Will a pistol shrimp "clean" its goby?

Just wondering if anyone with a pistol / goby pair has observed this.

I have a Tiger pistol and a Randall's goby who surprise me every morning with a new excavation of some sort. They are a very industrious pair.

Lately the goby has gotten way more protective of the pistol to the point venturing out of the burrow a lot farther to dart at the occasional fish or invert that comes too close and to eat as well - he suddenly seems a bit more aggressive - (last night he literally picked up a snail and tossed it off to the side). The tiger is often seen shoving the sand up to the mouth of the burrow but overall is pretty reclusive.

With that said, I came down this morning to admire their latest big dig only to see the goby all the way out of the burrow and the pistol shrimp appearing to "groom" it. The pistol was all the way out of the burrow which I cannot say I have ever observed before and there was definitely a lot of "fussing" going on for lack of a better description.

I know lots of you have cleaner shrimp that groom other species of fish, I just wondered if anyone has seen this in a goby / pistol pair. Regardless of what was going on, it was fascinating to watch and they allowed me to get very close in order to do so.

 

AFAIK they are not cleaners, it's possible you were observing something else. The behavior between these types of gobies and the shrimp is fascinating though, I agree. I love mine.
I'm not sure if pistol shrimp tend to leave the burrow to defend it. I always thought they were pretty timid and would run at the first sign of trouble. I think the pistol may defend the burrow if something goes inside the burrow, I've heard of them popping off at serpent stars if they get a leg inside the burrow and that kind of thing. It's possible you got an aggressive one but I wonder if you might be misinterpreting the behavior.

For example "tossing aside" a snail could just be the shrimp clearing the area outside the burrow of obstructions to make sure the shrimp and the goby have a clear exit path back into the burrow. Mine always keep the burrow entrance clear except towards the end of the day sometimes they will seal, or partially seal up a burrow entrance with sand etc, and the next day the goby will break down the door to get out, or use another entrance.

Either way enjoy, I think it's one of the coolest symbiotic relationships that is easy to observe in reef tanks.

 

Hi there,

It was the goby that was doing the "snail tossing" - and none too gently either - the poor thing hit the front glass. Such is the life of the goby - being the bouncer and all as far as the burrow goes

I was just very surprised to see both shrimp and goby out front in the center of the sand area an inch or so beyond the burrow opening in full light this morning. It looked like the pistol was giving the goby a nice "side & back scratch".

It is fun to explain this relationship to friends and relatives who have "never heard of such a crazy thing". Even better to show them!

 

Oh I see, either way, I can understand wanting to keep a tidy house, and snails are not tidy.
My gobies are getting more confident as well in my tank and are coming further out than before. I think once they get more used to the system they will get more brave unless there is a fish harassing them, but that doesn't sound like your case at the moment since they're coming out more.
I agree, most people (at least pretend to) think it's a pretty cool system the shrimp and goby have going on hehe.

 

I have observed my pistol shrimp cleaning my yellow watchman goby twice. They do clean the shrimp of parasites. They did have white spot at the time and the pistol shrimp did a good job of cleaning my goby. I also had a cleaner shrimp in the tank at the time cleaning my other fish. Pistol shrimp need a watchman goby to survive in captivity, they can feed on parasites on the goby and feed on the gobies faeces, plus I have seen my gobies on many occasions provide food for the shrimp that is too big for them to eat. This is also seen in mudshrimp which share there burrow with gobies.

 

Another interesting observation, when my two yellow gobies spawn they kick the pistol shrimp out of the burrow for about 3 days until the eggs have hatched.

 

I'm really hoping my Yasha gobies will spawn eventually I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.

As for surviving in captivity without the shrimp I'm not sure I agree. I had a Yasha and a pistol in my 30g tank, the Yasha jumped through my eggcrate lid months ago and I still see and hear new evidence of the shrimp being alive and well even today.

 

In the long term pistol shrimp have a better chance of survival with a goby. There are a small number that will survive in captivity without a goby with target feeding.

 

It took about 9 months after pairing my 2 yellow watchman gobies for them to spawn. I had the male and the pistol shrimp in the tank about 6 months before adding the female. It took about 10 minutes for them to find each other and pair up.