Ah, yep, that might happen. Pistols are really loud, but their claws are mostly to scare predators away, not to kill things. Hopefully the pom will have learned not to go over there.
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I think the pom has learned his lesson. Haha. I wish I had my phone with me to get some video. It was quite amusing to watch although there was a brief moment when shrimpy reached out snapping and he almost cut off crabby's pom. That made my heart skip a beat and I thought I was going to have to separate them until they backed away from each other on their own.Ah, yep, that might happen. Pistols are really loud, but their claws are mostly to scare predators away, not to kill things. Hopefully the pom will have learned not to go over there.
This is my second Pom, and the first was in a 40 Cube, assumed he was gone several times over a year, but would show up now and then. the tank was relocated to my son and either went deep in the rocks or didn't make the tripI thought I would provide an update. It has only been a day but thankfully my pom is still alive. I figured if there was going to be bloodshed between my pistol and my pom it would most likely happen within the first 24 hrs.
There was a dramatic moment earlier when my pistol and pom came face to face with each other. Shrimpy's claws started waving with a click, click, click (boy that was loud) and crabby's poms started waving with a swish, swish, swish and all of this posturing lasting a few minutes. I thought I was going to have to intervene before someone got hurt but finally they backed away from each other and thankfully they seem to be ignoring each other now.
@bnord I was going to ask the same thing!Do you have a pic you can share? This sounds interesting and gives your pom a safe place to hang out.
I have a pom coming this weekend! Loved seeing your little guy!! They are so freaking cute!Pom has been added. Gee he is super tiny (about 1/2") and one of the cutest creatures I have seen! Now I'm more concerned my pistol might get him! I dropped him high up on a rock. He found a fake silicone coral I have in there that I was using to adjust the flow from my new powerhead. Fingers crossed my pistol leaves him alone!
That is amazing! I love my little guy and he's hilarious to feed. He waves his poms around to catch the food I squirt in his direction. I bought him to be my cleanup crew but he seems more content to sit on his rock and wait for me to feed him. Haha. He loves it when I add pods to the tank but seems to be fine with the frozen mysis and blood worms I feed.I have a pom coming this weekend! Loved seeing your little guy!! They are so freaking cute!
Thanks for this! I honestly wouldn't think it possible for him to disappear in a 5g but he manages to do it. Sometimes I find him frozen on a rock and he's blended right into it. I swear he can change colors! Haha. I mentioned to another commenter that he's taken to hanging out over the entrance to where my pistol shrimp emerges. The next thing I see is my pom punching my pistol. There's an entire tank to hang out but he chooses that spot. I swear he hangs out there on purpose. Haha. One of these days he will throw one punch too many and that will be the last I see him. Ugh!This is my second Pom, and the first was in a 40 Cube, assumed he was gone several times over a year, but would show up now and then. the tank was relocated to my son and either went deep in the rocks or didn't make the trip
the 2nd is in a 15g WB is still hard to find, but had a sighting a day or two back. This is a heavy crustacean tank, with pistol, fire, peppermint, skunk cleaner shrimps, 2 emerald, halloween and porcelain crabs - all seem to get along
You are right, I think despite the boxing gloves and the fancy robe it cannot take much of a punchThanks for this! I honestly wouldn't think it possible for him to disappear in a 5g but he manages to do it. Sometimes I find him frozen on a rock and he's blended right into it. I swear he can change colors! Haha. I mentioned to another commenter that he's taken to hanging out over the entrance to where my pistol shrimp emerges. The next thing I see is my pom punching my pistol. There's an entire tank to hang out but he chooses that spot. I swear he hangs out there on purpose. Haha. One of these days he will throw one punch too many and that will be the last I see him. Ugh!
Wow, an egg clutch?! Did they hatch? Wouldn't that be something although I guess most of them would be pomless unless your tank happens to be growing them. Haha. BTW: You mentioned a floating back that your pom hangs out on. Do you have a pic you can share? That sounds cool!You are right, I think despite the boxing gloves and the fancy robe it cannot take much of a punch
mine came with a visible egg clutch by the way, so i can call her her
assume the hatched eggs became coral or goby food in the circle (or cube in this case) of life. Tired is right on. Will see if I can get a picture of the reclusive one - but can show the floating scape at any rate.Wow, an egg clutch?! Did they hatch? Wouldn't that be something although I guess most of them would be pomless unless your tank happens to be growing them. Haha. BTW: You mentioned a floating back that your pom hangs out on. Do you have a pic you can share? That sounds cool!
Could not see her in the rocks, was there 2 days ago, but here the floating scape, you can see the GSP has done its thing up the back to help take the weight off the magnets currently hold the rockWow, an egg clutch?! Did they hatch? Wouldn't that be something although I guess most of them would be pomless unless your tank happens to be growing them. Haha. BTW: You mentioned a floating back that your pom hangs out on. Do you have a pic you can share? That sounds cool!
And the master landscaper… AND THE FOREMAN
He's a monster goby, but a baby, no more than 2", worried he would be shrimp food.If your goby doesn't eat the pistol, they'll get along just fine. A tiger pistol should grow to a reasonable size. If not, hey, it'll be funny.
Wow, thanks for this great bit of info! Disappointing about the baby crabs but totally understandable how difficult it would be to raise them. I'm sure most of them get eaten in the tank shortly after they hatch. I had to setup a completely separate system to raise my freshwater goby fry after the first clutch was decimated in my tank after they hatched.Unfortunately, crab larvae are planktonic, go through multiple stages before landing, and generally require a great deal of care to have any chance of surviving to adulthood. There's a reason you don't really see captive-bred crabs for sale much. It's certainly possible, but it's not something that just happens of its own accord in the average reef tank. Or any reef tank.
As for the poms, the crabs are known to "share" with each other, though most likely this is just one of them stealing an anemone from another if the first finds itself with no anemones. Since they can split one anemone into two, all they need is to have one anemone, and they're set.
Amazing and you're spot on about master landscaper and the foreman. Haha. My pistol has almost completely buried a rock I recently put in. I didn't realize I had that much sand in the tank!! Haha.And the master landscaper… AND THE FOREMAN
Thanks for posting this! You make a great point about compatibility. I wonder if it's safer to match a new pair by size. So if your shrimp is bigger and more mature then a new goby mate should be the same (and vice versa). I'm kind of shocked at how much bigger my candy cane pistol has grown in the three months I've had him and would be concerned about introducing a baby goby if I had to.I had a candycane shrimp kill a goby. I think I introduced it too soon to its lost mate and it was not happy. The goby was a baby too. Poor thing. After that, I was careful who I introduced to the shrimp. Picky guy.