Yellow Watchmen Goby

[Fishfirst]

-IN PROGRESS-
Name: Yellow Watchman Goby, Yellow Prawn Goby, Yellow Shrimp Goby
Scientific name: Cryptocentrus cinctus
DISTRIBUTION - Maldives, Sri Lanka, Indo-pacific
HABITAT - The yellow watchman goby is usually found on the bottom of reefs near the sand, usually in holes in the rockwork in symbiosis with a pistol shrimp at a depth of 3 to 50 feet.
SIZE - 3"
TANK SIZE - Minimum 20 Gallons, optimal: 30 Gallons or larger
DIET - Mainly zooplankton, phytoplankton, and algae in the wild, will eat several meaty items in the home aquaria including an assortment of flakes, mysis shrimp, blood worms, brine shrimp, finely chopped raw fish, and raw shrimp, seaweed, and spiralina algae.
TANK ZONE - Bottom
TEMPERAMENT - Fairly peaceful but will defend its hiding spot, seems to be more territorial when accompanied by a pistol shrimp, but nothing more than a bluff.
CHEMISTRY:
pH - 8.0-8.5
SPECIFIC GRAVITY - 1.023-1.025 ideal
TEMPERATURE - 24*-26*C, 75*-79* F
PHOTOPEROID - Sub-tropics to equatorial 10-12 hours of light per day
SENSITIVITES - noticeable pH fluctuations, salinity changes, ammonia, and nitrite
HARDINESS & LIFESPAN - a hardy saltwater fish. Lifespan probably in the 5-10 year range
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION - A torpedo like shaped body, with a large head and tapering body. This goby is mostly yellow with several metallic blue dots covering the head and front third of the body. It has modified pelvic fins for sitting on the bottom/rockwork. Its dorsal fin runs from the head to the caudle peduncle and has two parts to it, a fan like shape is the first part, and the second is a rectangular shape. The anal fin is similar in shape to the second dorsal fin and aligns with it on the body. The mouth of the yellow watchman goby is in the shape of a perpetual frown.
SEXES - Males tend to be more colorful with larger lips for fighting and digging, a larger buccal cavity, and the first rays of the dorsal fin are usually taller/spikier.
ACTIVITY PEAK - diurnal, usually hides in its burrow during the night
HABITS - Will form symbiotic relationships with several types of pistol shrimp, including Tiger pistol shrimp and other pistol shrimp in the genus Alpheus The goby watches for food and predators while the pistol shrimp digs, cleans the tunnel, and tears up food too large for the watchman goby to initially eat.
SPAWNING - Yellow Watchman Gobies will spawn in aquaria, although there isn't a scientific account of it happening and therefore very little information on the subject.
COMPATIBILITY - If kept with a rather peaceful community of fish, the yellow watchman goby can thrive. Beware and exclude of any fish that excrete toxins, eat small fish, are aggressive, or con-specifics if you have a smaller sized tank (under 50 gallons).
REEF AND INVERT COMPATIBILITY – The yellow watchman is not an active predator of corals, shrimps, crabs, snails, etc, but will be predated upon if an aggressive invertebrate or fish is introduced.
OTHER NOTES AND TRIVIA - I've found that this goby does well on a diet of mostly frozen foods; it tends to lose some color if fed only flakes. Also it will nab small pieces of seaweed leftover from the tangs I have in my tank.
They usually have a large pile of sand in front of their burrow, which means that it’s not under your rockwork; make sure you have a stable structure so they don't topple any rockwork by excavating under it.

[Fishfirst]

Anyone have any additional comments to add?? anyone know the info needed for the question marks? Unfortunately I can't get any real good descriptions of breeding and sexing.

[Fishfirst]

Just need pronouncation of the sci name and we should be pretty good. TOS you are pretty up on your latin, any suggestions?

[TheOldSalt]

Krip-toe-sen-truss sink-tuss