looking for answers about Stonogobiops nematodes, so much conflicting info!!!

[ilektrik22]

Hello

I'm trying to figure out which fish I would like in my tank. So far I've almost decided (I'm slightly indecisive :| ) firefish and or midas blenny, pair of true percs AND

I really like the look of the Yellow Rose Antenna Goby also know as filiment finned prawn-goby, Stonogobiops nematodes. The supposedly symbiotic shrimp is a randals shrimp, Alpheus randalli( some places say they can pair up others fail to mention this). I am intersted in having this fish/s/shrimp but i would love to have more info before I make the plunge ( I'm particularly intersted in the shrimp/goby pairing to round off the inhabitants in my tank)

Does anyone have any experience with Stonogobiops nematodes? I've read alot of conflicting info such as: the shrimp is hard to keep, keep fish in pair, fish need to be kept separetly, they are passive fish while other sites say they are semi-aggressive, that they are burrowers, while other say they are in the water column....so confused about this little guy. If anyone has any info/experience with this species it would be greatly appriciated.

here is a link to one of there descriptions ( again I am getting conflicting info from different sites)
http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/gobies/yellowroseantennagoby/


Thanks in advance

( oh forgot to mention it;s a 30g tall)

 

[The Apprentice]

A big fan of pistols & gobies

Hi ilektrik22
I personally don't have the Stonogobiops nematodes.
But I have 4-5 pairs of Alpheus randalli and I do have a mated pair of these guys in my 29 gallon nano tank they are currently residing with a Yellow Watchman Goby I also have 2 more pairs of shrimp/ and Stonogobiops yasha and these guys are extremly easy to get started and pair up in a small tank like yours, It will even be easyer if you have no other fish in it at this time The trick I have always done is aclimate your shrimp gobie and pistol or pistols at the same time give them that 3-4 hours of very slow transition to your tank water and it also give them some face time with each other as well. When you put them in your tank put them in all at the same time & try to get the m to hit bottom at the same time If you prebuild a cave in the front of you tank HINT HINT they will set up shop right were you can see.
I have also added 2 Alpheus bisincisus (pair) to a single Amblyeleotris randalli in a big 75 gallon tank and they stayed together by the way I mentioned in aclimating them, Use like 3 gallon bucket so they have a little room and before long they will be stuck to each other Check out this dated thread on some of my gang hope this helps ...Jeff
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2711&page=2&highlight=pistol

Hello

I'm trying to figure out which fish I would like in my tank. So far I've almost decided (I'm slightly indecisive :| ) firefish and or midas blenny, pair of true percs AND

I really like the look of the Yellow Rose Antenna Goby also know as filiment finned prawn-goby, Stonogobiops nematodes. The supposedly symbiotic shrimp is a randals shrimp, Alpheus randalli( some places say they can pair up others fail to mention this). I am intersted in having this fish/s/shrimp but i would love to have more info before I make the plunge ( I'm particularly intersted in the shrimp/goby pairing to round off the inhabitants in my tank)

Does anyone have any experience with Stonogobiops nematodes? I've read alot of conflicting info such as: the shrimp is hard to keep, keep fish in pair, fish need to be kept separetly, they are passive fish while other sites say they are semi-aggressive, that they are burrowers, while other say they are in the water column....so confused about this little guy. If anyone has any info/experience with this species it would be greatly appriciated.

here is a link to one of there descriptions ( again I am getting conflicting info from different sites)
http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/gobies/yellowroseantennagoby/


Thanks in advance

( oh forgot to mention it;s a 30g tall)

 

[ilektrik22]

Thanks The Apprentice

That's exactually the type of info I was looking for ! I will be getting a pair of the gobies and maybe a pair of shrimp now ( it's such a neat relationship)

One last questions how do I pre build a cave....rocks or sand only...what kind of caves do they like, as in depth,, size?( with my luck they will choose one in the back of the tank)

If you prebuild a cave in the front of you tank HINT HINT they will set up shop right were you can see.
I have also added 2 Alpheus bisincisus (pair) to a single Amblyeleotris randalli in a big 75 gallon tank and they stayed together by the way I mentioned in aclimating them, Use like 3 gallon bucket so they have a little room and before long they will be stuck to each other Check out this dated thread on some of my gang hope this helps ...Jeff
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2711&page=2&highlight=pistol

