Candy cane pistol shrimp going into filter sock, almost every night! Please help!

DragonWrasseFan

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Hello!
Please bear with me because this is going to be a really long thread, but I can really use some help ……I’m new to this forum, but I’ve been lurking it for just over seven months when I started this hobby. I have a candy cane pistol shrimp who is paired up with a Yasha Goby in a 15 gallon all in one nano tank. They were doing just fine until recently when I decided, under the advisement of my LFS, to purchase an emerald crab to tackle a little bit of bubble algae I saw a pop-up. The very first night, after I added the emerald crab to my tank, the candycane pistol shrimp worked his way into my filter sock. I have overflow slots at the top left-hand corner of my tank that float into the filter sock. The emerald crab also made my Yasha nervous so I decided to return him to the LFS. I thought everything was good, but then a couple days after the return my pistol shrimp ended up in the filter sock once again. Now he goes up in there almost every night. He never did this before I got the emerald crab. Now, almost every morning. I have to take my sock out, and when I put the sock in my main tank and turn it upside down, he crawls right out and goes right back to the burrow, and then him and my Yasha goby are together for the day. This only happens at night, and it doesn’t happen until I turn off all the lights in the room. As soon as all the lights go out in the room, he normally makes at least one pop noise. My tank lights go out hours before the rest of the lights in the room go out. It’s not super bright cause we dim the lights in the room down, but there’s definitely ambient light until later at night. I have built 3-D mesh cages out of needlepoint plastic canvas, and I’ve tried several different ways to block the overflow slots. He still finds a way in there. I cannot put anything directly against the overflow slots because it restricts the flow too much. So I had to build like a 3-D cage that sits just a little ways away from the slots. I have blocked almost every way I can think of, and he still finds a way to get in there. I don’t know what to do at this point. My nitrate is between 5 and 10ppm, and my phosphate is 0.25. Alkalinity is 7.7. I did have higher parameters before, but they’ve been sitting at these numbers for weeks now. Has anybody ever heard of this happening, and do you have any idea why he’s doing this? I’ve scoured the Internet and I cannot find anyone else who has ever had this problem with a candy cane pistol shrimp. I’m worried he’s gonna end up stressing himself out to where he dies, or he’s going to stress out my Yasha. Not to mention having to pull him out of the sock every morning isn’t fun.
 
Problematic for sure.. unsure what to do here. He couldn't possibly be crawling out of the tank could he 😭
That’s what I was wondering. I was thinking maybe he could be scaling the wave maker cord and going over the edge. In the morning I’ll turn off my pumps and I’ll shine a light down the sock. He climbs right up the sock right away, gets to the edge and he poked his head out of water once, but then he went back down. I’m not so sure he can handle being out of the water completely. I just don’t understand why he’s doing this at all.
 
Problematic for sure.. unsure what to do here. He couldn't possibly be crawling out of the tank could he 😭
That’s what I was wondering. I was thinking maybe he could be scaling the wave maker cord and going over the edge. In the morning I’ll turn off my pumps and I’ll shine a light down the sock. He climbs right up the sock right away, gets to the edge and he poked his head out of water once, but then he went back down. I’m not so sure he can handle being out of the water completely. I just don’t understand why he’s doing this at all.
Maybe he smells something tasty... You don't have anything growing in the sump do you?
 
Mine did the same thing. It made it twice through the overflow, down through my fleece roller, past my skimmer and into the refugium. He now resides in the refugium. I put him back in my tank the first time but then he did it again that same night. Been in the refugium for 4 months now. I have to watch for him when I harvest chaeto. I’m not sure what caused it or if you can stop it.
 
Maybe he smells something tasty... You don't have anything growing in the sump do you?
No sump only rear chambers. There’s plenty of food in the filter socks, but I tested that theory and I changed the sock and that same night after I changed it he still went in there. Nothing growing in the back chambers at all. I am starting to wonder if he’s not getting enough food and he’s going in there to get food. Even though I feed a lot in my tank. Maybe the large bristle worms are eating it all. I even tried target feeding his burrows and he still goes into the sock at night. I even thought it could be light related. I normally have a dim blue nightlight on in the room because my Yasha goby flips out and tries to jump out of the tank if the room is too dark. The pistol shrimp seems to pop a lot more when the room is too dark as well.
 
