Pistol shrimp help?!

[max_b]

i've had my tank set up for a few months and i was looking at getting some new additions, at current i have 2 hermits, a cleaner shrimp, a purple fire fish and a perc clown.

i saw the pistol shrimp and didn't know much about them, but thought he looked kinda cool. the guy in the store said there shouldn't be any issues, but after some researching now i starting to find that he could hunt my crabs and and cleaner?

im notcing he is 'shooting' alot more now then he was and noticed my larger hermits shell has slightly cracked, but i havent seen him go for him

what do you think?

 

[Jaybird]

I've got one in my tank and I've never seen him "shoot" a shrimp, snail, or hermit. Sure, he goes off sometimes, but always when he's inside his hole. Probably moving more sand.

If you can research the type of pistol you can find out the appropriate shrimp goby, get one, and hope that they pair up. It's pretty cool to watch.

I've got a yellow watchman goby that paired up with my tiger pistol. It's kind of funny because the tiger pistol is actually bigger than the goby.

 

[austinsdad]

He won't be a problem to your shrimp or crabs. I've even had crabs slide down into the pistol's hole and seen him push them right back out - now of course unless he's in his building mode and wants to wedge the crab somewhere in there for a wall. I could happen I think, but you should be alright.

One thing you wanna be sure of is that your LR is touching the bottom of the tank glass. If not, as he tunnels he will cause rocks to drop of course, either hurting himself or starting an avalance of stacked rocks.

What is "shooting" by the way?

 

[Jaybird]

That's why I always recommend that people put their live rock in first and then put in their sand. If the live rock is already sitting on the tank bottom you don't have to later worry about burrowing shrimp or gobies.

 

[roka64]

I agree, he hill be fine. The pop you hear is when someone ventures too close to his burrow...it's a warning "shot"...