Any information on Caribbean Blue Legged Pistol Shrimp pairing?

[Sierra_Bravo]

I have what I believe is an Alpheus formosus, otherwise known as a Caribbean Snapping Shrimp or Larger Blue-Legged Pistol shrimp. He was a hitchiker on a shipment of Tampa Bay Saltwater live rock and just recently let himself become visible after having dug some impressive tunnels under my rock. He is probably 2" to 2 1/4" long. I don't have his photo yet, but here is a photo from online:

I currently have a Yellow Watchman Goby sitting in quarantine. I believe I may have lost the Randall's Pistol Shrimp I originally had with him. I'm curious if anyone has information on successful pairing of the A. formosus species with a YWG? What little I've found seems to indicate that this shrimp species has better vision and is less likely to pair up. I've also read that they may even prey upon small gobies. The YWG I have is about the same size as the A. formosus.

Any info would be appreciated.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

bump

 

[jman930]

Following. I’m in the same boat!

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Following. I’m in the same boat!

@jman930 Here's what happened since I had posted that: It turns out the Caribbean Blue Leg won't pair with a goby, so that wasn't going to work. In the meantime the Randall's I thought I had lost ended up still being there; he had just decided not to show himself for a few weeks. The Randall's and YWG have been paired and living in the same burrow in the DT for 8 months now.

As for the Caribbean Blue Leg, at its larger size it was digging massive tunnels and I was worried that with trying to establish my goby/shrimp pair he'd cause problems, so I opted to trap him and give him to my LFS where he happily excavates their 60 gallon cube to this day. As it turns out I had two more TINY Caribbean Blue Legs in the rocks that have now grown to 3/4" or so and have established themselves in the sand. I've decided to leave these guys and watch them grow.

 

[BantyRooster97]

@Sierra_Bravo What ever happened with these? I believe I have one in my tank from TBS. Havne't torn the tank aprt to catch him yet, but will if need be.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

@Sierra_Bravo What ever happened with these? I believe I have one in my tank from TBS. Havne't torn the tank aprt to catch him yet, but will if need be.

Still in the tank! Other than the tell-tale clicks you wouldn't know they were there. I did find one of their tunnel entrances, though. Mine seem to hunt pods at night in the rocks and while I hear them, I only was able to catch one in the act once - but that was a while ago. Video posted below.

The one that I first trapped and gave to the LFS is still in their tank and they love it. It's huge and very active.

 

[BantyRooster97]

I caught mine and put it in a smaller tank. I'll be able to keep track of it in there. It is awesome looking though

 

[Micro-Reefs Aquarium]

I need help I, also got a hitchhiker Caribbean blue leg pistol. His is just under 1 inch and since his discovery I have lost yasha goby, green goby, red cheek goby.

They do not pair and mine is still in my 12 gallon cube he has tunnels in the live rock so hard to get out if I pull out rocks.

Going to try either trapping him in water bottle reversed trap with frozen fish at end or starving the tank by removing last two gobies and placing them in my other 13 gallon tank.

So mad at myself that I did not know these are a species not good with small gobies, my fault not the shrimp.

But he has cost me about $100 loss of money on missing fish!

 

[Micro-Reefs Aquarium]

Problem solved, caught him by taking down tank shaking the rock he was in and he fell to the padded floor. Used net and placed him in my 30 gallon virgin system, just sand and couple rocks for him to sit it out till Saturday. I had purchased a bubble magnus shrimp trap with silversides, but opted to go Rambo on him. Returning everything Sat plus shrimp for credit for the fish he took out.

 

[Micro-Reefs Aquarium]

So sad, I spent so much time on capturing him to have my LFS tell me he is invasive species to Florida coast, I tried giving him away for free to reefers at the LFS.

Nobody would take him, I then sacrificed him to the LFS on their suggestion to be fed to the grouper.

I left feeling I made a terrible mistake as they sell him online for $24.95.

Even though he ate my gobies he did not need to die in that manner.

This memory still lingers in my head.

Did I make a mistake? My mom said i should have released him in our waters, told her they warned me against that.

There he is the night I caught him and kept him safe in my 30 gallon system hoping for him to find a nice home.

So sad to share this story with all of you.

 

[LateStageReefer]

So sad, I spent so much time on capturing him to have my LFS tell me he is invasive species to Florida coast, I tried giving him away for free to reefers at the LFS.

Nobody would take him, I then sacrificed him to the LFS on their suggestion to be fed to the grouper.

I left feeling I made a terrible mistake as they sell him online for $24.95.

Even though he ate my gobies he did not need to die in that manner.

This memory still lingers in my head.

Did I make a mistake? My mom said i should have released him in our waters, told her they warned me against that.

There he is the night I caught him and kept him safe in my 30 gallon system hoping for him to find a nice home.

So sad to share this story with all of you.