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Mine did the same thing. It made it twice through the overflow, down through my fleece roller, past my skimmer and into the refugium. He now resides in the refugium. I put him back in my tank the first time but then he did it again that same night. Been in the refugium for 4 months now. I have to watch for him when I harvest chaeto. I’m not sure what caused it or if you can stop it.
Oh no! I don’t even have a refugium I can put him in. I only have rear chambers in my all-in-one tank, and its only 15 gallons. I’m really concerned about when I go on my next vacation. He’s going to be stuck in there for days then. Besides, I bet my Yasha Goby is becoming stressed every time he does this. The Goby won’t even come out in the morning until he’s back in the tank.
 
Maybe he smells something tasty... You don't have anything growing in the sump do you?
No sump only rear chambers. There’s plenty of food in the filter socks, but I tested that theory and I changed the sock and that same night after I changed it he still went in there. Nothing growing in the back chambers at all. I am starting to wonder if he’s not getting enough food and he’s going in there to get food. Even though I feed a lot in my tank. Maybe the large bristle worms are eating it all. I even tried target feeding his burrows and he still goes into the sock at night. I even thought it could be light related. I normally have a dim blue nightlight on in the room because my Yasha goby flips out and tries to jump out of the tank if the room is too dark. The pistol shrimp seems to pop a lot more when the room is too dark as well.
Very odd behavior maybe it has something to do with the texture. Odd
 
I've lost 2 Yasha's down overflow, and they didn't survive. I've had other fish end up in my overflow box and it was a real pain to get them out since there is almost zero room to get a net in there.

What ultimately worked for me was to put 1/8" netting inside my overflow behind the weir. This effectively meant they couldn't get past the weir.

It's a bit of a pain for cleaning, but if your going to have small fish and inverts it's the only for sure way to keep them from going down the overflow.
 
These fit the Innovative Marine (and Hello Reef!) tank, and may fit other AIO's too:
https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/f...MI9teP1PqjkAMV6jQIBR1r7yqREAQYASABEgJEL_D_BwE
Holy smokes, this might actually work! Thank you!!! My husband thought I should just take him to the LFS and get another pistol shrimp, but that doesn’t solve a problem I could easily have again. Im going to try this. Thank you again! EDIT: if this doesn’t work ill try the filter sponge trick I read about.
 
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Holy smokes, this might actually work! Thank you!!! My husband thought I should just take him to the LFS and get another pistol shrimp, but that doesn’t solve a problem I could easily have again. Im going to try this. Thank you again! EDIT: if this doesn’t work ill try the filter sponge trick I read about.
I hope they help, good luck!
 
Any updates? I want the exact same pair too!
 
Any updates? I want the exact same pair too!

Hey, sorry it took me a minute to get back to you. So what finally kept him from going to into the filter sock anymore is for me to leave a dimmed light on in the room. If the room the tank is located in is too dark. he freaks out and he ends up in the sock, but if I leave a dim light on to where there’s ambient light on the tank, he stays put. This also keeps my Yasha Goby calm as well. Apparently, from what I’ve been told, sometimes certain fish and inverts don’t feel safe if the tank gets too dark. So they basically try to escape.
 
Hey, sorry it took me a minute to get back to you. So what finally kept him from going to into the filter sock anymore is for me to leave a dimmed light on in the room. If the room the tank is located in is too dark. he freaks out and he ends up in the sock, but if I leave a dim light on to where there’s ambient light on the tank, he stays put. This also keeps my Yasha Goby calm as well. Apparently, from what I’ve been told, sometimes certain fish and inverts don’t feel safe if the tank gets too dark. So they basically try to escape.
That’s great to hear! On a scale of 1-10, how often do you see these two outside heir burrows everyday? I plan to get a pair but I heard they were super skittish and is rarely seen. Plus what size did you get them at and what size are they currently at right now? I’ve heard that both the Yasha and shrimp don’t get too big.
 

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