Watchman goby lost his color!

[stephanie]

I have a yellow watchman goby named Paul Revere. About 2 weeks ago, he lost his yellow! Anybody know why? Also, we rearranged the rockwork last week and ever since he's been hanging out in my wellso brain instead of his pistol shrimp hole (shrimp is alive and well, already checked.)

He's been getting enough food, water parameters are fine... What gives?

[FragOutpost]

Is the watchman goby turning sort of a greyish color? If so then it sounds like he might be stressed out. When fish are stressed they will usually change color. That is very odd that it does not hang out with the pistol shrimp in it's burrow. How long has the watchman goby been in the tank with the pistol shrimp?

[stephanie]

Yes, a yellowish gray with black stripes. I'll post a pic later. I originally figured he was stressed, but I can't figure out for the life of me why he would be...especially since he isn't hiding. I'm thinking of putting him in the frag tank, but I didn't want to separate him from his shrimp. We bought them together as a pair about 8 months ago. He's never left the shrimp until now. Maybe they had a fight.

Do you think I should separate them (especially since he isn't even watching the hole) and put him in the frag tank?

Thanks for getting back so fast.

[FragOutpost]

Yep. Yellowish grey with stripes definitely sounds like he is stressed. I would give it some more time before putting the goby in a different tank. That is very odd that you purchased them together but now they will not share the same burrow. Do you have actinics, or a way to reduce the amount of light in the tank. When I add new fish to the tank I usually will only leave the actinics on to help ease the stress on the fish.

That still doesn't explain why he is stressed. Could there possibly be another critter living in the burrow with the pistol shrimp, like a crab or a mantis? I would turn the lights down and give it a couple of days. If the situation does not improve then moving him to another tank might be the best option, even though it would endure more stress. It is a tough one to call. Try to evaluate any and every reason as to what is causing the stress. Good luck.

[stephanie]

Nothing else is in the hole. I'd prefer not to touch the lights because of all the corals. I think I'll try switching him. Plus, if it is disease induced stress, the extra iodine in the other tank should help.

[FragOutpost]

Well as long he continues to eat well, then I would expect him to overcome whatever it is that is stressing him. Diesease is an interesting point I didn't think about. Anyways, keep us updated on his status. Wish you the best of luck.

[avbryce1]

also what do you feed him?

[stephanie]

He eats mysis and cyclopeze mostly.

He's still in the main tank, I didn't move him. He doesn't seem any worse, but he still has no color.

May be the food is too blame! Good thinking. Thanks.

[stephanie]

Here's a picture.

[FragOutpost]

How's he holding up? Still grey?

[samn691]

I also have a not so yellow watchman goby. He is also gray. I found a forum on this a while back, they were trying to find out why they sometimes changed their colour. They didn't find why. Mine was never very bright yellow, when I bought him he was a dark yellow. At first he was always the same colour, then he started to develop some gray bars, which became thicker, sometimes they went away, but they soon came back. Soon after he sarted to become fully gray. Now 10% of the time he is dark yellow, 25% of the time he is dark yellow with grai bars, and the other 65% of the time he is a very dark yellow or gray colour, with or without bars. He eats flake food, mysis shrimp and the ocasional bloodworm.

I have 2 pictures, one of when he is very yellow and one where he is slightly darker with no bars.
(these pictures were taken soon after I bought him, you can see he was a little hungry)