Yellow watchman goby

Care at a glance

The yellow watchman goby is one of the most entertaining fish to watch, because it comes with a story: in the wild it shares its burrow with a pistol shrimp. The shrimp digs, the nearly blind goby stands guard at the entrance and warns with a flick of its tail when danger approaches.

That partnership forms just as readily in the aquarium, even between animals that have never met. Give them at least five centimetres of sand with a few loose pebbles to shore up the burrow, and set rockwork directly on the base glass so a collapsing tunnel cannot bring anything down. It does fine without a shrimp too, but it does jump: a cover is wise.

Good to know

• Digger — needs fine sand
• Known jumper — cover the tank

Related species

• Yellow clown gobyGobiodon okinawae
• Diamond watchman gobyValenciennea puellaris
• Neon gobyElacatinus oceanops
• Yellowtail damselfishChrysiptera parasema
• Lyretail anthiasPseudanthias squamipinnis
• Tailspot blennyEcsenius stigmatura