Will My Tiger Pistol Shrimp Get Better

[Lucardious]

Soo I’ll cut straight to it. I have a Tiger pistol paired with a watchman in an 40gal and to no surprise he’s a straight menace. Mainly burying coral like it’s going out of style.

now for the question! I’m upgrading to a 180gal here in the next couple months..think the extra space will solve the issue or no?

wife really wants me to keep them (watchman is paired so I’d feel bad if I just took his buddy away) so any tips help.

 

[DaJMasta]

I'd move the coral away from the burrows, or if they're frags, attach a few together with a small piece of rock to make more of an island than just a single frag (not likely to fall into a hole being excavated). The short of it is that while the excavation may lessen when more complete, and may move to another place in time, the risk will always be there, so it's probably best to try and preempt problems by moving corals near the sandbed away from where they like to be.

 

[homer1475]

Pick your frags up off the sandbed. Problem solved.

No idea why people tend to put frags in the sandbed. Corals(with the exception of a few) do not grow on the sandbed.

 

[Lucardious]

Pick your frags up off the sandbed. Problem solved.

No idea why people tend to put frags in the sandbed. Corals(with the exception of a few) do not grow on the sandbed.

I've done that, but somehow that dude has been able to bury a rock easily twice his size that has a micro lord with at least 9 heads on it. Then on the complete opposite side of the tank he started a major excavation project raising a portion of sand bed up another 3" that buried another micro that's glued to a rock.

I've given it bits of rocks, dead coral and some shells to play with, but that doesn't last long. Long story short I have no frags in the sand bed, but I can't exactly keep moving low light low flow corals further up in the water column.

 

[Lucardious]

I'd move the coral away from the burrows, or if they're frags, attach a few together with a small piece of rock to make more of an island than just a single frag (not likely to fall into a hole being excavated). The short of it is that while the excavation may lessen when more complete, and may move to another place in time, the risk will always be there, so it's probably best to try and preempt problems by moving corals near the sandbed away from where they like to be.

So theoretically this will be a lot "easier" to mitigate in the 180 than it is in the 40?

 

[DaJMasta]

So theoretically this will be a lot "easier" to mitigate in the 180 than it is in the 40?

It's not really going to dig more in a larger space, and while it's possible for it to pick up and move to a new place, you would still have more options of places to put things that aren't nearby.

 

[Lucardious]

It's not really going to dig more in a larger space, and while it's possible for it to pick up and move to a new place, you would still have more options of places to put things that aren't nearby.

Well, it sounds like they might just make the stocking list after all. Thank you for your insight!

 

[Cell]

If you are asking if your Tiger Pistol is going to stop burrowing and tunneling throughout the tank, the answer is a firm no.

 

[Lucardious]

If you are asking if your Tiger Pistol is going to stop burrowing and tunneling throughout the tank, the answer is a firm no.

That would be like asking the sun not to rise in the AM. The question is more of if the extra space moving to a 180 will centralize their digging efforts to mainly a particular area? Currently the whole 40 Gal is their excavation site.

 

[Cell]

In my experience owning a tiger pair for several years, they move around a lot. I wouldn't expect them to settle in one spot forever.

 

[Sump Crab]

Build them a pvc tunnel network with little 45 degree elbows for each entrance/exit. Bury this where you want them to stay. IME they never leave the man made burrow.

 

[afrokobe]

Id swap the tiger with a randalls. they are awesome and super small. Much less destructive, I have corals in the sandbed and only gotten one ricordia stolen lol

 

[Lucardious]

In my experience owning a tiger pair for several years, they move around a lot. I wouldn't expect them to settle in one spot forever.

Build them a pvc tunnel network with little 45 degree elbows for each entrance/exit. Bury this where you want them to stay. IME they never leave the man made burrow.

Now this might be a fun rabbit hole to go down. What size pvc would you recommend?

 

[Lucardious]

Id swap the tiger with a randalls. they are awesome and super small. Much less destructive, I have corals in the sandbed and only gotten one ricordia stolen lol

Definitely an idea, but may be a hard sell to the wife as she's named these two (Stanley and Zero based off the movie Holes )

Edit: Zero being the shrimp

 

[afrokobe]

Definitely an idea, but may be a hard sell to the wife as she's named these two (Stanley and Zero based off the movie Holes )

AMAZING NAMES!! I wish i thought of that

 

[Lucardious]

AMAZING NAMES!! I wish i thought of that

She definitely has a knack for naming creatures lol

 

[Sump Crab]

Now this might be a fun rabbit hole to go down. What size pvc would you recommend?

I think I used 1” before. If you go to the hardware store just pick the smallest size you think your goby and shrimp can easily and comfortably turn around inside.

I did this in two separate tanks years ago and it really worked. It kept the govy/shrimp front and center and kept the pistol from burying corals as I didn’t place any close to the burrow entrances.

I followed this basic idea using 3x 45s, 2x 90s, and 1x T. The burrow is placed on the glass bottom and the 45s are angled to open just above the sand bed. You can glue rubble rock on the 45s to make them look more natural and I would also drill several small holes (much too small for your shrimp and goby to swim through to allow waste inside the tunnel to be fed on by bristle worms and such.

 

[Lucardious]

I think I used 1” before. If you go to the hardware store just pick the smallest size you think your goby and shrimp can easily and comfortably turn around inside.

I did this in two separate tanks years ago and it really worked. It kept the govy/shrimp front and center and kept the pistol from burying corals as I didn’t place any close to the burrow entrances.

I followed this basic idea using 3x 45s, 2x 90s, and 1x T. The burrow is placed on the glass bottom and the 45s are angled to open just above the sand bed. You can glue rubble rock on the 45s to make them look more natural and I would also drill several small holes (much too small for your shrimp and goby to swim through to allow waste inside the tunnel to be fed on by bristle worms and such.

Did you run the tunnels across the whole area of your tank?

 

[Sump Crab]

Did you run the tunnels across the whole area of your tank?

I did but the great thing about making your own is that they are total customizable. Whole length of tank, half, quarter, whatever. I would do a minimum of two entrances though.

 

[Lucardious]

I did but the great thing about making your own is that they are total customizable. Whole length of tank, half, quarter, whatever. I would do a minimum of two entrances though.

I'll definitely take a look into this. Thank you for the tip!