Shrimp - Goby pairing

[forestgutters]

OK, I bought a pistol shrimp Goby pair at the LFS - they called the goby a black barred goby but it didn't look like that at all. It was a white goby with light brown bars on it. Anyway, he went carpet surfing so an exact ID is impossible now. I still have the pistol shrimp, and he is now becoming quite personable, leaving his cave at night and during feeding for some great views (a nice change, he was a real hermit).

I'd love to get him another goby, but IDing these things is darn near impossible. He is reddish orange with purple feelers & legs, but orange claws & no spot. He has some white striping on his tail.

I'm trying to choose a new goby that may pair with him. Any advice? Oh, and another problem - there is an orange tube anemone that has decided to make his home right in front of the entrance for the pistol shrimp. Is it shrimp goby suicide to live with a tube anemone standing guard?? I know the anemone would eat him if he caught him. Maybe I should just leave the pistol shrimp alone...

I also want a sand sifting goby - I love a fish that eats sand - but not too much so it covers up my corals. If I were to get another goby, are there shrimp gobies that are also moderate sand sifters?

[tims]

well for gobies for the shrimp you can look at
the white ray gobie Stonogobiops yashia ( they are several colors to them) they do run a good bit of money$

the orange stripe gobie.. Amblyeleotris randalli ( very close looking to the white ray ,the dorsal fins are a bit diffrent looking) usally does not cost that much.

the yellow shrimp/prawn goby. Cryptocentrus cinctus this looks very close to a watchmens gobie.

All three need to be fed mysis shrimp and other meaty type foods. they will help feed your shrimp.

please realize the sand sifting gobies are eating the micro life with in the sand.. they are not cleaning it. so sand sifters are not really that good for our tanks over all

[leveldrummer]

if you like a sand sifter, just for the look of it, you can try a rainsford goby. they stay very small and keep to themselves. and they dont make a mess. (much) very colorful too.

[fishinchick]

Rainford gobies make nasty messes spitting sand all over. They pick up the sand, filter out the bugs and dump it all over your corals and rockwork.

Keep in mind that if you get a rainford that it's going to eat all your spag. worms and bugs in your sand pretty fast.
If you have a DSB this is problematic. Also problematic if you have bug eaters like Scooter Dragonettes and Mandarins.

I would not go with the rainford. Again, avoid anything with the word 'sand sifting' in it's name or description.

Most shrimp gobies pair up easily with a new goby. Yellow Watchman gobies are often the easier to pair with the shrimps. PInk and Blue spot watchman, orange stripe watchman are also easy. The Stonigobiops (spelling I'm unsure of off the top of my head) pair up too but they are fairly fragile and need pretty consisten water quality.

Just put the goby in after acclimating and after a few weeks they'll find each other.

Hope that helps.

[ChrisPrusha]

I purchased a 'pink speckled goby' from the LFS a few years ago, and after adding a tiger pistol, it was so cute watching the goby stare longingly at the pistol as he built a home.

The goby had a look on his face that said 'Pick me! Pick me!"

I hightly recommend goby/shrimp combos to anyone...they are sooo much fun to watch.