Any regrets having pistol shrimp/goby pair?

[CaptainNegatory]

I absolutely LOVE my pair. They key to where they make their main burrow is where they are dumped in the water. The shrimp is going to hide in the first spot he sees and the goby sill follow. That being said, just make sure that when you release him he is released near the area you wouldn't mind him digging out. My pistol shrimp has never taken a frag though I place them on the opposite side of the tank or even better wedge them into rock. I live feed all of my fish so when the goby comes out for food the shrimp clsmmers out too and I give him a few generous squirts of worms and he eats them all up and takes some into the cave, long as the goby dot steal them first. When the feeding is done hell come out a modest amount and pick up any worms that are dead and the other fish won't eat. He's never messed with my snails or my hermits. I had one snail die and be plucked at by hermits and his shell was. Then stolen by the hermits. They were my first additions other than my test damsel and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Both were paired at the store already I simply upgraded them. He makes mountains of sand that I knock down and level out when I make water changes. It's no big deal at all and helps create a natural look in the tank. His life is a constant construction project.

 

[CaptainNegatory]

 

[Eva Rose]

I hope this wasn't a scouting mission.

[/QUOTE
Hah! That is cute!

 

[saltyhog]

Avoid the larger tiger pistol and go with the more colorful candy cane (Alpheus randali I believe). The Randals is much smaller an less likely to cause problems. I loved mine paired with Yasha's and Yellow Watchman gobies.

 

[Makers Marc]

Had a tiger pistol and YWG. Loved it for 2 yrs. Traded it in soon after.

As the Tiger got huge, it got bored and started various tunnel systems and piles of sand, as opposed to staying in a main spot.

So the headache started outweighing the novelty aspect. For me at least.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

I had a tiger cause problems years ago, and wont keep one again.

I added A. randall to my Randall's goby pair a couple years ago and though I do enjoy watching the symbiosis, my gobies are far more cryptic than they were prior to adding the shrimp.

I probably wont keep them with shrimp again.

 

[SuncrestReef]

My shrimp finally made a burrow at the front of a rock where I can now see it. The previous burrow was behind the rocks so I rarely ever saw them.

 

[SuncrestReef]

Here he is burying one of my frags:

 

[Mark Teitelman]

Hit or miss for me. I have 2 tanks, and a pair in each. My smaller one is no issue at all. But in my bigger reef, I have a large pistol and 2 watchman gobies with him. They are terrors! They constantly bury any fleshy LPS that they see...and have stolen a couple of frags as well. But they are fun to watch and I do love them. I just wish they left the interior design choices to me

 

[jkruer01]

The only real con to them is depending on where they decide to make their burrow you may never see them.

This is my big regret. I bought a Yellow Watchman Goby and Pistol shrimp several months ago. I put them in the tank and as the shrimp was floating to the bottom something spooked him. He shot to the back of the tank and I haven't seen him since. The Yellow watchman Goby hung out for about a week but after that I guess he found his buddy because I haven't seen him since either.

 

[ncaldwell]

I loved mine until they went somewhere else and never saw them again

 

[kirstyflash]

They're great additions to any tank. Just make sure you add in extra shells of varying sizes or small pieces of dried/dead coral. In my 120 my pistol would steal frags that were on the sand and drag them into the burrow. I've since downgraded and my new pistol leaves the frags alone in favor of the rubble and shells.

They will make piles of sand in your tank like a sand sifting goby as well.

The only real con to them is depending on where they decide to make their burrow you may never see them.

Yep I agree there. They like to disappear under the larger rocks and the only way I get to see them is with a torch at night. Otherwise, when they are under a small rock near the glass it’s a lot of fun to watch the shrimp working. I do believe he has moved my purple star polyps though
Pic is from when we first put them in the tank.

 

[Tmm87]

When mine first went in he decided to make his burrow at the very front of my tank. I got to watch him for almost two months before he decided being an exhibitionist wasn't a good thing and moved to the back corner of the tank.

 

[DylanE]

How would a pair work out with a mandarin in the tank? I'd be worried he'd get too close to the den looking for pods and get popped by the shrimp.

 

[Mombo]

I love my yellow watchman and Tiger Pistol. They haven't killed any of the CUC in my tank but I feed the tank pretty heavily each night. After the first week they stopped pushing tons of sand out and have kinda stabilized. Never had them bury or move frags.

Yellow Watchman Goby's look so grumpy. Its one of my favorite fish. Always sitting at the entrance of the hole watching me. Highly recommend the YWG as your Goby to pair with the pistol

 

[Tmm87]

How would a pair work out with a mandarin in the tank? I'd be worried he'd get too close to the den looking for pods and get popped by the shrimp.

They'd be fine together. The problem with the mandarin is making sure there's enough food.

If you don't have a good pod population you can look into getting one from a lady in Maine. Can't remember the name of the store for the life of me though. She trains them onto PE mysis before she sells them.

 

[Dragon52]

I have 2 pr of Wheeler's gobies with shrimp in my 185gl. Each pr is on opposite sides of the tank, I've only been able to see 3 at one time & it took 2 mths after putting them in the tank to see them out of their homes that I pre setup before buying them.

 

[Spaz]

My only regret is having to replace the pistol every now and again. I’ve had terrible luck keeping them.

 

[KMench]

Mine is cool, but it’s a pain when my shrimp buries or steals frags. I’ve lost a few cool frags and had to unbury stuff. Recently it buried my bubble coral and I work long shifts. Came home to find it half buried with about 70% of the tissue gone.

 

[Billldg]

I had a pair and although I did enjoy them, I wouldn't do a pistol shrimp again. I had a tiger pistol, I didn't mind the snail killing but he did steal some nice frags. You can remedy that by placing your frags out of reach or gluing them down. The reason I wouldn't keep another tiger pistol shrimp was the sand storms and covering up lps on the sandbed like my plates and brains.

LOL!!!