Pistol shrimp

[Alberta-newb]

I have a small pistol shrimp (~ 1.5" ) that came in some live rock and I was wondering what the general concensus is on these? It is extremely shy and rarely ventures more than half way out his home (a 3" piece of rock with about 4 entrances he uses). Google searches have shown mixed reviews, some say remove the predatory little bugger right away and others consider him a cool addition that will form a symbiotic relationship with some goby species.

What do you think?

At this stage I'm leaving him in as I really don't have anything for him to kill other than snails (which he has left alone so far). He does have a voracious appetite if I leave a small piece of food near one of his burrows and will snap several times if I have a tug of war with him over it:mrgreen:

Francis

[Whatigot]

where did you get your LR from that you found this guy in?
I had over 10 in the LR from Cuba I bought and they are real aggressive when the tank goes unfed for a little while.
what is the coloration like?

It sounds like he is established in a home that will be easy for you to remove if you decide to later....

[ae86ray]

3021You are lucky.....i have to pay for mine.....they are pretty cool....but make sure you don't have a jaw fish in the tank...the goby goes with is is watchman ...they always pair up to dig holes.....

[Whatigot]

My pistols could care less about my pink striped watchman goby, I have read it is rare for a pair to become symbiotic unless they are caught that way though so no surprises there.

[mark]

Seems getting a goby and shrimp to pair can be more frustration than getting the clown to host in the anemone. Good luck to you though. Have seen the pairing in the wild and is one of neatest around.

Back to the question, if not bothering anything, why not just leave it in.

[Ian]

I bought a shrimp for the purpose of pairing with my yellow watchman goby, it took abot 12 hours for them to pair up. Now they have a great home that they rarely leave for more than a couple minutes.
I guess sometimes being a total newb you get things right or at least get lucky.

[Alberta-newb]

Thanks for the replies! He's pretty interesting and so far hasn't been causing troubles so I'll leave him alone and enjoy his antics some more. I probably won't have any fish for quite a while yet as the tank is new and I haven't finished adding live rock yet (been up for 7 weeks now with 80 lbs LR..another 20-40 lbs to go) so I won't be looking for a goby for at least 6 months.

Whatigot: The piece I got him in came from Wai's in Calgary, supposedly it is Indonesian. Unfortunately it's not one of the cool colored species, just a brownish orange color. His "home" is placed away from the rest of my LR so he will be easy to remove and send to the sump if he becomes a problem.

Francis

[Whatigot]

Thanks for the replies! He's pretty interesting and so far hasn't been causing troubles so I'll leave him alone and enjoy his antics some more. I probably won't have any fish for quite a while yet as the tank is new and I haven't finished adding live rock yet (been up for 7 weeks now with 80 lbs LR..another 20-40 lbs to go) so I won't be looking for a goby for at least 6 months.

Whatigot: The piece I got him in came from Wai's in Calgary, supposedly it is Indonesian. Unfortunately it's not one of the cool colored species, just a brownish orange color. His "home" is placed away from the rest of my LR so he will be easy to remove and send to the sump if he becomes a problem.

Francis

Nice one.
enjoy him.

[ponokareefer]

My brother got me a pistol/goby pair, and they are super cool to watch. I'd make sure your rock work is stable, so it doesn't collapse the rocks on itself. Also, make sure you don't have any corals in the sand, as they may bury them, as mine has done.