Yasha Goby x Candy Cane Pistol Care Tips

[aquatic26]

Hi all! So my 15 gallon (soon to be 20 gallon) Waterbox is up and running, finished its cycle, and by chance my LFS had my favorite pistol/goby pairing in from another customer who broke down his tank. They’ve settled in really well, found each other quickly, and I’m very impressed with how confident the yasha is. I had read they rarely leave the front of their burrows, but he swims all over catching food before returning to his Candy Cane pair. My questions:

1. Do I need to feed the candy cane shrimp? Will he find his own food?
2. I’m doing freeze dried brine shrimp right now but also have frozen reef frenzy. I love the freeze dried for convenience (and so does the yasha!) but even with pre-soaking it is hard to get a lot of it to sink beneath the surface. Any tips for getting lighter weight foods to sink before they get sucked into filtration?
3. Do I need to feed a variety of foods or is it okay to stick with brine shrimp for awhile?
4. Anything else to make the pair happy? I left some shells and rubble outside their burrow for the pistol. I eventually want to get a CUC and don’t want the pistol to steal their shells!

 

[aquatic26]

Also, a video because they’re awfully cute and I wasn’t expecting to be so intrigued by the duo lol

 

[merkmerk73]

My pistols never seem to eat

I think they just eat the goby poop or detritus

 

[FlyinAg]

My candy cane shrimp is a chow hound. He will come out at feeding time and grab whatever he can get a hold of. My watchman never paired so maybe that's why mine is so good motivated!

 

[Fritz05]

The shrimp will find food. I have a candy cane without a shrimp and while I almost never see it it is doing well. They do like to dig, so having enough substrate should make them happy

 

[ajremington68]

I have a tiger with a watchman goby, and up until a week ago, I didn't know if the two were alive. They have just been moving and grooving in the rocks. (was about 3 months without seeing them...so sad) but now the goby will peek his head out and eat once I feed the tank. Now, to this day I have not seen the pistol leave the caves so not sure what he eats but they are scavengers, so just have to trust nature's way unfortunately. Side note very beautiful goby, have never seen one like that but I just unlocked a new addition for a future tank build for sure! @aquatic26

 

[Fritz05]

The shrimp will find food. I have a candy cane without a shrimp and while I almost never see it it is doing well. They do like to dig, so having enough substrate should make them happy

Correction: I meant to say “without a goby”.

 

[Cthulukelele]

There have been scientific studies and it's believed that a significant portion of the paired pistol shrimp's diet is goby poop. They also catch the odd meaty bit near the cave entrance, but in almost 6 years of having pistols I can count on my hands how many times I've seen them successfully catch food. Just make sure the yasha gets some meaty food at least every few days (these fish can go a long time without eating given the hole dwelling and sometimes getting stuck inside) and you should be good

 

[ajremington68]

There have been scientific studies and it's believed that a significant portion of the paired pistol shrimp's diet is goby poop. They also catch the odd meaty bit near the cave entrance, but in almost 6 years of having pistols I can count on my hands how many times I've seen them successfully catch food. Just make sure the yasha gets some meaty food at least every few days (these fish can go a long time without eating given the hole dwelling and sometimes getting stuck inside) and you should be good

I have a yellow watchman that the pistol is paired up with, and the watchman is aggressive for food. Always sitting at the opening of the cave and whenever I feed he always gets some pellets and shrimp. Not worried about them staving, worried about catching the darn aquascapes so they stop moving my corals in my sandbed.

 

[Katrina71]

We had a tiger/watchman pair. Had both over 7 years. The goby was badly stung by a bta and laid on the sandbed for 2days. Her pistol built a sand wall around her and I witnessed the pistol bring her food. It was a complete surprise. She made a full recovery.

 

[Cthulukelele]

We had a tiger/watchman pair. Had both over 7 years. The goby was badly stung by a bta and laid on the sandbed for 2days. Her pistol built a sand wall around her and I witnessed the pistol bring her food. It was a complete surprise. She made a full recovery.

That's the cutest thing I've ever heard

 

[ajremington68]

We had a tiger/watchman pair. Had both over 7 years. The goby was badly stung by a bta and laid on the sandbed for 2days. Her pistol built a sand wall around her and I witnessed the pistol bring her food. It was a complete surprise. She made a full recovery.

Sheesh, I don't pray any bad will for my watchmen. Love the little sad guy, but wouldn't mind that darn pistol coming out and laying on the sand bed so I can snag him up. Consense I am seeing is everyones pair lasts until the tank gets shut down. So looks like no corals in the sand for me...

 

[Katrina71]

That's the cutest thing I've ever heard

It was really amazing. They have a much more important role for each other than I ever knew until that happened.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Sheesh, I don't pray any bad will for my watchmen. Love the little sad guy, but wouldn't mind that darn pistol coming out and laying on the sand bed so I can snag him up. Consense I am seeing is everyones pair lasts until the tank gets shut down. So looks like no corals in the sand for me...

Yeah they're the cockroaches of the sea especially tiger pistols. Barring a crushing under rocks, they're indestructible. My watchman goby is the only fish that survived my crash.

 

[Katrina71]

Sheesh, I don't pray any bad will for my watchmen. Love the little sad guy, but wouldn't mind that darn pistol coming out and laying on the sand bed so I can snag him up. Consense I am seeing is everyones pair lasts until the tank gets shut down. So looks like no corals in the sand for me...

It is a pain, but you can get frag rocks that help.

 

[Katrina71]

A turkey baster works to blow sand off too.

 

[College_Reefer]

I had a candy cane pistol shrimp for 4 years. Got it from a buddy in college who couldn’t care for it anymore and it was the size of a rice grain. He grew and grew and I never saw it, let alone fed it. The only way I knew it was alive was hearing it snap all day every day. I have no idea what he ate all those years but unfortunately it died in a heater malfunction. Now I have a tiger pistol shrimp I got as a hitchhiker on a Christmas tree worm rock and still have no idea what it eats. The point is, you don’t have to do anything special for it.

 

[Katrina71]

Mine ate like a pig. Openly.

 

[merkmerk73]

There have been scientific studies and it's believed that a significant portion of the paired pistol shrimp's diet is goby poop. They also catch the odd meaty bit near the cave entrance, but in almost 6 years of having pistols I can count on my hands how many times I've seen them successfully catch food. Just make sure the yasha gets some meaty food at least every few days (these fish can go a long time without eating given the hole dwelling and sometimes getting stuck inside) and you should be good

This is 100% true

There's no other way that my pistol shrimp could survive because they never come out and eat anything

Most of them I never even see.