Pistol Shrimp Stories!

[nawilson89]

I saw an official Mantis Shrimp thread, but I wanna hear more about Pistol Shrimp! I want to see or hear your encounters with them and why you love/hate them so much.

I for one love my Pistol Shrimp. My Tangaroa Goby and Tiger Pistol are named Gordon Ramsay because it's their way or the highway in my tank. Ramsay has declared his own personal war against the hermit crabs. First he has stolen their spare shells and now he even has the gall to attack my Scarlet Hermit, the biggest hermit in my tank.

He's out of his burrow alot more than he used to be nowadays; I see him multiple times a day grabbing anything he can find.

So, thats my Pistol Shrimp. Show me yours. If I could grab a pic of him I would definitely upload one!

 

[Rikerbear]

I have learned to tollerate my tiger pistol....he was a hichhiker so was not planning on one in the nano reef.
He is now rather larger and VERY busy redesigning the tank. I had to remove almost all of the sand base as he was mounding it all up onto many of my lower corals.
It took me about a month to slowly syphon the sand away doing weekly water changes. I am now left with about 2 inches of sand in the front of the tank only....just enough for some of the snails to still burrow, and the shrimp has soemthing to move around and keep happy.
I see him out and about at all hours of the day and night....he seems rather fearless actually.
Don't really hate him, but wish he weren't in there. My watchman goby seems to like him though :-)

 

[nawilson89]

In the future I plan to have a pistol shrimp for every tank.

 

[Intricateart]

We have a breeding pair, they are very fun. Our main tank is a 150 with a reef along the entire back wall, and they have made the underside their palace, we don't see them much. We saw them more when they were less satisfied with their space. Now they are fully occupied below and they don't come out much. This is a pretty bad picture, but they are hard to get a shot of. We actually just caught a little guy today and put him in the fuge. He has a nice little rock structure in there.

 

[nawilson89]

We have a breeding pair, they are very fun. Our main tank is a 150 with a reef along the entire back wall, and they have made the underside their palace, we don't see them much. We saw them more when they were less satisfied with their space. Now they are fully occupied below and they don't come out much. This is a pretty bad picture, but they are hard to get a shot of. We actually just caught a little guy today and put him in the fuge. He has a nice little rock structure in there.

A breeding pair! Congrats!

 

[Intricateart]

Thanks! The eggs are electric green and she fans them for at least for a month.

 

[Rikerbear]

My tiger pistol decided the feather duster group was in the way of one of his chosen entrances to his laberynth....rather than move them out of the way he decided to destroy them....tore them apart and killed three of them before I could get the others moved.
EVIL shrimp :sad:

 

[nawilson89]

My tiger pistol decided the feather duster group was in the way of one of his chosen entrances to his laberynth....rather than move them out of the way he decided to destroy them....tore them apart and killed three of them before I could get the others moved.
EVIL shrimp :sad:

I feel your pain. I'm now replacing my CuC because my Pistol Shrimp decided he liked hermit crab shells...

 

[Rikerbear]

I would be less upset if I had purposefully placed him in my tank....but he's a hitchhiker I never wanted and can NOT begin to think about removing, so I guess I am stuck with him :squigglemouth:

 

[cee]

Got this pair a couple of weeks ago because I like goby/shrimp pairs (as long as it is not a tiger pistol LOL). Haven't seen much of them but after a little over a week they finally paired up again.

Dave

 

[nawilson89]

Got this pair a couple of weeks ago because I like goby/shrimp pairs (as long as it is not a tiger pistol LOL). Haven't seen much of them but after a little over a week they finally paired up again.

Dave

Wow! So very beautiful. When they start coming out I want to see pics!!

 

[bairdimusprime]

Mine completely remodels the bottom of my tank but the symbiosis is incredible to watch

Ill add better pix tonight or tomorrow as my glass is cleaned now lol

 

[Spendley]

My pistol shrimp doesn't come out very often. Is this something that happens when a goby is introduce / they become more comfortable in the tank (been 3 weeks)

 

[nawilson89]

My pistol shrimp doesn't come out very often. Is this something that happens when a goby is introduce / they become more comfortable in the tank (been 3 weeks)

When I first got my Pistol Shrimp he was alone. Never saw him and he was in a 10g tank with just a Clown Goby. Until I added my Tangaroa Goby whom he paired with, now I see my Pistol Shrimp a few times a day (when I feed or when he grabs something). That's in the day light. I don't really see my tank at night so who knows how dar he goes. I assume it's pretty far since he grabbed shells from across the tank.

 

[Martyd]

Mine was a blast to watch and he immediately paired with my Watchman gobies. He also immediately started on a path of mass destruction; never staying in one place and constantly moving sand, shell, small rocks and anything else he liked or disliked. I tried to catch him for weeks and eventually had to do something that we don't talk about in my house anymore.

 

[nawilson89]

I'm curious on what this something that you don't talk about is.

 

[rworegon]

I have a Bulls Eye pistol who is paired with a giant, 6" blue spot goby. For the most part he has been a pretty benign citizen. However, once I forgot to glue down a frag plug with some Fruit Loop zoas on it after some rescaping and the next morning they were gone. The pistol returned them a few days later but they never recovered and melted away within a week. The most recent casualty was a very small plate coral. It was growing and doing very well. Then one day it was just gone. I don't know for sure but I suspect the Pistol. Either that ort my giant black brittle star. They both have burrows on the side of the tank where the plate used to be.

 

[Jenaleigh1]

I thought moving my pistol shrimp andgoby to my bigger tank would cut down on the destruction. Nope. Just more room to steal stuff, stow it in steerage below my rock in the egg crate. He loves to steal frags. He uses them to stop unwanted entrances to whatever lair he is building that day. He got stuck under some rock for like two weeks until I rescued him. I've seen my goby once since then. They are entertaining, but they come with some high maintenance requirements and constant rescue missions to save the potential victims of progress. Sigh. Let this be a cautionary tale.

 

[nawilson89]

My goby. The shrimp had JUST ran away.

 

[bairdimusprime]

Purple people eaters? More like a new door!