spot goby running around in my tank. But then I looked...
It was a candy-striped pistol shrimp and ANOTHER orange spot shrimp goby.
Could this be the brass ring?! A shrimp AND a mate for my unruly goby?

Maybe...it was worth a roll of the dice.

I grabbed my wallet and made another go at integrating these guys into the sandbox.

This time I tried things a little differently. To start with, I sunk the shrimp (leaving the goby in the Q tank) in a glass jar and just let him sit on the sand for a while and calm down. After he began exploring the edges of the jar for exits, made my move.
I picked up the jar, removed the lid and then with a little sleight of hand, put it back on the sand face down.
When presented with a floor of sand, the pistol shrimp started doing what he loves best--digging.
I then pressed down on the jar at an angle--sinking the mouth of the jar deeper into the sand, leaving one edge of it buried slightly.

IE...the easiest place to dig out, was now facing right at the goby cave.

The shrimp acted as expected--he found his way out--saw a nice cave and went for it.

It's now three days later and he's puttin' up drapes.

When I dropped in the shrimp, it did take her a few hours to find the shrimp again--and the two moved right in...

It's not without complications though.

Seems my original Goby does not like this new, smaller goby. But he DOES like her shrimp and her burrow.

So the little bastage has kicked her out and taken her shrimp.

(I have no idea what sexes these gobies are--I am just making it up and hoping I'm right)

So the smaller one keeps making overtures and getting driven away. It's really kinda sad :-(

I will give them some time; hopefully they will grow a pair bond down the road--I don't think either of them is of mating age yet.
In the mean time, I am rooting for the little one and hoping for some crazy goby sex down the road.
If not, I will need to re-home one of them...but let's hope for them to find their equalibrium, and get together.

For now, though, these two are a RIOT to watch. I literally popped popcorn and sat in front of the tank all weekend.

And the sandbox works perfectly. They are contained, not making a mess of the rest of the tank, and having a blast, digging and guarding...
It's funny...when the shrimp makes a "long" trip out across the sand to look for bigger rocks, the goby shadows him...making agressive faces at any other fish who comes close--clearly bodyguarding the shrimp.

These guys just took over the top spot as "coolest thing" in my tank.

Anyway...that's the story
Happy Reefing all!

 

[Ghosty]

Awesome story! Thanks for sharing. I hope the little Goby finds its own cave or gets his own Shrimp if they don't pair up. I love how the other Goby is a bodyguard, hahaa! That's cool!