I'm considering a pistol shrimp...

[corrado007]

As the title said, I'm considering adding a pistol shrimp to my 90gal mixed reef. I've already got a fairly small Yellow Watchman Goby about 2" long in there and I think he could use a buddy. I've got egg crate under my rockwork with the rocks sitting firmly on the eggcrate beneath the sand so I think I'm as safe as one can be from rock slides with a digger in the tank.

Is there a best species of pistol shrimp or any difference in behavior among the various species? (specifically with a yellow watchman if that makes a difference)

Will it eat other shrimp like my scarlet cleaners? I saw the video floating around that shows the pistol stunning and dragging away a cleaner shrimp.

What else should I know before making this decision?

Thanks!

 

[BrianCM]

I hate that video! It gives people the wrong idea about pistol shrimp. As long as you stay to the decorative pistol shrimp you are fine. I have a tiger pistol shrimp with my yellow watchmen goby. You could also do a candy cane. I would stay away from the ugly ones (not always). Those are ones people find in there live rock from the ocean and those are the ones you want to watch out for.

 

[corrado007]

Would you say that a pistol would be likely to pair with a watchman or is it just a matter of chance?

Anyone have a watchman and pistol shrimp that didn't pair?

 

[Varga]

I hear you have to put them in the tank at the same time
I've also heard they will pair up nomatter what???!!!
You can also buy them already paired

 

[corrado007]

Well I already have the yellow watchman so putting them in at the same time is not going to happen. I hope they'll pair up no matter what, that would be nice.

 

[Dentoid]

There is no guarantee that they will ever pair-up. My Yellow Watchman follows my shrimp around the tank. I have only seen the shrimp twice in the year and a half I've had my pair. Right now they are in the back, behind the rock work. I only see the goby at feeding time. Fascinating all the same.

 

[corrado007]

There is no guarantee that they will ever pair-up. My Yellow Watchman follows my shrimp around the tank. I have only seen the shrimp twice in the year and a half I've had my pair. Right now they are in the back, behind the rock work. I only see the goby at feeding time. Fascinating all the same.

Did you get them at the same time? I guess it makes sense that the goby would go where the shrimp decides to dig and I'm sure the shrimp doesn't take our viewing pleasure into consideration. I certainly hope my watchman and a new pistol shrimp would stay out front. Right now the watchman's spot is front and center about 4" from the glass. He sits in front of a few rocks and looks out at the room.

 

[SubRosa]

I hate that video! It gives people the wrong idea about pistol shrimp. As long as you stay to the decorative pistol shrimp you are fine. I have a tiger pistol shrimp with my yellow watchmen goby. You could also do a candy cane. I would stay away from the ugly ones (not always). Those are ones people find in there live rock from the ocean and those are the ones you want to watch out for.

I have an Alpheus soror in my 20g reef and he's a shrimp killing machine.As far as looks he's bright yellow with purple claws and a purple bullseye at the base of his tail on each side.He also has a taste for symbiotic gobies.Not all Pistols are symbiotic,and not all the symbiotic ones pair with every kind of shrimp goby.Stick with a Tiger and you should at least avoid any serious problems,but you can't be sure of forming a pair.

John

 

[corrado007]

The Tiger Pistol shrimp is pretty cool, could anyone recommend any others that are "safe" as well. I'd like to have a few options to choose from. An LFS around here has some sort of blue legged one. I used to have a red Japanese Pistol shrimp but never kept it with anything, and I also saw a tiny pistol shrimp at an LFS that was about the size of a sexy shrimp about a month ago (could have just been a baby shrimp).

Oh, and thanks for all the input so far everyone!

 

[rlcline76]

I have a couple of Randalls paired with a yashia. I like them a lot.

 

[corrado007]

I have a couple of Randalls paired with a yashia. I like them a lot.

Those are pretty nice looking shrimp too, do you keep them with cleaner shrimp successfully?

 

[rmlevasseur]

Mr. Coral steered me away from the pistol. I've never had one, but he told me that their noise is not only annoying, but that it is strong enough to kill fish. That was enough for me to stay away.

