Proper substrate for YWG/pistol shrimp

[Beaker1811]

I currently have a sand bed of about 3” of CaribSea Fiji Pink. I am about to add a Yellow Watchman Goby / Pistol shrimp pair and I’m worried that this won’t be substantial enough for them to make their burrows with. Any advice on what I could add and how I might go about mixing it into an already established tank?

 

[AutumnReefs]

Its fine

 

[reverc]

It won’t be ideal but they will make it work. I have crushed coral and the goby will come out and hunt down empty shells for the shrimp. Keep some extra shells around and the shrimp will use them as supports.

 

[ihavecrabs]

My pistol and gobies do fine in 1-1/2” of crushed coral.

 

[reverc]

This big guy always watches the shrimp. The female goby guards the other entrances to the tunnel. They are in 1.5 inches of crushed Coral. They do awesome

 

[OneSockERock]

Add a few handfuls of crushed coral substrate around their burrows. If you have any dry rock left over, crush some down to about 1/4 - 1/2in chunks and add that. My pistol shrimp loves building and reinforcing burrow entrances with the chunks and broken shell bits he collects around the tank.

 

[Beaker1811]

I've actually got a bit of rock left from my zoa garden project that I couldn't figure out what to do with! Perfect!