A tale of survival and symbiosis

[steelhealr]

Hi...having come over to SW from FW, there is some real interesting stuff on the lower third of the TFF page that is worth sharing on the upper page. There is a fascinating symbiosis that occurs between two saltwater animals, a type of shrimp called a pistol shrimp, named because of a clicking sound the shrimp makes when threatened, and a particular type of goby called a watchman. This symbiosis is best seen with the Randalls banded pistol shrimp and the Yashia Haze goby.

The goby, which has excellent vision defends the cave that the pistol shrimp and goby live in. The shrimp, which has poor vision, brings food back to the cave to share with the goby and maintains the cave. The shrimp will even close up the cave at night which will be reopened in the morning by the goby as it exits.

Well, I ordered these two pair for my tank over the internet. Both arrived yesterday. The shrimp was great, however, the goby appeared near death while acclimating:

I released the pistol shrimp after he acclimated but 'quasi quarantined' the goby in netting. I thought he was going to die and didn't want it to get lost in the live rock and contaminate the tank. Well, this morning the goby looked better, but not moving. This evening it appeared upright and was moving it's gills. I decided to release it.

The goby swam and floundered a bit, but, eventually stayed upright in the tank:

My sixline even came up to check out the new addition:

Wouldn't you know it...the goby made it's way to the left side of the tank where there was a pile of sand near the rock. The pistol had dug a cave. The goby found it, the pistol came out and 'assisted' the goby into the hole. The pistol is 'tending' to the goby now who is making a push for survival. Life is amazing. SH

 

[FishEnthusiast]

Wow, that is an amazing fact that I didn't know. Thanks for sharing. I have thought about doing a SW tank, but I don't have the $$$$ to pull it off properly. Nor the knowledge for that matter.

 

[HyPerLite_ByerLy_142]

thats awesome!

 

[Mordinbar]

Just on a side note, The clicking noise those pistol shrimp make, is used to stun prey in the wild Hence the name Pistol shrimp.

And that is really cool.

 

[Opcn]

Great thread SH, the FW people are going to start getting mad at you soon though.

On two side notes the shrimp eats microcrustaceons that way, closing there claw sending out a jet ofwater.

And thegoby has very good eyesite and can find food were as the shrimp can dig a shelter to be shared and can use its claws to kill food and fight off smaller would be attackers.

 

[pseud]

That's so awesome.
(Glad the Watchman made it.)

 

[Synirr]

Wow... I've heard of this particular case of symbiosis before, but it never occurred to me that you could have something like this in an aquarium... very cool!
Glad the watchman is doing better, and I hope he pulls through

 

[steelhealr]

Wow... I've heard of this particular case of symbiosis before, but it never occurred to me that you could have something like this in an aquarium... very cool!
Glad the watchman is doing better, and I hope he pulls through

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I'll let everone know how he does. BTW...don't forget you guys, I still have two FW tanks, a 46G and 10G, so, I'm not ALL salt you know. LOL. SH

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

How cool is Nature...

 

[Bloo]

Oh how cool is that !
Hope they watchman grows nice and strong

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

tyhast amazing i wanna do salt water now just to have this fish combo

 

[Dorkhedeos]

i was thinking about a salt water tank, but im scared of salt water. after all those years of surf fishing, ive seen the damage salt water can do. just parking near the beach made the car rust.

Edit: do you have any pictures of the shrimp and the goby together?

 

[steelhealr]

No combo pictures yet....I've heard that they can go down into that hole and stay there for awhile before coming out. I've dropped some enriched brine shrimp down into the cave in the mean time. I will take a pic when I see them out...assuming the goby made it. And...don't fear the salt (or is that the reaper)....SH

 

[steelhealr]

Luck...both of these guys survived. I was feeding my sun corals tonite when I saw the banded pistol shrimp run out and grab some food. Looked under the coral frag and saw two orange eyes staring out. LOL....they took up residenced underneath. Both look good. Survival. SH

 

[steelhealr]

OK..I caught the goby. When the lights went down, I was able to see both but not the pistol shrimp. The shrimp was carrying small boulders of dried sand out and then would 'snowblow' out loose sand. Looked just like a snowblower or dog digging dirt in the backyard. The goby moves aside to let the shrimp out and then blocks off the cave to protect him as he goes back in. SH

SH