Keeping multiples of jawfish and/or shrimp gobies

[zen]

I'm looking to add activity to the sand bed in a 5 foot long 120 gallon mixed reef tank and I would like suggestions for some fish that will create little burrows under the rocks. Perhaps even a shrimp goby and a pistol pair in the mix. I've seen multiples of pearly jawfish and wheeler's gobies in LFS's in the past and I'm wondering what experiences other people have had in their tanks. Can multiples of these 2 species likely coexist in the same tank long term? If only one, which would you choose and how many would be best? I'm open to any other suggestions and recommendations. No sand sifters please. I plan to get the fish all at the same time and quarantine them together in a 29 gallon with sand and live rock for observation before eventually adding them to the display tank. That way I can make sure I don't introduce any diseases and I can monitor how they interact. I anticipate adding 5 or less sand dwelling fish in total.

10 current fish: 2 pyramid butterfly, 3 small lyretail anthias, an orchid dottyback, a clownfish, a yellow coris wrasse, lawnmower blenny, and a fat target mandarin.
I also have a small tomini tang that will be moved over soon. The last fish I plan to add in the future is a regal angelfish.

It sounds like a lot of fish but I've got a lot of coral frags in the tank consuming nutrients. I feed small meals 2-3 times a day and I'm still having to add phosphate to keep it from bottoming out. An ICP test last month showed phosphates at .021 with dosing I'm keeping phosphates around .10.

Looking forward to hearing from everyone.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I'm looking to add activity to the sand bed in a 5 foot long 120 gallon mixed reef tank and I would like suggestions for some fish that will create little burrows under the rocks. Perhaps even a shrimp goby and a pistol pair in the mix. I've seen multiples of pearly jawfish and wheeler's gobies in LFS's in the past and I'm wondering what experiences other people have had in their tanks. Can multiples of these 2 species likely coexist in the same tank long term? If only one, which would you choose and how many would be best? I'm open to any other suggestions and recommendations. No sand sifters please. I plan to get the fish all at the same time and quarantine them together in a 29 gallon with sand and live rock for observation before eventually adding them to the display tank. That way I can make sure I don't introduce any diseases and I can monitor how they interact. I anticipate adding 5 or less sand dwelling fish in total.

10 current fish: 2 pyramid butterfly, 3 small lyretail anthias, an orchid dottyback, a clownfish, a yellow coris wrasse, lawnmower blenny, and a fat target mandarin.
I also have a small tomini tang that will be moved over soon. The last fish I plan to add in the future is a regal angelfish.

It sounds like a lot of fish but I've got a lot of coral frags in the tank consuming nutrients. I feed small meals 2-3 times a day and I'm still having to add phosphate to keep it from bottoming out. An ICP test last month showed phosphates at .021 with dosing I'm keeping phosphates around .10.

Looking forward to hearing from everyone.

How deep is your sand bed?

I keep a trio of yellow headed jawfish and trio of spotted garden eels in my 36 gallon bowfront without issue. The jawfish really need at least 3" deep to do well, preferably more, and the garden eels need 6"+. I also have a pair of blue mandarin dragonets in there, which bother nobody, and are bothered by nobody.

 

[zen]

I've always loved garden eels but I was afraid of nutrient issues with that deep of a sand bed in a reef tank. One day I would like to do a small garden eel and seahorse tank. The sand bed in my current tank is about 2-3 inches deep. Has there been any aggression with keeping 3 together? The reason I ask is that I started with a trio of pyramid butterflies but two paired up and the other was chased away.

I'd love to see a fts of your tank. It looks really cool from that picture.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I know pairs work with (at least most) jawfish and shrimp gobies - I don't know about more than that though.

For the gobies:

It's absolutely worth a shot.

They are monogamous and will share a burrow - and not just for the mating season, but permanently (and most Alpheus spp. are this way - see the links at the bottom). I would assume they have two separate sexes (i.e. that they aren't hermaphroditic), but I don't know for sure. Additionally, I'm not sure how to sex the shrimp, but I've heard it's quite difficult to do without taking the shrimp out of the water.

If you're careful with the pairings, you can get two gobies and two shrimp living and breeding in the same burrow:

"When the sexual maturity is reached, normally a pair male-female of gobies shares the same burrow together with a pair of shrimps."
(Quote from the reefs.com article linked below.)

A quick note here on pistol shrimp diet - pistol shrimp do not seem to be predatory, rather they seem to be more opportunistic, omnivorous scavengers (the only "hunting" that seems to take place outside of the burrow is done by the gobies, not the shrimp, and - to my knowledge - no one has ever confirmed if the shrimp actually eat the "prey" brought to them by the gobies; it might be that the goby eats them rather than the shrimp, or the shrimp might eat them as people generally assume):

Goby and shrimp associations: more than meets the eye - Coral Reefs

link.springer.com

For examples of the shrimp and goby pairings (both in and out of aquariums), see these links:

https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/nftt/index.php

Aquarium Fish: Sharing a small house without conflicts: the pistol shrimp and the shrimpgoby’s life

Coral Reefs, thousand of species, thousand of associations: but the relationship between little gobies and their shrimp partners is one of the most famous and better balanced, where everybody wins and nobody loses. A wonderful example of mutualistic symbiosis.

reefs.com

UWL Website

bioweb.uwlax.edu

Breeding and Heterosexual Pairing in the Snapping Shrimp Alpheus estuariensis (Caridea: Alpheidae) in a Tropical Bay in Northeastern Brazil

Abstract. We investigated aspects of the breeding biology, including the reproductive period, egg production, and heterosexual pairing of the snapping shri

academic.oup.com

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I've always loved garden eels but I was afraid of nutrient issues with that deep of a sand bed in a reef tank. One day I would like to do a small garden eel and seahorse tank. The sand bed in my current tank is about 2-3 inches deep. Has there been any aggression with keeping 3 together? The reason I ask is that I started with a trio of pyramid butterflies but two paired up and the other was chased away.

I'd love to see a fts of your tank. It looks really cool from that picture.

They do fine with one another. 2 of the jawfish paired up, the other has his own burrow.

Here is the build thread for this setup:

Build Thread - Fishfreak2009's 36 Gallon Bowfront Seahorse Aquarium

Wifey and I were struggling to decide what style tank we wanted to put in the nursery for our little girl on the way. Our nursery is ocean/reef themed, as is our whole house, but we really wanted to go all out in this room. We knew it would be a seahorse aquarium, but were not sure on tank...

www.reef2reef.com