 

[The Apprentice]

One last questions how do I pre build a cave

Thanks The Apprentice

That's exactually the type of info I was looking for ! I will be getting a pair of the gobies and maybe a pair of shrimp now ( it's such a neat relationship)

One last questions how do I pre build a cave....rocks or sand only...what kind of caves do they like, as in depth,, size?( with my luck they will choose one in the back of the tank)

OK hear is a couple of shots on what I did it is nothing fancy just some thing for them to find immediate cover as soon as they hit the bottom I used a clam shell they did the rest look at the pictures and see how they built the entrances
The closer to the front of your tank will let you see them more

Also look at the last shot this is how i got a pair together

 

[ilektrik22]

That's AWSOME( love the tunnel along the glass!!!)

Alrighty then so basically over exposure to each other initially ( nothing like a forced relationship!) then just a hidding spot ( i have some rock rubble i can build them a makeshift tunnel entrance)

I'm also going to make the sandbed higher only in the front left corner of the tank and let it tapper down to the back and right hand side.

I've read that atleast 4 inches deep, but how big of an area do they need(footprint wise, i was thinking roughly
9''x5'')?

Or should i make a deep sand bed throughout my entire tank?

Your sand seems finer grained then i have, will this effect their tunnel building ability? should i be getting finer grained sand?


thanks so much The Apprentice, this is making me much less apprehensive about adding these guys( since thier to going to be my first fishies) and less worried about never seeing them again.

I've only found one place around me that knows these fish but they weren't able to help me much the only info they gave me was their price.

Thanks again
You've been a tremendous help!!

 

[The Apprentice]

Some rough awnsers to go with

I will try to give some advice on the last question but ant way you do these guys seem to me to be very forgiving The shrimps constanly build a never ending thing with them the gobies some times tear it up and the shrimps will just go back to building it. Awnsers are in Blue

That's AWSOME( love the tunnel along the glass!!!)

Alrighty then so basically over exposure to each other initially ( nothing like a forced relationship!) then just a hidding spot ( i have some rock rubble i can build them a makeshift tunnel entrance) great !

I'm also going to make the sandbed higher only in the front left corner of the tank and let it tapper down to the back and right hand side. They will eventully feather it out

I've read that atleast 4 inches deep, but how big of an area do they need(footprint wise, i was thinking roughly
9''x5'')? The more you give them the more they tunnell

Or should i make a deep sand bed throughout my entire tank? That is what I have done
Your sand seems finer grained then i have, will this effect their tunnel building ability? should i be getting finer grained sand? That will not matter I have them in fine grain sand to crushed coral they will work with what you give them

thanks so much The Apprentice, this is making me much less apprehensive about adding these guys( since thier to going to be my first fishies) and less worried about never seeing them again. Your welcome glad i could help

I've only found one place around me that knows these fish but they weren't able to help me much the only info they gave me was their price.

Thanks again
You've been a tremendous help!!

When they venture out and they will Slowly target feed them they will soon learn when they see your hand thats the dinner bell


Good luck post some pictures when you get them...Jeff

 

[ilektrik22]

So I now feel confident

Thanks Apprentice....once I get them I will have to buy a camera...my dog (dobe puppy) decided that my last one needed to be eaten

 

[ilektrik22]

So if anyone is still reading this very old thread.

Apprentice your advise was on the ball, I picked up a pair of high fins and a pistol shrimp ( easy to tell pairs because males will fight when put together) forced the intoductions during acclimation and then placed them infront of their home and told them "don't you want to go home....?" and they did.

when i introduced them to the tank I put them all in a bag together with tank water and then coralled them directly into the hole one buy one ( they basically followed one another, I really didn't have to do anthing).

Being the first fish introduced onto the tank seems to have helped aswell, I've only had them for 6h now and their already showing themselves and the fish even directed the shrimp to some food i tossed in( didn't expect that so soon). The shrimp has already fortified their little cave area, and hasn't smothered a single one of my corals that was on the ground in the process(it never occured to me that he would move SO much sand) I thought that was very thoughful of him. Also I would recommend ensuring that all your rock is secure since the shrimp really moves alot of sand ( either have it on the bottom of the tank or on stilts, I used PVP pipping with holes drilled in it, i hope it holds up!)

if anyone reads this and is slightly intriged by these fish/shrimp pairs i would highly recommend them ( with some reading of course) awsome first marine fish!

thanks Apprentice these guys would not have been this exciting without your advise....

