New Tiger Pistol Shrimp Attacking Yellow Watchmen Goby!

[Tnops]

Update: took it to the LFS and got a full refund. Will come back to them again

 

[ying yang]

Good that you got a refund on the shrimp but maybe double check you got a yellow watchman goby.
First picture is ywg and 2nd is blue spotted jawfish.
Just incase sold you 2 wrong ^_^

 

[Sharkbait19]

Good that you got a refund on the shrimp but maybe double check you got a yellow watchman goby.
First picture is ywg and 2nd is blue spotted jawfish.
Just incase sold you 2 wrong ^_^

Lol I’d be happy if my lfs sold me a blue spotted jaw fish instead of a yellow watchman!

 

[jt8791]

Not surprising that they sold you the wrong shrimp. I’ve got a green pistol shrimp in my tank that Petco claimed was a tiger, i was too eager to find a pistol to notice the color was off. Luckily it keeps to itself and doesn’t bother the tiger pistol I got later or the ywg, but I avoid buying livestock at Petco now.

Edit: Well at least my lfs and I have narrowed it down to what we think is a green pistol. Half the time Petco doesn’t even know what they have in their tanks.

 

[Tired]

"Green pistol shrimp" can describe multiple species, some of which will pair with a goby. My prior tank had a green-colored pistol shrimp that paired with a yellow watchman. I think it's mangrove snapping shrimp that pair with gobies?

 

[jt8791]

"Green pistol shrimp" can describe multiple species, some of which will pair with a goby. My prior tank had a green-colored pistol shrimp that paired with a yellow watchman. I think it's mangrove snapping shrimp that pair with gobies?

Yeah we really weren’t quite sure, this one stays in its own burrow separate from the ywg and tiger pistol. Not sure if the burrow is connected to the rest or not, they seem to avoid each other. Ywg doesn’t go far from the tiger pistol though.

I’m planning to break up some spare hermit crab shells I had ordered for their burrows. Just gotta figure out where the gf put them. On another note, my biota court jester comes in today so fingers crossed that they get along. Have been contemplating on that one for a while, was either that or take a gamble trying to get a ywg pair. Didn’t seem very likely to be successful forming a pair without buying them as a pair.

 

[jazzfisher]

Hmmmm

maybe this is why my Yasha and Tiger have been having trouble.

I think he kicked him out 2 days ago (new addition) but I ushered the Yasha back into the burrow and haven’t seen either since…

I’m hoping they work it out .

Speaking of randals shrimp and goby though I had a randals goby with the tiger shrimp until he jumped ship and commuted suicide.

Yasha’s are usually paired with the candy cane pistol shrimp. Hope the bigger pistol won’t hurt him. I have Yasha pairs in both tanks, both with candy cane pistols.
For the author that does not look like the tiger pistol I used to have.

 

[SauceyReef]

I have had many goby/pistol pairs. There are quite a lot of pistol shrimp species and not many form the relationship with gobies. My first goby/pistol this same situation happened. My LFS told me it was a tiger pistol while it was a bullseye. The funny thing was the gobies like to hang by it, but it took me seeing them get hit after a few bruise marks to know it was not working. I am also a genuine believer that certain pistols do better with certain species. For example I feel Randalls are the best and possibly only choice for yasha/banded gobies. They are the smallest pistol known to form relationships. The tigers could work with a more dominant yasha/banded, but eventually the Tiger pistol will get bigger and bigger and you have the potential for aggression or it killing the goby if hungry. This happens in the wild a lot.

 

[Tired]

Do you have a source on them attacking the goby? Seems like it wouldn't be beneficial, trading a lookout for a couple of meals.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Do you have a source on them attacking the goby? Seems like it wouldn't be beneficial, trading a lookout for a couple of meals.

I’m not sure of stories, but I’ve always thought the same about a tiger killing a smaller goby. It’s why I never got a yasha or a high fin with mine. My thought is that it wouldn’t think of the goby as an adequate lookout for its size or it not realizing what it is doing, and killing it. Mostly paranoia I guess.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I had a candy cane that was picky about his housemate. Killed one after I introduced them when his original guy died. He then had two more and currently is single. He has lived through tons of stuff the fish did not survive.

Good luck finding good roommates. Sometimes sites sell them as pairs already and that makes it easier.

 

[Grapefruit509]

I've got a tiger pistol that was in my tank from the start, 2 ywg passed, then bought a yasha which may have disappeared, then got 2 more yasha hoping they would pair for better survival. Tiger pistol was friends with all of them even though one of the yasha goby pair was biting the other and pushing it out of the den, never saw a dead yasha, so maybe I still have 3 lol. Don't think so but every now and then I see the yasha watching from inside the dens before darting back. I'll be getting a new candy cane pistol with a new yasha for a 5 gal I set up just for them so hopefully I see them more. Tiger pistol never hurt one though

 

[CavalierReef]

This is my Tiger Pistol Shrimp. He is constantly excavating and out of his tunnels most of the time. He will move into his goby to get it out of the way but never nips it. Of courses my goby is a Wheeler's but still the shrimp isn't aggressive even to other smaller peppermints or blood shrimp in the tank.

 

[tailoftwogobies]

Reason were asking for pics, I've seen petco and a few other places, sell "tiger pistol" shrimp, that weren't even close.

Which by your description, this may well be what you have.

yes! confirm that this is INFACT a tiger pistol shrimp. we’ve introduced a lot of them into our tank and never had an aggressive one! ever!

 

[Grapefruit509]

Had to move very slowly lol

 

[jt8791]

I just had to pull the green pistol out of my tank, second time I watched the tiger pistol launch itself across the tank trying to get away from the green one. Thought it was gonna launch out of the tank this last time.

 

[Tired]

Pistols are territorial, yeah. And shrimp are definitely capable of jumping out of the tank- yet another reason to have a lid.

 

[jt8791]

I've been trying to catch that green pistol for a while, yeah you make a good point, I should stop putting off getting a lid. Thinking some sort of clear mesh, don’t want a lid that’s gonna screw with the lighting anymore than I have to.

 

[Tired]

For future reference (or anyone else trying to catch a pistol), a bottle trap placed at the entrance of the burrow works great. But you have to keep an eye on it, because you don't want something else getting caught in the trap with the pistol.

Get a fine mesh, 1/4" or less, to prevent fish jumping through the gaps. There's clear mesh available for sale online. It should have a negligible impact on lighting, and IMO is a mandatory part of any tank that has fish or shrimp in it. Unless it's a seahorse tank, they can't jump. Everything else can, and will die a nasty death if it makes it out of the tank.

 

[maleks.reef]

Candy cane pistol, and wheelers goby.

Would a candy cane pistol pair with a YWG?