 

[BrianCM]

I had my goby in the tank about two months before I put in the shrimp. They paired up instantly.

 

[Dentoid]

Did you get them at the same time? I guess it makes sense that the goby would go where the shrimp decides to dig and I'm sure the shrimp doesn't take our viewing pleasure into consideration. I certainly hope my watchman and a new pistol shrimp would stay out front. Right now the watchman's spot is front and center about 4" from the glass. He sits in front of a few rocks and looks out at the room.

My Pistol came as a HH on my LR. It's a small, drabby green, Gulf of Mexico species. I added the Watchman about 5 month later. The goby found the shrimp.

 

[corrado007]

My Pistol came as a HH on my LR. It's a small, drabby green, Gulf of Mexico species. I added the Watchman about 5 month later. The goby found the shrimp.

Oh, that's cool. I've never heard of someone getting a pistol shrimp HH. It sounds like getting them to pair is a fairly common thing and is quite likely.

Does anyone have a shrimp and goby that didn't pair? It doesn't sound very common.

Any species I should stay away from?

Thanks everyone.

 

[cheeks69]

If your considering then I would look for the Alpheus bellus or the randalli. I would stay away from any of the caribbean sp. as they do not normally form a symbiotic relationship with the Prawn Gobies and are a real threat to other motile inverts in the tank. My LFS was selling some of these Caribbean Pistol shrimp and they were larger than any sp. I had seen before and looked quite menacing !

Also keep in mind that these shrimp are like bulldozers of sand and they can easily bury any corals on the substrate.

 

[corrado007]

I have an Alpheus soror in my 20g reef and he's a shrimp killing machine.As far as looks he's bright yellow with purple claws and a purple bullseye at the base of his tail on each side.He also has a taste for symbiotic gobies.Not all Pistols are symbiotic,and not all the symbiotic ones pair with every kind of shrimp goby.Stick with a Tiger and you should at least avoid any serious problems,but you can't be sure of forming a pair.
John

Thanks for sharing your experience John, that's the sort of stuff I need to know. That's too bad, that's the best looking one in my opinion. My wife wants me to get that one but if that species tends to kill shrimp and gobies then I'll stay away from it.
Does anyone else have any experience with these bulls eye pistol shrimp? Is this behavior typical of the species???

I hate that video! It gives people the wrong idea about pistol shrimp. As long as you stay to the decorative pistol shrimp you are fine. I have a tiger pistol shrimp with my yellow watchmen goby. You could also do a candy cane. I would stay away from the ugly ones (not always). Those are ones people find in there live rock from the ocean and those are the ones you want to watch out for.

What are decorative pistol shrimp? Are those all the bright ones?

By the way, thanks everyone for all this great discussion.

 

[corrado007]

If your considering then I would look for the Alpheus bellus or the randalli. I would stay away from any of the caribbean sp. as they do not normally form a symbiotic relationship with the Prawn Gobies and are a real threat to other motile inverts in the tank. My LFS was selling some of these Caribbean Pistol shrimp and they were larger than any sp. I had seen before and looked quite menacing !

Also keep in mind that these shrimp are like bulldozers of sand and they can easily bury any corals on the substrate.

We must have been typing at the same time. Alright, so you're recommending that I stick with the red banded or the tiger pistol shrimp, is that right? I think I looked them up correctly. I really don't want to endanger any of my other creatures so if I have to do without the bright colors then so be it. Thanks for that input. It's beginning to look like those two are the pistols of choice as far as community tanks go.

 

[cheeks69]

Does anyone else have any experience with these bulls eye pistol shrimp? Is this behavior typical of the species???

I've had one but at the time he was the only shrimp in the tank but he never harmed any fish or other motile inverts. This sp. DOESN'T bond with any of the Prawn Gobies !

 

[corrado007]

I've had one but at the time he was the only shrimp in the tank but he never harmed any fish or other motile inverts. This sp. DOESN'T bond with any of the Prawn Gobies !

Oh, thanks SO much for telling me that, I don't know how I missed that.
I just looked it up and confirmed exactly what you said. Good looking out.