The cutest most amazing thing has happened

[Jan]

I have a watchman goby that has housed itself in a hole in a rock that is in the corner of my tank. It very rarely comes out and when it does it's usually to let me know I've not fed it. Very funny. Sometimes I don't see it for days and wonder if it's still alive and this little guy always surprises me and pops it's head out of the rock. This goby and my sixline have not been affected by what wiped out the majority of my fish. After researching and based on how the fish in the hospital tank responded to the various treatment I've come to the conclusion that I probably had brooklynella. The Formalin seems to be working better than the copper did for the external parasites. So all the fish that were still alive that I could catch are now in a hospital tank being treated with Formlain 3.

 

I purchased another watchman goby with a shrimp from another member. He advised me to purchase a product that claims to treat Ich in a reef tank. the reviews were really good and it was reef safe so I've been using it. It hasn't hurt anything. Some may call it snake juice but the member that told me about it swore that it worked and so have many others in the reviews that I've found. The sixline and the goby still appear unaffected by whatever wiped out my other fish so I will continue to use it.

 

I kept the goby along with a new chromis in a separate tank and treated them prophylactic with copper and then with formalin. Then I placed them in a separate smaller tank with fresh salt water and slowly acclimated them with the water from my main display, all along observing their behavior and making sure they were not distressed and nothing surfaced. They made it through just fine. The shrimp, of course, was not part of the medicinal process. I acclimated it separately in a container to the main display. I've been doing huge volumes of water changes to the main display over several days as well.

 

After all was done I introduced the shrimp, goby and chromis into the main display. To my surprise the watchman goby that hides in the hole in the rock hidden in the corner of my tank knew immediately that I put another watchmen goby in the tank. In minutes it came out of it's hole and actually ventured to the front of the tank where the new watchman and it's shrimp burrowed. It did this several times looking for the goby but the goby and shrimp never surfaced. Several hours later the new watchman goby ventured out away from the shrimp and it's new burrow to where my old goby was, at the side of the tank in it's hole in the rock. It found the goby in the rock and started shaking it's tail at the hole and pocking it's head into the rock. I thought for sure that they'd start to fight and figured I'd let them establish their pecking order. I saw no threat by what the goby was doing.

 

This morning I found my old watchman goby nestled next to the new goby in a the new burrow with the shrimp. They are taking turns watching while the shrimp makes burrows. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. First one will pop out and watch then the other and at times they will both have their heads out watching while the shrimp moves sand around. I immediately started to look for how to determine their sexes and found that the female goby is usually rounder than the male goby. My old goby is small and thin and not as pretty as the new one. The new goby is bigger and rounder and bright yellow with beautiful neon blue spots. I think I have a male and a female, a matted pair of watchman gobies! What's even more amazing is that they've made their burrow right in the front of the tank so I can see them all the time. I lost a pair of mated green mandarin to whatever wiped out my other fish. I suspect they were the first ones to die from whatever afflicted my system but now I have what looks to be a mated pair of watchman goby and their pistol shrimp.

 

I'll post pictures after when I can pull myself away from observing them.

Edited July 26, 2011 by Jan

[Guest thefishman65]

Congratulations! It is about time you got some good news.

[SunWyrm]

Awww!

[Coral Hind]

That is really cool. Looking forward to seeing the pictures.

[FearTheTerps]

Great to hear some good news, looking forward to the pics as well.

[lanman]

Sweet! A small goby and shrimp were the first inhabitants of my 240. They took up residence under a rock right in the front of the tank. About a year later, they disappeared. 6 months later, I found them - not too far from their original hole. About a year after that they disappeared again, and it's been about a year since I saw them. I think they are probably gone. But they sure gave me a lot of pleasant entertainment!

 

bob

[lowsingle]

Sweet, take some video!

 

Darren

[treesprite]

I'm glad to hear something good going on. Hopefully your horrible experience will come to a swift end and not come back. Let us know if you find any goby eggs.