Sexing Alpheus randalli

[Omikayalan]

Hello, my first tank is an IM nuvo 10 and i decided to put in it a mated pair of Stonogobiops yasha and a mated pair of alpheus randalli. I already found the yasha pair, however, it has been really difficult to find the pistol shrimp pair. From the info i searched, there is no way to sex them from naked eye. I located a small randalli in a lfs and i dont know if would be worth the try to buy it and try to pair with another one i could find later with the risk of them being the sane sex or just wait more. What would you recommend me?

 

[Louis Z]

Won’t know until u put him in . I have paired them by trial and error in a separate long tank ( 20gal long) where I could access them . In a display , you risk shifting the sand around the yasha , if you have to seperate them

 

[Omikayalan]

Won’t know until u put him in . I have paired them by trial and error in a separate long tank ( 20gal long) where I could access them . In a display , you risk shifting the sand around the yasha , if you have to seperate them

Well, i already found the pair :) i got lucky. One of them lost their claw but i think it will eventually grow back right?

 

[Louis Z]

I do love that . I had mine live with the hi fin red bar goby . Looks like the yasha but black red zebra stripes . When I was working to have the double pair, I had bought multiples of both. The three gobies lived peacefully together in one hole provided by the pistol shrimps . Until one day , one of the gobies was kicked out and beaten up overnight . . The shrimps were tunneling everywhere in a 20 . . My big fear was collapsing the tunnels during maintenance and losing the fish under the sand . So if I ever attempt again . It will be a 2species only tank with rockwork placed directly on the glass with sand filled around it with different grain size , shell and coral bits so that the tunnels are more stable . No vacuuming . I wanted to try the yasha but at the time they were being priced around 150 each . I didn’t want to spend a whole lot to try and get a pair or have them quarrel with each other. The price has dropped to about half now but I don’t have space to do another tank . So please please make a thread about their antics . I so enjoyed watching mine . Watching were new tunnels would be built . And watching them constantly bulldoze and spread their network. . The other thing I wish I had done was to put on a steel frame so I could look under the tank and look to see the tunnels .

 

[Omikayalan]

I do love that . I had mine live with the hi fin red bar goby . Looks like the yasha but black red zebra stripes . When I was working to have the double pair, I had bought multiples of both. The three gobies lived peacefully together in one hole provided by the pistol shrimps . Until one day , one of the gobies was kicked out and beaten up overnight . . The shrimps were tunneling everywhere in a 20 . . My big fear was collapsing the tunnels during maintenance and losing the fish under the sand . So if I ever attempt again . It will be a 2species only tank with rockwork placed directly on the glass with sand filled around it with different grain size , shell and coral bits so that the tunnels are more stable . No vacuuming . I wanted to try the yasha but at the time they were being priced around 150 each . I didn’t want to spend a whole lot to try and get a pair or have them quarrel with each other. The price has dropped to about half now but I don’t have space to do another tank . So please please make a thread about their antics . I so enjoyed watching mine . Watching were new tunnels would be built . And watching them constantly bulldoze and spread their network. . The other thing I wish I had done was to put on a steel frame so I could look under the tank and look to see the tunnels .

I will try to make a thread in the future. The big problem now is that the small shrimp lost its snapping claw and now the bigger one is trying to kill it. Im very concerned because they were sold to me as a mated pair. I dont know whats happening with them because they were fine yesterday

 

[Common Blevil]

Is there any way to sex the shrimp, or really just trial end error? Because i paired two wheeleri gobies, but the shrimp doesn't have a partner and it seems unfair to me.

 

[Common Blevil]

I do love that . I had mine live with the hi fin red bar goby . Looks like the yasha but black red zebra stripes . When I was working to have the double pair, I had bought multiples of both. The three gobies lived peacefully together in one hole provided by the pistol shrimps . Until one day , one of the gobies was kicked out and beaten up overnight . . The shrimps were tunneling everywhere in a 20 . . My big fear was collapsing the tunnels during maintenance and losing the fish under the sand . So if I ever attempt again . It will be a 2species only tank with rockwork placed directly on the glass with sand filled around it with different grain size , shell and coral bits so that the tunnels are more stable . No vacuuming . I wanted to try the yasha but at the time they were being priced around 150 each . I didn’t want to spend a whole lot to try and get a pair or have them quarrel with each other. The price has dropped to about half now but I don’t have space to do another tank . So please please make a thread about their antics . I so enjoyed watching mine . Watching were new tunnels would be built . And watching them constantly bulldoze and spread their network. . The other thing I wish I had done was to put on a steel frame so I could look under the tank and look to see the tunnels .