Awe Im sorry you realized this too late.

Im sorry about your gobies too.

If it ever happens again though you know exactly where NOT to go.

I feel it very inhumane not to try and find him a home before doing that for your LFS since it wouldn't have been in your tank without humans picking up his home.

I find pistol shrimps and many crustaceans fascinating. I live in Canada and don't know how they do in transport or if he would get stopped at the border but I would take one 100%.

 

[Micro-Reefs Aquarium]

Awe Im sorry you realized this too late.

Im sorry about your gobies too.

If it ever happens again though you know exactly where NOT to go.

I feel it very inhumane not to try and find him a home before doing that for your LFS since it wouldn't have been in your tank without humans picking up his home.

I find pistol shrimps and many crustaceans fascinating. I live in Canada and don't know how they do in transport or if he would get stopped at the border but I would take one 100%.

Thanks for your kind words, yesterday night was very hard for me turning and tossing that I had been the reason he died.

 

[LateStageReefer]

Thanks for your kind words, yesterday night was very hard for me turning and tossing that I had been the reason he died.

I had to give up my first fish today. Yellow belly hippo tang. When I went to begin feeding today she was eating most of my corals.

Had to cut the cord. My LFS gave me a Tomini tang as a straight trade but it sucks losing fish for strange reasons we cant see coming.

I hope she finds a bigger tank with less fish. Thats all I can do now.

 

[Micro-Reefs Aquarium]

Found another pistol shrimp in my 30 gallon with KP aquatics live rock. This guy is tiny maybe 1/2 inch but he is red in color very shy only saw his claws. He doesn't look like the blue leg pistol I caught very bright red claws this guy has. I wonder which one he is any ideas?

 

[Forrest Dunavant]

So sad, I spent so much time on capturing him to have my LFS tell me he is invasive species to Florida coast, I tried giving him away for free to reefers at the LFS.

Nobody would take him, I then sacrificed him to the LFS on their suggestion to be fed to the grouper.

I left feeling I made a terrible mistake as they sell him online for $24.95.

Even though he ate my gobies he did not need to die in that manner.

This memory still lingers in my head.

Did I make a mistake? My mom said i should have released him in our waters, told her they warned me against that.

There he is the night I caught him and kept him safe in my 30 gallon system hoping for him to find a nice home.

So sad to share this story with all of you

I was gonna say it's a long shot but near Tampa in New Port Richey there's a place called saltybottomreefcompany.com They would have happily taken him. They sell them for 10 bucks. Seriously my favorite fish vendor hands down. I live all the way in Memphis, but have ordered almost all my fish from here. Nothing but great experience after great experience. Bought around 4 or 5 of them to be the clean up crew in my sea horse tank. Everybody does they're own thing. The seahorses always in the mid to upper levels, and the pistol shrimpys run the substrate and all the lower levels. It was pretty insane. I would hear them while in bed firing on each other and communicating with their snapping sound. It's soooo cool. After six months, two of them have begun mating and the dominant male killed all the others. He runs things downstairs. They killed around 5 to 10 peppermint shrimp too. Once those were gone, they somehow caught a purple firefish which disappeared one day. He was so peaceful and never bothered the seahorses at all. Also he would only eat a few pieces of food. Not like most fish that go crazy when food is dropped in. What ends up happening is the fish will out compete your seahorse for food so that's why most folks only put pipefish with seahorses. So it turns out firefish are really good tankmates to have with seahorses. You must be careful tho once had a talespot blenny. He minded his business when in a tank with several other fish but after a while in the seahorse tank he would bully the seahorses. So he was quickly moved and learned my lesson. Luckily I have 4 tanks. Due to the seahorses size I'm pretty sure the pistols are terrified and just stay away from the seahorses. Although it would be really sad if one of the shrimp harmed one of my seahorses. So far so good and when they encounter eachother the pistols haven't fired. In fact one of the pistols formed a relationship with one of my seahorses. They would chill together up on a long piece of coral by themselves. When I would feed that seahorse the shrimp would catch the scraps that the seahorse dropped. The pistol shrimp wasnt concerned with the seahorse at all. Blue legs don't work with gobys at all. They'll likely try to kill it if they can catch it. That's kinda what I'm getting at with all this randomness. Their very intelligent for shrimp, and they are excellent at tidying up the aquarium. On top of eating all the detritus left over from feeding my sea horses, they clean up anything that's foreign. It's kinda funny. I use to drop a shelled shrimp at the foot of their burrow. If they were hungry they would accept it. Otherwise they will carry whatever it is to the other side of the aquarium. Back when they were all alive one of them would carry things around in a circle drop it. Then start exploring again until happening upon it again. He will then move it to another random place. This would go on all day. They're so fun to watch and i pretty sure I'm gonna have shrimpy babies very soon. Saw some eggs a few weeks ago.