Pistol shrimp living in cave too small for Goby

[magicjosh]

I got a candy cane pistol and yellow watchman goby yesterday. The pistol immediately went into a tiny cave in my rock work.

The goby found him a few hours later and tried to enter the cave. He managed to get his body about half in but wasn’t able to fit the rest of himself. His upper half was sticking out of the cave.

The shrimp seemed to love it. He was constantly in and out of his cave moving little pieces of sand, and although wouldn’t move far moved at least an inch out of his cave throughout the day.

Guess the goby got sick of it and left the cave. He hangs out around the cave now but hasn’t gone inside since. The shrimp also now never leaves the cave, but I can sometimes see his him scurrying around in there.

Will they naturally relocate or create a new home that will accommodate both of them?

I attached a photo circling the shrimps cave and the goby sitting outside

 

[Sharkbait19]

The picture is too blue to see much of anything, but usually the goby will be poking its head out to stay in watch. They are pretty good diggers so it can expand the cave if it needs to.

 

[Gribbles]

Do you have any pictures with a little more blue?

...


Just kidding, can you post some in white lights? It's super hard to see

 

[magicjosh]

Here’s a less blue photo my bad lol.

Once again the shrimp cave is circled here, goby is next to it outside but won’t go in.

 

[magicjosh]

The picture is too blue to see much of anything, but usually the goby will be poking its head out to stay in watch. They are pretty good diggers so it can expand the cave if it needs to.

The cave is really just a small hole in the rock that only fits the shrimp, which I don’t think they can expand.

 

[Gribbles]

Fwiw, my personal experience was my pair basically lived on a rock. With several caves, entrances, etc. They moved around as they saw fit. One week they'd be at one entrance and then a different entrance the next week.

Keep an eye on them. Are they eating?

 

[jabberwock]

They have to figure out the ocean. They will figure out your tank...