AqualogNEWS100
9
Lotiliagraciliosa
is very rarely importedand correspondinglyexpensive.
Alpheus rubromaculatus
,which lives in symbiosiswith
Lotiliagraciliosa
.
this one species, which is distributed in
theRedSeaandWesternPacific.This little
goby has been imported only extremely
rarely, and the same applies, only even
more so, to its partner crustacean, the
pistol shrimp
Alpheus rubromaculatus
.
There are a relatively large number of
species of symbiotic gobies. They live in
cavesexcavatedby the shrimpwithwhich
they live in symbiosis. In return for the
digging work, the gobies protect their
almost blind shrimp against potential
predators.The interesting thingabout this
is that every symbiotic goby species lives
onlywith its own specific shrimp species.
In theory both goby and shrimp are also
capable of living alone, but the fact that
this fascinating mode of behavior has
apparently developed so frequently via
parallel evolution demonstrates that it is
very obviously a successful model for
survival.
Despite thehighprices charged for these
little jewels, I can only recommend that
you grab them whenever they are
available. The maintenance of these
oddly-matched teams isn’t difficult, but
sufficient depth of substrate should be
provided for them to carry out their
digging activities. Feeding is no problem,
as both goby and shrimp will readily
accept all the usual foods. Ideally these
little creatures should have an aquarium
of their own, and it doesn’t need tobe all
that large. In such an aquarium the
fascinating behavior of these lovely
creatures canbeobservedundisturbed.