 

[The Apprentice]

Hey I love it when plan comes together !

I am very happy it working out
Now watch and when the time comes get us some shots till then I will throw these 2 out taken from my 75 gallon reef ...Jeff

So if anyone is still reading this very old thread.

Apprentice your advise was on the ball, I picked up a pair of high fins and a pistol shrimp ( easy to tell pairs because males will fight when put together) forced the intoductions during acclimation and then placed them infront of their home and told them "don't you want to go home....?" and they did.

when i introduced them to the tank I put them all in a bag together with tank water and then coralled them directly into the hole one buy one ( they basically followed one another, I really didn't have to do anthing).

Being the first fish introduced onto the tank seems to have helped aswell, I've only had them for 6h now and their already showing themselves and the fish even directed the shrimp to some food i tossed in( didn't expect that so soon). The shrimp has already fortified their little cave area, and hasn't smothered a single one of my corals that was on the ground in the process(it never occured to me that he would move SO much sand) I thought that was very thoughful of him. Also I would recommend ensuring that all your rock is secure since the shrimp really moves alot of sand ( either have it on the bottom of the tank or on stilts, I used PVP pipping with holes drilled in it, i hope it holds up!)

if anyone reads this and is slightly intriged by these fish/shrimp pairs i would highly recommend them ( with some reading of course) awsome first marine fish!

thanks Apprentice these guys would not have been this exciting without your advise....

 

[ilektrik22]

How do you feed your shy sand dwelling fish?

Nice shots...now if only I ever saw my fish...I put 2 in but only ever see one, it could be the same one over and over again...I really can't tell. shots will come when my fish appear for more then a few seconds, if I move even slightly they scoot back into their hole...they were bolder the day I brought them home, go figure.

My dog ate my camera last week "bad doggie" so no new camera till after the holidays.

So Jeff, I have another question for you, how do you feed your fish? I haven't figured this part of fish ownership out yet, the first night they ate but nothing since then nothing ( 2 days), although I think their eating zooplankton ( I believe it's zooplankton....tiny little white/clear things floating/swimming in the tank) I've seen one scoot out and snap his mouth shut a few times.

Thanks
Yvonne

 

[The Apprentice]

Good question

Great question I remember asking Charlie "Care taker of Willis" This same question over 2 1/2 years ago

These guys are foragers and on top of that they will seem to feed more & be more active when the lights are out, But you can train them
If your tank is cycled for some time and you have live food IE "Pods" they will feed on these guys. If not or you have a younger tank Take some dry food Like New life spectrum get to food specifically made for the smaller fish It has pictures of Gobies and fire fish on It, This is just one I have about 4-5 dry foods that are small for Gobi's that are sinking foods That is the trick now i have learned most of the Gobi's will only eat as it fall in the water column but the Pistols will clean up what hits the sand I don't give them much a very small pinch every other day. I do change with the bigger pistols I feed them prime reef They will actually pull the cube off the tongs and drag it into there cave. I didn't catch which species of pistol you have do they look like any of the ones I have posted? OK here is some more shots of some of the bigger ones..

So Jeff, I have another question for you, how do you feed your fish? I haven't figured this part of fish ownership out yet, the first night they ate but nothing since then nothing ( 2 days), although I think their eating zooplankton ( I believe it's zooplankton....tiny little white/clear things floating/swimming in the tank) I've seen one scoot out and snap his mouth shut a few times.

Thanks
Yvonne

 

[ilektrik22]

I have a "tiger" pistol shrimp, he's pretty big, bigger then the gobies and has brownish stripes on white, i think he's a run of the mill shrimp

 

[The Apprentice]

Yvonne Please check out this links

Hi Yvonne I did some searching under the Tiger pistol Shrimp and found these links do these look like your guys? I don't have any like this If these are your guys I am very interested on hearing on how they do. It these are your guys they are big enough to feed with the prime reef cube 2 times a week..Please check out the links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_pistol_shrimp

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1148

On another note I saw my female Alpheus randalli came out of the Bat Cave today with a Big Cluster Of RED Eggs It would be cool to see baby Pistols
Jeff

I have a "tiger" pistol shrimp, he's pretty big, bigger then the gobies and has brownish stripes on white, i think he's a run of the mill shrimp

 

[ilektrik22]

Ahhh little shrimpetts !!! that's got to be exciting!

