Pistol shrimp?

[superxdude]

Think i got one of these hiding in a new piece of rock. Heard popping noises and suspected it...then after watching the same rock for 30 mins, i see the little guy poking his head around the corner.

Should I attempt to get him out?

Not sure though if pistol or mantis...

 

[muzikalmatt]

A mantis shrimp I would definitely recommend getting out of your tank. They are pretty bad pests as they can kill both inverts and some fish if they get big enough. They also pack enough of a punch to do some serious damage.

Pistol shrimp are great imo! I have one in my tank paired with a yellow watchman goby and they live in the burrow together. The pistol shrimp digs the hole while the goby keeps watch. The only downside is that they are constantly burrowing and rearranging the sandbed. You need to make sure your rock work is resting on the bottom of your tank and not the sandbed otherwise a pistol shrimp could potentially topple your rock work with its burrowing. They also like to grab lose coral frags to decorate the entrance of their burrows. More than once I've had to fish an unsecured frag out of his entrance with some tweezers. All in all though I'm willing to put with that as I think it's such a cool symbiotic relationship to watch in the tank.

 

[superxdude]

Gonna try to catch him later tonight and post a pic or two for ID purposes.

He's holed up deep in a rock and only peeks out once or twice an hour. I know he's awake and such when I hear the popping noises.

Many thanks for the info!

 

[muzikalmatt]

Gonna try to catch him later tonight and post a pic or two for ID purposes.

He's holed up deep in a rock and only peeks out once or twice an hour. I know he's awake and such when I hear the popping noises.

Many thanks for the info!

Both pistol shrimp and mantis shrimp make the popping noise, so it's hard to say which one it is without seeing a picture. I think it's definitely a good idea to try and catch him just to verify and then you can decide whether to keep him or not. I've seen people doing species only tanks for mantis shrimp. They're actually quite striking looking but just aren't compatible with most typical mixed reef tanks. Best of luck to you on catching him!