Missing Goby....Don't Be Too Quick To Replace!

So, I've had a great yellow watchman goby paired up with a tiger pistol shrimp for about a year. Lots of pictures of them on my tank thread. My favorite "duo" in the tank by far. Last weekend, I noticed the goby not coming out at feeding time. This goby NEVER misses a meal, and I mean NEVER! I started getting a little concerned. I would see the pistol shrimp peek out of their burrow (more like the tunnels of Iwo Jima), but he wouldn't come out. I heard him popping and clicking a lot - more than normal. I did my routine every-other-day feedings all week last week - no goby. I finally decided he must have died, which made me very sad. Everything else in the tank was doing great and the goby was fully grown when we got him, so I just figured he died. I have a good cleanup crew, plus a huge brittle star and 2 serpent stars that share the tank, so I wasn't concerned about not finding a "body." I started looking on-line and was about to go the LFS today to see what they had. I even had a post typed up yesterday on here about replacing my goby and didn't post it for some reason. WELL, tonight I was sitting there in my "captain chair" looking at the tank when something caught my eye, and a yellow head popped out of their main burrow. I'll be darned if it wasn't my goby! I about fell out of my chair!!!! I have no idea what happened, but he looks fine and like nothing ever happened. Soooo, I'm glad I didn't already order a goby and have him being shipped from who-knows-where, and I'm glad I didn't make a trip to the LFS today! I'm so glad he's back!

I guess the moral of the story is to either find a body or wait a bit longer before deciding if your goby bit the dust!

 

Congrats! Glad to see all is well

 

so that means more pics of him? i really enjoyed them alot, hee has great facial expressions. id miss him too. so glad he is still with you. now the question , what on earth was he up to? makes one go hmmmmmmmm.

 

Haha what a surprise!! I'm so glad he's back!! He just needed a little vacation.

 

wow! congrats on finding him! what a scare

 

Aww, thanks! Here's the two most recent pictures I had posted. I was really upset about this! He's perched outside his burrow right now looking at me like "what's the big deal?"

 

ty ty. i dont get tired of those of him. lol

 

hahahahah he really does have the best facial expressions

 

so if a yellow colored shrimp with big lips came outta the borrow (loveden) , that might answer the missing in action ?

 

Guy, you've been on "vacation" WAY TOO LONG already (I'm just jealous)!