Yellow Watchman Goby

[bayarea510]

I am going to my LFS tonight to pick one up. :D I just wanted to ask if there is any special treatment needed for these little guys, like diet, current, etc.???? I know they like to burrow, but I have no clue if they need special food they like to eat. Thanks in advance.

[Sugar Magnolia]

They like to sift sand through their gills and dump it all over the corals on the bottom of the tank. Mine does at least. :D

No special treatement needed with these guys. As always, ask the LFS to feed the fish while you are there to be sure it's accepting prepared foods.

[bayarea510]

They look like really fun guys to watch and it will finally bring color to my tank. Thanks for the fast response.

[Kabong]

He will also host with a pistol shrimp, and have a little symbiotic relationship with it. If that intrests you.

[guzz64]

If your rock is on your sand bed, this guy will cause rock-a-lanche.

[KING OF THE REEF]

Originally posted by guzz64
If your rock is on your sand bed, this guy will cause rock-a-lanche. Hey Guzz64 I belive you have given some wrong information. This is how I see it but please remember that I have not been in this hobby long. Yes I have many posts but they are mainly about local aquarium club things.

A rock-a-lanche is possible, but highly unlikely. Mine burrows under a rock or two and he only barly has a hole. I hope this doesnt affect my rockwork,but If it does, we know whoes leaving via bag and lfs lol. Thanks for understanding my point of veiw

[bayarea510]

Originally posted by Kabong
He will also host with a pistol shrimp, and have a little symbiotic relationship with it. If that intrests you.

That does interest me!!!! But my question is will the pistol shrimp get along with my other inverts? I have an arrow crab, an emerald crab and a fire shrimp.

[reverai]

My watchman goby didn't bother didn't getting into the sand as he found lots of places to hide in the live rocks. I feed him soaked algae tabs as he can't eat one until the tabs are very soft and Formular 1 and 2 frozen meat mixed together in salt water. He takes a bite as they drift past him but he misses a lot. It took about two weeks from him to feel the tank was his home before he started to come out behind the live rock when I was in the room.

Be aware that these fish are jumpers and if you have an open tank with the water near the top, there will be a good chance he will jump until he feels comfortable in your tank. Several people on this site have lost their goby's in the few week or so from jumping. Given a good diet and stable water specs they can live a long time. I got mine from a friend who was leaving the hobby and it was his first fish almost ten years ago. They also lose some of the yellow color when they are stressed.

Good Luck
Steve

[bayarea510]

Originally posted by guzz64
If your rock is on your sand bed, this guy will cause rock-a-lanche.

Yeah that is what I heard can happen, but my sandbed isn't very deep and all of my bottem rock are in the sand almost to the glass. I tried to shake them after I was done setting up my tank and they wouldn't budge. So hopefully it doesn't happen to me, thanks for the heads up though!

[bayarea510]

Thanks reverai, I only have about a 3/4" gap on the back of the tank. I think I might McGyver something to cover it.

I love this forum!!!!! Every one of my topics have be addressed and solved very quickly!!! So I just wanted to thank every one on this forum. Fastest replies with the least amount of flaming!

[guzz64]

Imareefer,

I have had mine dig under every edge of the rock in my 240. He exposed glass in the center of the reef. You could see bottom of rock from under tank. I have one!! If I push the sand back, he has kicked it out again. This all happened in less than 2.5 months. My rock was in tank prior to sand. So there was no issue. but 350 lbs of rock moving 3-4 inches could easily cause a rock slide. I was merely giving what I have seen.

[jtreath]

Originally posted by bayarea510
That does interest me!!!! But my question is will the pistol shrimp get along with my other inverts? I have an arrow crab, an emerald crab and a fire shrimp.

Actually it works great! It is not the pistol you have to worry about. They are nearly blind and do not pose a threat to anything in your tank. It is the Goby that is the protector in this arrangement. So if you feel the Arrow, Emerald and Fire Shrimp do not pose a threat to the Goby itself then I would get the pair.

They are really neat to watch, I spend more time watching my Pistol/Goby than I do watching my Ocelleris/BTA pairing.

[JR719]

I put one in my daughters 10g and is really something to watch. It sorta sifts the sand and she loves it. It does add color to the little tank. We feed formula 1 in her tank and it seems to be doing well.

[45commando]

I got mine more as a worker to keep the sand turned over,but has become one of my favourites.It will help if your sand is relatively fine,because as stated above,they like to sift.HTH.

[VinnyTheIcepick]

I love my Yellow Watchman Goby. He usually hangs out by the cave he cleaned out under a piece of live rock but recently he has been out exploring. There guys like to move the sand around and i think it helps plus they are fun to watch.

[m2736185]

I wish I could say the same about my goby watchman but all he does is sit in the same spot under the same rock all day, I never even see him. I dont even thing this type of goby is the sifting sand type