Yup that be him or her ( I only have one, I wasn't able to get a second one at the time) the shrimp is about twice the size of my fish, he's getting more bold and coming out of the tunnels more often.

Do you know anything about adding another one, or a different type of shrimp, like and randell's? I really wanted one of those but wasn't able to get one. So far the tiger shrimp runs away from my peppermints, although he could easily take them out!.

At the same time, I don't think there is enough ground space for another burrowing shrimp ( I have a 30g tall, 24x12x26) I don't want to crowd anyone, or will they live together?

I wish I had started a bigger tank!!!

thank
Yvonne

Oh what type of shrimp is the reddish one you have?

 

[The Apprentice]

Re : Yup that be him or her

Yup that be him or her ( I only have one, I wasn't able to get a second one at the time) the shrimp is about twice the size of my fish, he's getting more bold and coming out of the tunnels more often.
That sounds good they are getting settled in !
Do you know anything about adding another one, or a different type of shrimp, like and randell's? I really wanted one of those but wasn't able to get one. So far the tiger shrimp runs away from my peppermints, although he could easily take them out!.
I think adding more of the same species in that tank would be the way I would proceed, I have done this with postive results. I don't think it would be ok to add the smaller Alpheus randalli I don't think they could compete with the bigger Tiger Pistol

At the same time, I don't think there is enough ground space for another burrowing shrimp ( I have a 30g tall, 24x12x26) I don't want to crowd anyone, or will they live together? Same species you should be ok I to have some living In the same caves with each other just fine

I wish I had started a bigger tank!!!

thank
Yvonne

Oh what type of shrimp is the reddish one you have?

Yvonne I am not sure wich red one you are taling about? Can you post which picture its in?

 

[ilektrik22]

okay so I think I uploaded this correctly, this one ( below) looks like it would be a able to hold it's own with my tiger. Although I think having a pair of shrimp would be much more interesting. I kinda which I hadn't picked up a tiger one I really like the randall's but i guess I'll be sticking with tigers in this tank.

So you added extra shrimp after the initial one, and there was no territorialness etc? I just really don't want any fighting as I don't have any other tanks set up, although it would be a great excuse but I don't think the boyfriend would go for it otherwise I would love to add atleast one more.

Also I heard that raising baby shrimp is pretty difficult since they can't touch a solid surface as eggs/fry( i wasn't paying much attention though)

 

[ilektrik22]

Oh and as an update I was finally able to get the whole crew eating yestarday, I totally overfeed the tank but that was the only way I could get them all to eat ( it took about 2 hours until they started getting the picture) but now their all looking at me with hungery eyes!!! very exciting, but I'm going to follow your instructions and feed everyother day.

So with the over feeding yeastarday comes the fun water change!!! yay!!!!

 

[The Apprentice]

Bullseye Pistol Shrimp

thank you Yvonne Oh what type of shrimp is the reddish one you have?

OK Yvonne I figured it out with the Picture Its a Bullseye Pistol Shrimp: Its scientific name is Alpheus soror yes this one would hold Its own with a Tiger Pistol However this species usually will Not pair up with a Gobie check out this Link On more info on the Bullseye Pistol Shrimp....Jeff


http://www.aquariumdomain.com/inverts/bullseyePistolShrimp.asp

 

[The Apprentice]

This will make it easyer

OK Yvonne please see if you can get this up North Its called a Kent Marine Nautilus Sea Squirt Feeding Prong here is link to what one looks like Basically its a telescopic Baster that will allow you to suck up a small amount of food and directly put it right on top of them The pistols will usually just grab any food you have on the end Check out the picture...Jeff:
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=KM2711

Oh and as an update I was finally able to get the whole crew eating yestarday, I totally overfeed the tank but that was the only way I could get them all to eat ( it took about 2 hours until they started getting the pict but now their all looking at me with hungery eyes!!! very exciting, but I'm going to follow your instructions and feed everyother day.

So with the over feeding yeastarday comes the fun water change!!! yay!!!!

 

[ilektrik22]

I'll check out the stores up here, otherwise internet shopping !!!! That would make feeding much less messy

thanks