#dracula goby

[paws-gills-and-polyps]

Nicole the Dracula Goby feeding her pistol shrimp pair. I have yet to see the shrimp get their own food. Whenever I feed, Nicole ushers the shrimp back into their home, eats food and then feeds Jeremy and his partner. Very cute.

[paws-gills-and-polyps]

Hi friends! It's been a minute, but I am back for today! Lots of disasters with the tank, fortunately nothing affecting any of the fish, but I lost a lot of corals. We've had some trouble staying on top of water changes and algae took over the tank for a while. We should be back on the up swing, but it was a little rough for a while there. There's a lot going on in my personal life and balancing everything has been a struggle. I hope to be more active again and share more of what's going on with the tank. In the mean time, have a video of my Dracula Goby and pistol shrimp pair (actually a trio). Happy reefing!

[paws-gills-and-polyps]

A few shots of my Dracula Goby (Stonogobiops dracula) that I acquired from LiveAquaria. I actually bought a bonded pair with a pistol shrimp so the trio are naturally named Nicole, Waverly and Jeremy, but unfortunately, Waverly and Nicole were separated when transferred from quarantine to the main tank and have never appeared together again. The one photographed is Nicole and they live, with Jeremy on the right side of the tank. Waverly shares a cave on the left side with zebra barred dartfish. Nicole and Jeremy have done lots of reconstruction on the right side under the rocks. It's actually been great seeing them because they were previously being terrorized by Gilbert (yellow eyed kole tang) who has since been captured and taken back to the LFS. My experience with these fish has been that they are very peaceful and that Nicole will actually put food into Jeremy's tunnels after getting their own share. Video of this behavior to come!

[paws-gills-and-polyps]

Plot twist! Nicole is the queen of pistol shrimp! I was watching the tank yesterday, hoping to get a shot of Jeremy and suddenly, I saw movement behind Jeremy! It was the other pistol shrimp that I added when I presumed Jeremy dead. Normally, pistol shrimp kill each other and I had heard popping in the tank before, so I assumed that they met up and only one survived. Apparently, they were popping at something else and are actually sharing Nicole and a burrow! I'm very excited about this turn of events. Maybe the shrimp pair should be Wayhaught since the gobies did not pair back up. Photos of them are probably going to be like this because they are still adjusting to being in that spot, but I look forward to seeing more of them!