As I understand, shrimp gobies are hermaphroditic when small, and then are either male or female when adults. So the best bet is to buy two small ones, or 1 big and 1 tiny, if you can't find an available mated pair. I paired mine this way, my goby lived for half a year before getting a partner, they paired and started dancing 10 seconds after putting the smaller goby in the tank. So if you can find small and big ones on sale, you can try.

I like amblyeleotris more then stonogobiops, but red and black striped high fin gobies are cool looking!

 

[Omikayalan]

Is there any way to sex the shrimp, or really just trial end error? Because i paired two wheeleri gobies, but the shrimp doesn't have a partner and it seems unfair to me.

Is there any way to sex the shrimp, or really just trial end error? Because i paired two wheeleri gobies, but the shrimp doesn't have a partner and it seems unfair to me.

If mine are truly male and female (which at the moment i am not sure because they started fighting) one is bigger and also has a proportionally bigger snapping claw. Sorry for the bad quality picture but maybe you can notice it

 

[Common Blevil]

If mine are truly male and female (which at the moment i am not sure because they started fighting) one is bigger and also has a proportionally bigger snapping claw. Sorry for the bad quality picture but maybe you can notice it

Unfortunately i think it is just individual variety, but thanks nevertheless, if i will try to get another shrimp i will remember this

 

[Louis Z]

Separate them , that’s probably how the other lost its claw . . I had used a 20 gal long . I made a few islands of sand in the corners . So that if they didn’t like each other . They could be seperated . I used small pieces of rock topped off with a small limestone tile to make like a cover for them . Small enough for them to fit under followed by the sand for them to play in . Inbetween the islands I had no sand or rock . Mostly they stayed in their corners . And allowed the females to move to the or preferential site . Once the males chose their side then they never wanted to leave the island because there was no cover or sand for them to feel secure to cross to the other side .

 

[Omikayalan]

Separate them , that’s probably how the other lost its claw . . I had used a 20 gal long . I made a few islands of sand in the corners . So that if they didn’t like each other . They could be seperated . I used small pieces of rock topped off with a small limestone tile to make like a cover for them . Small enough for them to fit under followed by the sand for them to play in . Inbetween the islands I had no sand or rock . Mostly they stayed in their corners . And allowed the females to move to the or preferential site . Once the males chose their side then they never wanted to leave the island because there was no cover or sand for them to feel secure to cross to the other side .

They are back toguether now. I hope they stay like that

 

[Omikayalan]

Unfortunately i think it is just individual variety, but thanks nevertheless, if i will try to get another shrimp i will remember this

Well, i think i can confirm i got a pair! And i was right about who was the female.

 

[Louis Z]

Sweet double pair

 

[Omikayalan]

Sweet double pair

I cant find much info about raising baby pistol shrimps online, but i will try my best now that my shrimp is carrying eggs. Such a cool species to aquaculture!

 

[Louis Z]

So does it ring true that the male yasha has a black dot on the base of ventral fin ? And female does not ? Just want to confirm that the pair shows the slight difference . You may not be able to tell who really is the female until she swells with eggs

 

[Louis Z]

I was reading that some alpheus species have very short larval periods . Coudnt find Randalli maybe seed your tank with tisbe and apocyclops copepods ,as for first feeds . None of the of the abstracts talked about feeding , only distinguishing larval stages .

 

[Omikayalan]

So does it ring true that the male yasha has a black dot on the base of ventral fin ? And female does not ? Just want to confirm that the pair shows the slight difference . You may not be able to tell who really is the female until she swells with eggs

Yes, that is how you differenciate them. Here is my male yasha with the dark dot

 

[Louis Z]

update . ? After you have posted , I was searching for Yasha gobies . I have two now but both are female without the black spot on the ventral fin . Still searching for a male