Goby Compatability

[Lacy]

All,

I currently have a Sleeper Gold Head Goby (Valencienna strigata) that does a great job sifting my sand. I have been offered a Diamond Watchman Goby (Valencienna puellaris) to add to the tank as well and wanted to see if anyone had experience keeping these two fish together. My tank is 180 gallon with a DSB.

The Diamond Watchman (1") is in another tank, eats well when given frozen food and continually sifts the sand. He get along with all other fish, but there are no other Gobies in the tank

The Gold Head (1.5") does not eat frozen (or pellet / flake) food, he only sifts the sand. He is doing well but I don't want to put stress on him if the second Goby will compete for his food or cause him to battle for dominance.

So, my questions are:
Will they fight for dominance?
Is this enough room to feed them both? (12 sq feet surface, approx 3" deep with rock over about 1/3 of the sand)
Has anyone had experience keeping these two together?

Thanks for all your assistance and Happy Holidays!!



:fish1:

[Sk8r]

Probably not enough to feed both, but the dominant will claim all possible food source.
If the goldhead would eat frozen, that would be ok---but he MIGhT learn from his rival.
Gobies will often fight direct competitors or similar body shapes. I have had a lot of gobies, but never this pair. I wish I could forecast. You might try floating a bag with #2 in it and seeing if it provokes an outright attack---which would be a warning.

[Snowboarda42]

Often times they will fight by locking jaws and wrestle to the death if they don't have enough room to establish territory. However, there is times when two gobies of different types will actually pair up. Feel free to try it, just be ready to take one out of there if they start to fight.