Gray Beards (gender neutral of course), need advice! BLUF: I've lost a few tiger pistol shrimp and diamond gobies. I think anomalies and want to try again. Need assurance or caution.
To begin; "what happened was..." 75 gallon, ~3-4" sand bed, plenty of rock (see tank pict) and all is well. Had diamond goby for about 7 mos and was introduced to idea of pistols at LFS. A quick Google search...and no way. But was told Tiger's don't bother fish and are fun to watch...Bob the Builders of the tank. So took the plunge. And no issues.
Every once and a while, I'll blow the sand around the tank to "reset levels" and keep clean. My pistol had grown to about 3 inch & beautiful. Peaceful, no problems with fish (they' actually visit him...weird). My sand blowing would partially (or completely) fill in his dens, he would dig them back out. And then he didn't. Haven't seen him (or heard him) in 3 mos.
Still no sign of Tiger and then Goby 'completely' disappeared. Should at least be an eaten body...but gone. (of note; lid completely closed off so no flying fish. learned that the hard way...goby jerky).
Got impatient, so picked up a pair of diamond gobies (opportunity) and a single tiger pistol. All was well. Please stay with me...
Was splitting a few zoa colonies (successful mission), and the next morning noticed a small frag fell off its spot and while reaching my fat hand in the tank, knocked a rock loose which led to 3 hours of recreating my colosseum. Did not touch base rock so didn't disturb tiger and wasn't paying attention to gobies (they'd been hanging out with each other since I brought them home). Welp, next morning no gobies...no tiger. What the heck. Gave it a weak. What the heck. So moved some sand from front and poked around. Nothing. Finally used my pump and blew sand from under the rocks in front...out come two dead (were buried) uneaten gobies. Buried side by side, the way they hung out. And, no matter how much I blow out the front, no tigers...dead or in pieces.
And that's it. Looking for experienced thoughts: did I kill the tiger/s by blowing sand into their dens? Did I scare the heck out of the gobies and they buried/killed themselves? With burrowing critters do you leave the sand alone? Any advice before I go get another tiger/goby pair?
I truly want to believe the 2 tigers will come out one day holding claws but doubtful. Absolutely no sign (or sounds) of them.
Pictures included. Thx for anyone that took the time to read my blabber
Zac
To begin; "what happened was..." 75 gallon, ~3-4" sand bed, plenty of rock (see tank pict) and all is well. Had diamond goby for about 7 mos and was introduced to idea of pistols at LFS. A quick Google search...and no way. But was told Tiger's don't bother fish and are fun to watch...Bob the Builders of the tank. So took the plunge. And no issues.
Every once and a while, I'll blow the sand around the tank to "reset levels" and keep clean. My pistol had grown to about 3 inch & beautiful. Peaceful, no problems with fish (they' actually visit him...weird). My sand blowing would partially (or completely) fill in his dens, he would dig them back out. And then he didn't. Haven't seen him (or heard him) in 3 mos.
Still no sign of Tiger and then Goby 'completely' disappeared. Should at least be an eaten body...but gone. (of note; lid completely closed off so no flying fish. learned that the hard way...goby jerky).
Got impatient, so picked up a pair of diamond gobies (opportunity) and a single tiger pistol. All was well. Please stay with me...
Was splitting a few zoa colonies (successful mission), and the next morning noticed a small frag fell off its spot and while reaching my fat hand in the tank, knocked a rock loose which led to 3 hours of recreating my colosseum. Did not touch base rock so didn't disturb tiger and wasn't paying attention to gobies (they'd been hanging out with each other since I brought them home). Welp, next morning no gobies...no tiger. What the heck. Gave it a weak. What the heck. So moved some sand from front and poked around. Nothing. Finally used my pump and blew sand from under the rocks in front...out come two dead (were buried) uneaten gobies. Buried side by side, the way they hung out. And, no matter how much I blow out the front, no tigers...dead or in pieces.
And that's it. Looking for experienced thoughts: did I kill the tiger/s by blowing sand into their dens? Did I scare the heck out of the gobies and they buried/killed themselves? With burrowing critters do you leave the sand alone? Any advice before I go get another tiger/goby pair?
I truly want to believe the 2 tigers will come out one day holding claws but doubtful. Absolutely no sign (or sounds) of them.
Pictures included. Thx for anyone that took the time to read my blabber
Zac