Pistol Shrimp owners

[Flytekk]

I have a Yellow Watchman Goby and i would like to pair him with a Pistol Shrimp.

Just wondering how loud is the click/pop form pistol shrimp. Also how often does the sound occur? Every 5 minutes? Maybe once a night. Twice a week?

Lastly which pistol stays smallest and is most peaceful. Thanks.

 

[capt85]

I have a tiger pistol and have heard it maybe 30I times in 8 months. It has never been a problem with mine and when they team up it is really cool.

 

[pandarider007]

I also think I have a tiger. I hear him pop maybe two to three times a night or when something get near his hole, but it is not that loud. I also had a watchman but they didnt team up. He will also move around and grab small corals if they are close to his hole.

 

[CSJIII]

I have a pistol that paired right away with my yellow watchman and it's a great stight to see. They don't pop that much and it's not really that loud. But do keep in mind, that pistol shrimp works from lights on to lights off, 7 days a week, pushing your sand all over. It's super cool to watch him work but take into account if you have any corolla on your sand bed. He will cover them up more days than not. They really are busy little shrimp!

 

[FauxinSiles]

I think smallest and best looking is the Randall's/ candy cane pistol shrimp

I've had mine for a while now.. I've heard him pop while a while at night not that loud just that my tank is literally
Right next to my bed lol

His currently paired up with a pink bar goby

 

[Paul_N]

Mine would pop a couple times a night. You should be more concerned with the fact that it will excavate your entire sandbed...lol

 

[ARD]

I have a semi bare bottom tank 175 gal. It does have coral rubble on the bottom however. Would a Pistol Shrimp survive w/o sand?

 

[reefkoi]

I have a pistol in a little 5g nano bare bottom, he pops once in a while each day just so I know hes alive LOL

 

[buddythelion]

Yeah, they can survive without sand. But they won't be happy... Just give them some coral rubble to work with as well.

 

[TheEngineer]

Tiger pistols get big. They sound like a quarter tapping on the glass. Really not all that loud. Mine would click maybe 4-5 times a night. Candy pistols stay small.

 

[redemer123]

whats really cool is having two gobies and two tiger pistols working together at the same time, I have a picture of my randalls goby working with two tiger pistol shrimp but the yellow watchmen was guarding another part of the den. they do not snap but maybe a couple times a day. check it out

 

[drunkenmonk]

I would think that a Candy stripe pistol will have more of a problem without sand then a tiger. The candy practically runs in place and kicks the sand backwards mostly to move it. The Tiger is more of a bulldozer pushing sand around.

 

[lpslover]

I had a tiger pistol and yellow watchman for a while. They are awesome and I was sad to see mine go. I would still have them, but I had to choose between a very nice brain coral that had to be on the sand bed and the sand dumping shrimp. I bought the coral and sold the shrimp and his attendant goby. The clicking isn't a constant issue and you probably won't hear it outside of the room. Your pumps probably make more noise. The bigger issues are:

1) Pistol shrimp need a substantial sand bed 1"+ deep to be happy. Not only must you provide said sand bed, but realize that they will tirelessly rearrange every inch of it. They also like small rubble pieces to shim up tunnel walls.
2) Because of the endless remodeling the shrimp will do you need to ensure that your rock work is secure and resting on the tank floor, otherwise the shrimp can undermine the sand it is resting on and you will have an avalanche of rock work and corals. A friend lost a beautiful montipora in such an incident.
3) Also the shrimp don't care what they throw the excavated sand on, so put all corals or other non mobile invertebrates 6+ inches up from the sand bed. Otherwise they are likely to get dumped on. For the same reason I also wouldn't recommend very fine sand beds. Fine sand could get carried around the tank by the water flow once tossed. This would be why I had to sell mine.
4) Be aware that pistol shrimp are predatory. They will eat any reef janitors that live in or on the sand bed. This creates a possible issue with detritus and nutrient control. Be prepared to deal with it through manual vacuuming, a good filter and skimmer and a refugium/algae scrubber/carbon dosing.

 

[FishSticks05]

I have a pair of yellow watchmens and a candy cane pistol, and i love them. I really never hear him snaping much.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

i had a bullseye pistol shrimp can sound like the tank cracked. it is loud but they don't live with gobies. they are out in the open more.

 

[GHOSTLY]

Nice shrimps

 

[Tchung23]

I have a candy stripe with my yasha goby. Didn’t see it fir the first 2 weeks. Actually just saw it today since the first time I put it in!!
They stay pretty small. I think I might have heard it once in 2 weeks.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I can sometimes hear my tiger snap from the other room but I still wouldn't call it excessively loud. Funny thing that I always know it's 10:30pm because he'll give a nice snap as soon as the moonlights go off. He used to snap a lot more often when I first got him but I guess he's a bit more comfortable with his tankmates than he used to be. Paired up immediately with his two yellow watchman gobies.

As far as being peaceful, anytime he mistakenly grabs a snail or hermit crab as potential building materials he promptly tosses them back out of his cave, no harm done. One of my gobies likes to bring him nassarius snails, but again he always throws them back out (sometimes more than once because the goby is a little stubborn). My red-lined wrasse got scared the other day and tried to hide in his cave. Simply pushed her back out too.

Tigers are definitely larger shrimps and move a lot of sand. I'm not sure they sleep. Dig dig dig.

 

[Krismur]

I have a semi bare bottom tank 175 gal. It does have coral rubble on the bottom however. Would a Pistol Shrimp survive w/o sand?

No sand is cruel for a pistol shrimp since they r burrowing shrimp and need burrows to feel safe. They r nearly blind and need to feel safe. Watchman gobies live in burrows as well so sand should be provided for both goby and shrimp. Just because a shrimp can survive without sand doesn’t mean they r happy. I have two pistols and a watchman

 

[PigDaddyF15E]

Any guides on how many you can have? I'm putting together a 100 gallon and would like to have a couple of pair (shrimp/goby) just because I think it would increase the odds of seeing them more often....but I'll "make do" with just a single pair if it would be too stressful for them have "competition".

I'm planning for over one inch of CaribSea Special grade...with rocks on the bottom before adding the sand. Couple of foundation rocks and then build up from there.