Pistol/YW Goby Hiding

[linz8392]

Hey...just a question. I have a Yellow Watchman Goby and recently i put in a tiger pistol shrimp from Red Coral.

The YWG made his home under a rock and it had three openings. I would see him often.

Since adding the shrimp, the pistol has plugged up each opening fully so now i see neither of them!

I'm scared the YWG won't get any food. Is this hiding normal? Should I be worried?

I was thinking of moving the rock today and seeing what's up since i don't want him to starve.

Any advice? :(

[Cal_stir]

we have a pistol shrimp and had a orange spot goby, they would sometimes hide for days at a time, then the goby got ick and died, the pistol never came out for a month or so, we couldn't find it and thought it had died, then we got a YWG and they hooked up in a couple hours and the pistol came out to our relief, then they disappeared for a few days and now they are out a lot but once in a while they disappear for a day or two, so I wouldn't worry, it's normal.

[linz8392]

well...they have been totally holed up for two days with no sign of any sand movement.

Last night i even tried to dig out two of the holes a bit and nothing has changed since.

Can't help but be worried...u know? :(

[Cal_stir]

i would't try to dig them out, you may stress them and make them stay in longer, be patient, they will come out

[linz8392]

Ok.....i'll......try

[DiverDude]

If you move the rock work, the shrimp will just go to work and block it all up again. Let them do their thing....

[Aquaria]

If u have done a WC recently he may have molted mine vanishes for a few days when he molts

[linz8392]

It's now going on 6 days that they have been in hiding.

No sand action....nothing.

I'm worried the goby will starve. So just to clarify, this is all normal?

How will the goby get food?

[doch]

If they get too hungry, they'll figure it out. At this stage of the game, IMO there's not much that you can do but cross your fingers and hope for the best. I think you'll be fine. I've had AWOL fish for well over a month... assuming that they are dead, and then they pop up.

[sumpfinfishe]

This action is perfectly normal, I have had two mated pairs of ywg in the past. I have also just setup a new reef with another pair and there trio shrimp.

When the gobies and shrimp bond which is almost instantly they begin a life of building the perfect burrow. This takes much work by all three members of the trio and sometimes it can be weeks before you see any of them in an about the tank. Gobies are sand sifters so they will not starve simply because there not coming out to eat when you feed. They have the ability to live months in an established reef because they will sift food from the sandbed.If you go riping apart your reef to find them you will not only stress them out but you could possible injure them from being crushed under a rock and such-just leave them to do there thing.

Most pistols are also nocturnal so now that the three are hanging out together the gobies may only leave the burrows when the shrimp does, which might be when your sleeping or when the lights are off.
The shrimp and gobies will also use anything they can get a hold of to help build there new burrow, my last pair used snail/hermit shells, bits of coral, and even a small piece of airline tubing that fell into my tank as construction materials-so don't be afraid if some of your hermits go missing lol, most of the time they can crawl back out tho it is kind of entertaining to watch a goby or a shrimp play fetch with a hermit crab:mrgreen:

[linz8392]

cool! ok just to clarify its just the DUO of the shrimp and ywg.....the pink spot goby is at the other end of the tank most of the time, although he ventures around a bit

hopefully ill see them in action some time

[sumpfinfishe]

Here's a recent pic of my two watchmen, the larger female has just started coming out of the burrow again, i hadn't seen this fish for over a week after i introduced the pistol shrimp. The female has gotten darker in color due to all her time building the burrow with the shrimp. Don't worry and don't disturb, all is good!!!:mrgreen:

http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w476/sumpfinfishe/2012-01-25101502.jpg