Yashia Haze Shrimp Goby behavior?

yoyoyoo123 · #1 10/01/2005, 10:58 PM

I just got a Yashia Haze Shrimp goby.

Acclimated him for a good 40 minutes. As soon as I put him into the tank he sinks down and sticks his head in a rock.

He stays like this for 15min. is this normal?

I thought he might have died so I went to blow some current at him with my baster.

he freaks out and then hides. I haven't seen it for over 2 hrs. Are these shy fish or do they stay out in the open often???

Fed the tank, no sign of the goby. Do they eat pods?

steelhealr · #2 10/02/2005, 12:23 AM

Hi...my yashia was near dead when he arrived from liveaquaria.com. He spent 2 days in a net in the aquarium..didn't want to lose a dead fish in there. He survived and went in the rocks. Didn't see him for over a week then reappeared very healthy. Here is my link on it:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=639618

He was quite shy for a few weeks, now ventures outside the cave and leaves the Randalls pistol shrimp behind briefly. Eats like a horse..mysid, enriched brine, flake, shrimp pellet, cyclopeeze. SH

Peter Schmiedel · #3 10/02/2005, 12:41 AM

This goby is very shy and most likely you will have to search behind your rockwork. They only feed on flaoting food. Hope your have the Alpheus randalli for the goby?

zoebeaglezoe · #4 10/02/2005, 11:22 AM

does anyone know where the" best place "to buy an already mated pair yashia and I think its randall pistol is? none of theLFS any where around here carry either of these two together or separate? online is ok.

steelhealr · #5 10/02/2005, 11:38 AM

Zoe...my pair came 'pre-mated' from Liveaquaria.com. A little pricey, but, has been well worth it. SH

Blazer88 · #6 10/02/2005, 12:27 PM

I didn't see my Yasha (I've seen a 100 ways to spell their name) for 4 or 5 days when I first added him into the tank and was very shy for a while after. I added a tiger pistol shrimp a few weeks later and now they are never found apart. He will come out every evening and just sit on the sand to relax, it's hillarious. I'm surprised they are so expensive from live aquaria, I got the Goby for $35 and pistol for $30. I guess I got lucky. Here's a pic of my favorite fish

yoyoyoo123 · #7 10/02/2005, 02:17 PM

wow thanks guys for the comments. I really hope that my Yashia is ok. Sucks that such a beautiful fish is so shy!!

yoyoyoo123 · #8 10/02/2005, 02:29 PM

for the few days that the yashia haze hides, what does it eat??

i'm hoping it eats pods, because I have a lot of them!

vthondaboi · #9 10/02/2005, 04:18 PM

Mine hid under a rock until it was time to eat. Needless to say I got rid of him for a purple firefish.

steelhealr · #10 10/02/2005, 05:32 PM

My guy was eating stuff floating thru his cave. Hang in there...look carefully at the lower left hand side of this shot. It's worth the wait. SH

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y55...lr/nano106.jpg

yoyoyoo123 · #11 10/03/2005, 03:21 AM

i just found him! he's inside a deep cave. Had to use a flashlight to spot it. Don't know if it's been eating. I squirted some cyclopeeze into the cave, hopefully it is eating something.

Do I have to get a pistol shrimp to get this goby to come out??
and does it only pair with one type of pistol shrimp?

Peter Schmiedel · #12 10/03/2005, 03:24 AM

It only pairs with Alpheus randalli, and it will be still hidding out. Not only becasue they are shy, but also to save energy. I figured that the swimming style they have consumes more energy then we can provide with 1-3 times feeding a day. So it has to stay in his borrow.

Blazer88 · #13 10/03/2005, 01:32 PM

Mine paired with my Tiger pistol shrimp just fine.

steelhealr · #14 10/03/2005, 02:49 PM

It most commonlay pairs with Randalls' banded pistol shrimp, but, as blazer88 shows, any alpheus species could work. SH

Blazer88 · #15 10/03/2005, 03:07 PM

I would get the Randalli if possible since the coloring is brighter, but either would work just fine.

yoyoyoo123 · #16 10/05/2005, 02:58 AM

do you need to pair it with a shrimp or no??

Peter Schmiedel · #17 10/05/2005, 05:51 AM

Do you need to see the sunshine, or can you life in a room without windows? The answer is no you dont NEED it, but ....

This fish lives in the sea only together wiht an Alhpeus and I think we can easly fullfil this requirement.

yoyoyoo123 · #18 10/05/2005, 09:21 AM

thanks Peter, that did it for me. going to get one today! (if possible)

Blazer88 · #19 10/05/2005, 12:18 PM

I had mine in the tank for a few weeks before I added the shrimp. He used to just hid out by rocks and such, but now shares the burrow with the shrimp. I think he is happier burrowing in the substrate, but could probably get by without it.

oceanicmark · #20 10/05/2005, 05:53 PM

I got mine from live aquaria, the first week he hid and then he started to slowly come out and eat, now after three weeks he just swims around my tank in search of food and then dives to his burrow when scared. They are Great fish, and i hope to get a pistol shrimp soon.

Peter Schmiedel · #21 10/06/2005, 06:01 AM

Good that I could convince you with my littel analogy

Be aware that some of the other Alpheus get rather big and could even scare the Goby. I would recommend to try to find the Alpheus randalli which is not only perfect in size but also very colurfull and mostly on stock - for sure on the big web order places in the US.
I dont want to hide the downside which is that you see them less often then an A.bellulus.

yoyoyoo123 · #22 10/07/2005, 08:28 PM

thanks for all the help guys. I went to the LFS and could not find the right pistol shrimp. So I am going to go searching for one tomorrow.

The fish is coming out a bit more now, especially at feeding, although i'm still "target feeding" around his cave to entice him to come out. Still very shy... looks healthy and great tho

steelhealr · #23 10/08/2005, 12:16 AM

So far, the yashia eats almost anything. If you can get him to pari up with a shrimp, I've dropped a shrimp pellet in front of the cave and he'll drag it in to share. I've had success with flake, mysis, enriched brine, and cyclopeeze. SH