Pistol And Yellowhead Jawfish

dixaisy930 · Mar 15, 2007

I have a lovely pistol shrimp in my tank, and have been considering getting him a goby friend.

Do you have to get an actual pistol shrimp goby, or will any burrowing goby do? I really like the yellowhead jawfish, but I wasn't sure if they would form a symbiotic relationship or not.

13thmonkey · Mar 15, 2007

pet solutions says to watch jaws with others of there own kind and ornimental shrimp. saltwaterfish.com says they may form a relationship(as in all gobies). check it out real good first. i had a pearly that my dottyback hated. pearly was awesome but the dottyback eventally made him commit sucide by drowning himself on the floor, then my dog gave him a lick for good measure.

Lynden · Mar 16, 2007

Jawfish aren't gobies.

Jawfish belong to the family Opistognathidae. While they are plankton feeders and will very doubtedly harm any larger shrimp, they will most certainly not form a symbiotic relationship with them.

andywg · Mar 16, 2007

Lynden said:
Jawfish aren't gobies.

Jawfish belong to the family Opistognathidae. While they are plankton feeders and will very doubtedly harm any larger shrimp, they will most certainly not form a symbiotic relationship with them.

I am pretty sure that if you read the Pocketbook guide on Marine Invertebrates by Ronald Shimek he states that some pistol shrimp will form symbiotic relationships with jawfish as well as gobies. It is rarer than with gobies, but not unheard of. Whether it would happen in the home aquarium I cannot comment.

It should be noted that jawfish need a substrate around 5" or more in depth to be able to create their burrow, together with a number of different grades of sand, gravel and sediment in and on the substrate.

dixaisy930 · Mar 16, 2007

Jawfish aren't gobies.

Oh, see I was talking about the very rare and ellusive yellowheaded mimic jawfish goby..... :lol:

I remember after posting this that the jawfish should have the deeper bed, which I don't have. I think my pistol needs a buddy anyway. He pops at the snails, so I don't know how willing he would be to share anyway.