Pistol Shrimp Killing things?

[PeterC2904]

Hello I’m hoping someone can help me out here, I have a pistol shrimp that I’ve been told is bigger than usual ones, I’m not sure what kind it is exactly but it’s red with purplish legs. Anyways in the past 3 weeks I’ve lost 3 fish and everytime I notice one missing I look in my pistol shrimps den and see him eating them. I know they possibly could’ve died from something else but I’ve done tests and my water quality is all good. On top of this I woke up to the sounds of it’s snapping and saw it had a hold of my firefish and it was basically dragging it to its den. I managed to get him to let go of it but what threw me off was the fact that the firefish was still alive and he was completely fine all day. I’ve been told pistol shrimp don’t attack other fish but at this point it’s the only thing I can think of that’s been killing my fish, and seeing it attacking my fire fish further makes me believe that. If there’s something I’m missing or if it’s actually my pistol shrimp killing all these fish please let me know.

 

[JNalley]

Does it have any white dots? Or white tips on its claws?

 

[PeterC2904]

Does it have any white dots? Or white tips on its claws?

I believe so why?

 

[JNalley]

I believe so why?

Does it like ok like this?

Just trying to ID it before jumping to any conclusions

 

[PeterC2904]

Does it like ok like this?

Just trying to ID it before jumping to any conclusions

Kind of… it’s legs are more purple and it’s main antennae are alternating red and white colors

 

[PeterC2904]

Does it like ok like this?

Just trying to ID it before jumping to any conclusions

This is the one I have

 

[JNalley]

Well, I was hoping to get an ID first but I'm not certain which type of pistol that one is. The one I posted is a Japanese Pistol, and it is one of the larger pistols out there... Most of the time they go after crustaceans like snails, but they have been know to stun and kill fish, especially ones that get too close to its burrow... Mine tagged a couple of smaller Chromis but they made it away without being caught... It's entirely possible that one is killing off your fish... Some pistols even kill their Goby companions... Have you tried to directly feed it at all? If you can keep it fed it might stop hunting your fish, but that is certainly not a guarantee

 

[PeterC2904]

Well, I was hoping to get an ID first but I'm not certain which type of pistol that one is. The one I posted is a Japanese Pistol, and it is one of the larger pistols out there... Most of the time they go after crustaceans like snails, but they have been know to stun and kill fish, especially ones that get too close to its burrow... Mine tagged a couple of smaller Chromis but they made it away without being caught... It's entirely possible that one is killing off your fish... Some pistols even kill their Goby companions... Have you tried to directly feed it at all? If you can keep it fed it might stop hunting your fish, but that is certainly not a guarantee

Ya I make sure to feed it directly everytime I feed the tank, last thing I wanted was it getting aggressive and attacking my fish but I guess that ended up happening regardless . Honestly I’ll probably just bring it back to my LFS maybe get a smaller one instead. Thanks for the help man I appreciate it!