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Pistol Shrimp Vs. Cleaner Shrimp

post #1 of 10
12/21/11 at 2:16am
Thread Starter 

So I had this great idea for adding some shrimp to my reef tank. I have an aurora goby...(I think..he's about as obvious in the tank as bigfoot) and I know they tend to like to team up with pistol shrimp. I also wanted to keep some cleaner shrimp around just in case, those guys can be pretty stalwart to a tank. However, doing my pre-purchase research I came across a deep sea vid of a submersable exploring a ship wreck. Here they find a cleaner shrimp by itself, minding it's own business...doing whatever they do in ship wrecks, and then a pistol shrimp comes out from under an old pot, stuns and drags the cleaner shrimp off. Pretty sure what happened next was a shrimp hannibal lecter episode. Is this a valid threat? Should I have to choose between one or the other or is this not common enough to cost serious money in attempting?

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post #2 of 10
12/21/11 at 5:40am

It was prob a mantis shrimp that did that in the video u saw.

I have a pistol (randals) and its about 3/4" now and my fire shrimp is over an 1" and they do fine....besides the pistol just burrows and isnt seen all that much anywho ?!?!

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post #3 of 10
12/21/11 at 12:14pm

I've seen that video, it's so staged.

 

There are certain pistol shrimps that are definitely more aggressive than others, but IME, they're FINE with cleaner shrimp. I've kept my pistol/goby pair with a skunk cleaner shrimp, a fire shrimp, peppermint shrimps, and even harlequin shrimps and never lost one. I have a Randalli (the red and white striped one) pistol and have had him since he was really tiny. He's never harmed a thing. He's paired with a little Yasha Goby. Right now I have the pair in my refugium where I have mysid shrimp breeding, and the pistol doesn't even go after them.

I honestly believe that in a reef tank, where there's a constant food supply, they really tend to stop hunting. The only time I really see mine is when he knows food was just put in the tank.

So the aurora is still hiding, huh? Mine has recently made a burrow close to the front of the tank, so I'm able to see it, but they're still not very social fish. Maybe giving yours a buddy might help it a little.

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post #4 of 10
12/21/11 at 2:43pm
Thread Starter 

Yeah I haven't seen "Sneaky" the aurora goby in a few days. About to turn some rocks over just to be sure the crabs havent eaten him, but that's the idea. Maybe giving him a pal will boost his confidence a little. Especially one that can flash boil water with the snap of his claws. Just wanted to be sure that they wouldn't beat up anything else in my tank, because I know of their damage potential.

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post #5 of 10
12/21/11 at 11:42pm

Get a small one. The Randalli's are fairly peaceful. Just beware that some pistols kick up quite a bit of sand. I've owned three different Randalli's now, and they're the only ones that I've noticed usually don't make as much of a mess with the sand bed.

 

 

I would not move your rocks. Put in the pistol, they'll find each other. Moving around your rock work is just going to stress the fish out more.

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post #6 of 10
12/22/11 at 9:47pm
Thread Starter 

My lfs has a brownish red pistol shrimp with blue legs. What kind is that?

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post #7 of 10
12/23/11 at 8:29am

Honestly, I'm not sure. There are so many species. The only one that I trust is the Alpheus randalli.

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post #8 of 10
12/23/11 at 9:36am
Thread Starter 

Can u link a pic to that one?

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post #9 of 10
12/23/11 at 9:23pm

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/Pistol-Shrimp--Randalli_p_620.html

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post #10 of 10
12/24/11 at 12:30pm
Thread Starter 

You are teh awesome BT. I like this one better then what ever it was they had at the LFS. I am now considering ordering it from there. Any special considerations for care for one of these?

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