Hi I recently bought what I was told was a tiger pistol shrimp at the LFS but after some research I think it’s actually a Curly Que Snapping Shrimp. It has 2 distinct spots on the sides and it has purple feet. It won’t pair with my Yellow Watchman Goby. It dug a cave for itself and mostly sits there. On one occasion the YWG was sitting near the cave and the shrimp grabbed it by its lateral fin and tried to pull it in, but the YWG was able to escape pretty easily. I’m not sure if it was trying to kill it or just defending its cave. Right after that my nasarius snail crawled into the cave on accident and the shrimp started attacking it. The snail hid in its shell and then turned around and crawled away. The shrimp didn’t chase after it though. My question is it is ok safe to keep the shrimp or are they known to kill tank mates? Also, if I do get an actual tiger pistol shrimp, will it be safe with the curly que?
Curly-Que Snapping Shrimp Question
- Thread starter nedeogv
- Start date
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is it a bulls eye pistol shrimp or a curly que pistol shrimp? just wanted to ask because those spots made me think bulls eye right away. Personally i have never had any issues with pistol shrimp but i have heard of them killing fish so if i were you i would keep an eye on him. Also i dont think you can keep two pistol shrimp in the same tank unless it is a pretty big tankl but i could be wrong about that.
Mystery solved. The Curly Que shrimp was definitely the culprit. Found a half eaten corpse of my Yellow Watchman Goby in the shrimps cave sadly. This is the second YWG I lost. My first one was doing so well but then it jumped out through a tiny crack between the lid and the glass. This one was doing well too but this shrimp killed it. Just not having any luck with these... I’m not sure why the YWG didn’t see the shrimp as a threat. The shrimp is not very fast but the YWG would just hang out by its cave all the time and let the shrimp touch it with its antennae. Even after being grabbed by it once and escaping it didn’t learn its lesson. My best guess is that they come from different regions and the YWG didn’t see it as a threat because it didn’t know any better. Kind of like the lion fish that is an invasive species and kills anything that fits in its mouth. Other fish don’t recognize it as a threat because it’s not from their region and they don’t even try to get away and end up getting eaten by the lion fish. Anyway, will be returning the Curly Que to the LFS if I can catch it. Would still like to get a YWG and a real pistol shrimp that will pair with it. Hopefully you guys can learn from my experience and not repeat my mistakes. If you buy a pistol shrimp, make sure you know it’s exact species so you know it’s compatible with your tank mates. If you do buy a Curly Que, don’t expect it to pair with your YWG. In fact, expect it to kill it.
