Pistol shrimp being eaten

charles7 · Mar 24, 2022

So I have a 20 gallon long with 2 clown fish, wheelers goby and a tiger banded pistol shrimp. My cuc is a 3 snails and that was it. The tank is newer so I haven’t stocked more until today. I haven’t seen my pistol shrimp for days and figured he was molting. Then I saw my goby (they weren’t paired) getting more active and swimming to different holes rather than the first hole the pistol shrimp abandoned. Okay, that’s cool it is opening up since I got them like 1-2 weeks ago. I figured it was done acclimating. Now I have new cuc members and I go to rearrange my tank because I could also try to find the pistol shrimp. I found it…. And it felt soft when I touched it… except both claws and 3 legs were missing.
Could a gobby have done this? It’s been eating quite a lot already. I didn’t find any of the body parts either.

Impala67 · Mar 24, 2022

charles7 said:
So I have a 20 gallon long with 2 clown fish, wheelers goby and a tiger banded pistol shrimp. My cuc is a 3 snails and that was it. The tank is newer so I haven’t stocked more until today. I haven’t seen my pistol shrimp for days and figured he was molting. Then I saw my goby (they weren’t paired) getting more active and swimming to different holes rather than the first hole the pistol shrimp abandoned. Okay, that’s cool it is opening up since I got them like 1-2 weeks ago. I figured it was done acclimating. Now I have new cuc members and I go to rearrange my tank because I could also try to find the pistol shrimp. I found it…. And it felt soft when I touched it… except both claws and 3 legs were missing.
Could a gobby have done this? It’s been eating quite a lot already. I didn’t find any of the body parts either.

To be honest it probably happens when he molted. When they molt sometimes legs and claws get stuck and eventually they will detach from the shrimp. But not to worry they will grow back in the next couple of molts!!