ORA Yellow Watchman Goby- Not Yellow?

Hey Everyone,

About two months ago, I got a YWG from my LFS. I know it is ORA because it was still in the shipping bag when I arrived, as I had specifically ordered it and didn't want to overly stress the fish, so they never acclimated it to their tank.

When I picked it up, it was grey, but I figured it was just a matter of it being a juvenile/ stressed from shipping and it would change to yellow eventually.

Anyone have any knowledge on this? The fish is now over 2" long and very happy, but still remains a steel grey color.

I've read a couple of different places about the females staying grey, but then others say that they have had both male and female fish shift colors from grey to yellow and vice versa.

Thoughts? Also, if it is a female, would it be ok to house a male with her in my 12g nano?

 

I had the same thing with one. I'm told they can gray out as they mature.

 

The only thing is that I literally just got it from ORA two months ago. I can't imagine that they would have had a fish just sitting around for that long before shipping it...

Do you know if yours was a female?

 

This is all true.

They may loss the yellow coloration as they mature.
Mature females tend to be grey.
A stressed YWG will appear grey.

Regarding putting a young yellow in with a grey one is going to be a gamble. Be prepared to move on or the other.

My YWG has been with me for 5 years, and was only yellow for the first couple months.

 

Idk. My fish guy brought one in for me and it was about 1.5-2 inches long. I have a pic somewhere. he sadly is no longer with me.

 

I bought one that was yellow but after some time he turned white with blue dots.

 

Hmmm... good to know. I definitely don't think it is stressed, it swims around all the time doing its goby business and eats like a pig.

I may try to add a yellow one, but I wonder if I should try to find a slightly larger one that is still yellow- maybe that would help ensure that it is a male?

 

I work at Premium Aquatics and we occasionally get grey ones as well. It's normal.

 

Mine turned grey and now just recently it's getting some yellow back. Took about.6 to 8 months. So, they can return to their yellow color.