shrimp/goby pair timing

[aquadonkey]

Hi everyone.
I'm going to get a YWG and red-banded pistol shrimp.
Do I need to get them at the same time for them to pair up?
Does this make a difference?
Thanks!

Also.... does the kind of pistol shrimp matter for the pairing? I just picked one I thought was pretty.

[aquadonkey]

Bump. Anyone?

[XtremeFromHell]

hmm.. i wonder the same.. tagging along

[jer77]

A Yellow watchmen goby is a good choice and has a decent chance to pair up with a pistol shrimp. They are one of the small to medium sized shrimp gobies, but are very common in aquaria and tend to adapt well. The pistol shrimp, Alpheus randalli, is also a very good candidate for pairing with a goby, especially the smaller ones. Alpheus bellulus, or tiger pistol, is slightly larger and could also work well with the YWG.

To answer your main question, there is no guarantee they will pair up, but in my experience they usually will within a week or two after they are both introduced to your tank. It doesn't matter which is introduced first as they should eventually find each other. Once they do its up to them to figure it out. It is very common for both gobies and pistol shrimp to just disappear for up to weeks and even months. I have thought many gobies I've had had just died or jumped out and found them months later. But to introduce a goby make sure the lights are off and the tank is covered. The goby may jump out at many times during its introduction and pairing. To lessen the chances of the goby and shrimp fighting make sure they are fed well before trying to pair. Then introduce the shrimp to your tank so it builds a cave. Then add the goby and hope they like each other. If they don't you will see them fighting or the goby won't go near the shrimp and may jump out so cover the tank. I have found the best way to improve the chances of pairing is to lessen the goby's stress when introducing it and to make sure they both are well fed.

[jer77]

Just a couple more useful points:

Pistol shrimp need to have larger grain sand or crushed coral even to build a proper burrow. They like to dig underneath rocks to, but still need the support that the larger grains provide.

Pistol shrimp are known to be scared easily. When they get spooked they retreat into their burrow. They also snap their big claw too. This makes a pop noise, but it also can be very deadly to whatever gets in its way. The shrimp doesn't even see what its doing. I had a pistol shrimp tear apart a sand sifting star, a firefish, nassarius snails and a shrimp goby before. So, its wise to keep all inverts and small fish away.

[Tylt33]

There's an issue of Coral magazine on the symbiosis between pistols and gobies, worth reading. Basically it's a roll of the dice no matter how you slice it....

[plateboy3293]

I had a goby and pistol pair up in a 110 gallon tank same as what you are planning add them together and release them on the same side of the tank. Take them both to the bottom of the tank so they don't swim around and not find eachother. Also if you have some snail shells put them in a pile where you want the pistol and goby to live and most likely thats where he will go. This happened in my case no gurantee.

[jb61264]

You can many times find these already paired up at a LFS...thats how I got mine

[Firefish76]

I also got mine paired up from LFS, but was told the chances of them pairing up when put in the tank would be pretty good if I couldn't find a pair