Nice discovery today in my tank!!!

[stroid]

I ordered a pistol shrimp randalii from Saltwaterfish.com several months back possibly around march or april. My yellow watchman goby needed a friend so when i put the little guy in he immediatly went straight into the sand to never be seen again. I assumed he died and I basically gave up all hope on finding him later. Since then I have removed all the rock reaquascaped my tank stirred the heck out of the sand. I go to check on my fish after work and there he was peaking out of his burrow with my yellow watchman right in front of him. They looked very happy when i was feeding the fish the goby seemed as if he was dropping food in there not sure if they do that but thats what it looked like. He also bullied away a crab from the whole the shrimp made. Even better the new home for my goby/pistol shrimp is almost in the center front of my tank. This was a really awesome find....ill get pictures as soon as he sticks his head out long enough to snap a shot!
Good day!!

 

[tnyga]

That is just soooo cool

 

[krb]

That is the coolest. I have a randalli and a yellow watchman in my 20 gallon. When I put the shrimp in there initially he went straight into a cave. Like you, I never saw him. I would hear him shoot his pistol every morning. After two rescapes the two have found each other. Now I see the shrimp all the time. It is pretty cool.

 

[stroid]

yeah its really neat but the shrimp is really timid and hides alot hopefully he will become more social

 

[schwaggs]

Don't count on it. I only see my pistol shrimp occasionally when feeding. The shrimp is constantly re-arranging the burow. One day the opening is to the left, the next day it is to the right. I have a golgen watchmen and a blue spot watchmen living in the burrow with the single pistol. It is so very cool to watch them.

 

[stroid]

yeah i have not seen the pistol shrimp again since I made this post but it was nice to know that he is still alive and doing well...hopefully he will come out more

 

[chicagoman_35]

Watch for the sand plumes! Mine will bulldoze sand, pushing with his claws. Other times he backs out from his hole, lifts his tail and uses all his legs to move a ton of sand... This creats quite a sand plume (looks like smoke)... lol

 

[FutureInterest]

Nice, that's a great lil find. I got one from LA a year ago or so and it was so small I could barely see it. I kept mine in the refugium as it was sooo tiny it woulda been food to every fish in the tank. I setup a lil feeding station for it, and a small frag plug as its home. Unforunately, one day it just disappeared. I assume some copepod ate it or it got crushed by a grain of sand. Alas.

 

[stroid]

FutureInterest;86178 wrote: Nice, that's a great lil find. I got one from LA a year ago or so and it was so small I could barely see it. I kept mine in the refugium as it was sooo tiny it woulda been food to every fish in the tank. I setup a lil feeding station for it, and a small frag plug as its home. Unforunately, one day it just disappeared. I assume some copepod ate it or it got crushed by a grain of sand. Alas.

You never know he may still be alive considering I have not seen mine for like 6 months or so before he reappeared

 

[gclackum]

shoots his pistol every morning? please splain this to me

 

[stroid]

gclackum;86717 wrote: shoots his pistol every morning? please splain this to me

They have a big claw and when they snap it together there will be a loud noise....therefore he is shooting his pistol. Now why they do it I have no idea.

 

[jefft]

Try watching this:

 

[reeftankjunkie]

Holy crap, I didn't know they would eat cleaner shrimp.

 

[stroid]

yeah that is a cool video SW animals are the best!

 

[tnyga]

How totally cool

 

[linda lee]

We saw a pistol shrimp/goby pair at SWF&M today and there were cleaner shrimp in the tank as well (2 that I saw... maybe more). The pistol shrimp we saw didn't have the coloration of the one in the above video. I wonder if there are different varieties? Maybe some not as aggressive as others?

Also... what is the symbiotic relationship of the shrimp and goby? I know they share the burrow, but what does each bring into the relationship?

 

[krb]

jefft;86888 wrote: Try watching this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKPrGxB1Kzc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKPrGxB1Kzc</a>[/QUOTE]

That must be a big pistol shrimp. Mine is about an inch long. I have a cleaner shrimp in their with him and so far so good. Maybe his days are numbered.

 

[game411]

The relation is actually hard wired into them for existance in the wild, they really don't need it in the aquarium, but they don't know that.

The Goby gets a ready made Cave that is constantly maintained by the Pistol S. so that means no hosework, Ladies should feel me on this one.........and the Pistol benefits from early detection from the Goby who has better eyesight and can see further than the shrimp. If you notice, the shrimp will usually maintain one of it's antena on the body of the goby, incase of danger, the Goby will alert the shrimp via body signals, the shrimp goes back in, and the Goby follows.

Well, that's what they showed on Discovery channel..........it's like the Crab that carries a Stinging Anemone on it's back.