Clownfish and some questions.

So I recently purchased a set up off of someone on craigslist, and it came with two clown fish and a watchman goby. I thought I would post pictures and I have two questions.


Here they are

Now I've been reading up on these guys, and one 'seizes' and then the other hits him. But not like an attack or chase, he doesn't bite. And then they swim around and one will like bob up and down and the other will mimic them. I read that they might be a breeding pair, but one is not bigger than the other. Could it be something different.?


And the one of the right, his white band did not fully connect. It's like that on both sides. Is he a different kind of clown fish or is he just unique.? lol.

And then my goby, because I love him. He has already made two caves and three big crater in the sand.

 

I'm pretty sure they are considered misbars when the bars don't connect - it is a special type. As far as the behavior, one can notice some shaking or shimmying by the one fish toward the other and this is supposed to recognize submission. It could be they are figuring out who will be the dominant female and who will be the male - do you have any idea how old they are? Clowns usually reach breeding maturity at about 2 years old I do believe.

 

Ah okay. I like his little non-connected bar. If they breed in the future is there a possibility that will pass on.?

Oh I see, that would make sense. I do not know the ages, I just know they were bought from a LFS about a year ago.

 

Do you have a Pistol Shrimp for your Goby? One of the Reefs most Dynamic partnerships. If you consider a Pistol Shrimp, the Goby will no longer have to dig. The shrimp will do the digging for him.. In exchange for protection from the Goby. They are fun to watch and together they are quite hardy.

 

I was not aware that diamond gobies paired with pistol shrimp. Do they?

 

Diamond Gobies are not "watchman"; they are sand-sifting gobies. I would like to hear if anyone did have one that paired up with a pistol though.

 

Oops my mistake. I mistook that for a watchmen. Sorry

 

To clarify further, misbars are like curly hair for humans - some will be born to have it but it's still the same subspecies. People will say it's a different "type" but its care, needs, behavior, etc is the same as the rest of its subspecies.

 

To my knowledge, no. Only watchmans pair with shrimp, hence the name.

FWIW, sand-sifting gobies can be difficult to feed and usually require a very large, mature live sandbed for long-term survival as they actively prey on the sandbed infauna (worms, mollusks, etc.).

 

The only problem with this is even Live Aquaria lists some sand sifters as "Watchman", including the Diamond, Tiger Wardi, etc. Basically, Watchman are from the family Cryptocentrus and sand sifters are from the family Valenciennea.