Missing pistol shrimp

thomas_neil

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So last Friday I picked up a tiger pistol and a YWG. They where both tiny, which is fine because I enjoy watching the fish grow. Up until yesterday I never saw the YWG and have yet to see or hear the shrimp. The goby is always hanging out in the rock work and will sometimes come out and sit where he is in the picture.

Is it a good sign that he’s coming out? I’m wondering if the shrimp set up in one of the caves in my scape and that’s why I don’t see him. I haven’t noticed any new piles or sand or anything anywhere.

E6FF48D4-94C6-42AC-8ABF-ACDD7D262E50.jpeg 9BC40A91-62B1-44D6-90E9-1101F1839F9F.jpeg
 

NoohpyT

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When I first got my pistol shrimp, I didn't see him for about a week

He kept changing locations in my tank, leaving my Goby to free roam, took him about a month to finally settle in a find a spot he liked
 
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thomas_neil

thomas_neil

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When I first got my pistol shrimp, I didn't see him for about a week

He kept changing locations in my tank, leaving my Goby to free roam, took him about a month to finally settle in a find a spot he liked
I guess like everything else in this hobby patience is king. Sometimes I just get the urge to mess with everything.
 

homer1475

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Only way I know my pistol is still alive, I hear him sometimes in the early morning snapping. I haven't seen him many month. I only see my goby once in a blue moon
 

NoohpyT

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I guess like everything else in this hobby patience is king. Sometimes I just get the urge to mess with everything.
Yep, yes it is

I've once had my pistol shrimp burrow under my rock work, and show up on the other side of my reef

Hopefully you'll hear him snapping soon
 

TokenReefer

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Don't mean to butt in here but how do you pair them? Will they just find each other eventually when you release them into the tank or is there a special technique so that they find each other quickly? Im a newbie and have a YWG I'd like to get a shrimp for but I'm wary on how to introduce the two so that they pair up successfully
 
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thomas_neil

thomas_neil

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Don't mean to butt in here but how do you pair them? Will they just find each other eventually when you release them into the tank or is there a special technique so that they find each other quickly? Im a newbie and have a YWG I'd like to get a shrimp for but I'm wary on how to introduce the two so that they pair up successfully
From what I’ve researched they just kind of find each other and become buds.
 

killer2001

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I hear my pistol snapping every night, I never see him. The only time I do see him is when paired with the goby. They seem to have an on again / off again relationship because one week they will be paired up, and then the next week separated!
 

NoohpyT

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From what I’ve researched they just kind of find each other and become buds.
I believe the Goby (if the correct species) hears the snapping and will hunt out the pistol shrimp

Don't quote me on this, since I don't remember where I heard that from lol
 

NoohpyT

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I hear my pistol snapping every night, I never see him. The only time I do see him is when paired with the goby. They seem to have an on again / off again relationship because one week they will be paired up, and then the next week separated!
Mine will do the same, my goby has several spots he will perch on and wait for food to float by

Where as my pistol shrimp every night shoots up the tank lol
 

TokenReefer

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I hear my pistol snapping every night, I never see him. The only time I do see him is when paired with the goby. They seem to have an on again / off again relationship because one week they will be paired up, and then the next week separated!

Mine will do the same, my goby has several spots he will perch on and wait for food to float by

Where as my pistol shrimp every night shoots up the tank lol
hilarious! good info thanks
 

Susan Edwards

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I seldom see mine. Just the goby. Got a wm and a pistol last weekend for another tank. I see the wm but not the shrimp but know they are together. I've never heard any of mine snap
 

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they rarely come out imo. you can see them making tunnels from underneath the tank in the sand. That is where i mostly saw mine. OR late when lights are out they come out, and when they swim in the tank they dart around it.
 

Alexopora

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they rarely come out imo. you can see them making tunnels from underneath the tank in the sand. That is where i mostly saw mine. OR late when lights are out they come out, and when they swim in the tank they dart around it.
Mine are constantly out and about. My YWG is quite a handful especially when it comes to feeding. It would eat from my forceps.

As for pairing, it was quite by accident actually. I had my YWG alone in a separate tank and decided it was time to tear that tank down and transfer everything to the main tank. I completely forgot I had a pistol shrimp in the main tank. And so a day after I added the YWG I noticed the two them out and about alot, churning up sand every where they burrow.

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thomas_neil

thomas_neil

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Came into work early this morning to see if I could catch a glimpse of him but no luck. Looks like he finally started to burrow though. This new sand pile wasn’t there last night.
 

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OldRed1

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I hear my pistol snapping every night, I never see him. The only time I do see him is when paired with the goby. They seem to have an on again / off again relationship because one week they will be paired up, and then the next week separated!
How loud is the snap?
 
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thomas_neil

thomas_neil

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Yup, saw him this morning. I must have gotten lucky, he's digging away under a rock right in the front of the display.
 
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