I have a Pistol Shrimp that I have been trying to catch forever. Bottles, traps etc and nothing has even come close to capturing him. He rarely comes out from under the rocks except at night since I never see him, only the paths of destruction. Mounds of sand, corals pushed into each other, buried or pulled into his cave. So I have finally come to the conclusion that a tear down is my last option. My question is, what kind of risk am I taking in disturbing the balance of the entire system by pulling out then reassembling the rock work?
I've had it
- Thread starter Adele
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MnFish1
10K Club member
You may be disturbing the balance of the system quite a bit - or not at all -by pulling out the rock - there is no way to say 'how much' - because it depends on how long the rock is out of the tank, etc etc etc. The size of the tank, the filtration you use (will you keep that running, etc) Will it take 30 minutes or 12 hours to do this?
I would ask you - why do you want to get rid of the pistol shrimp? And I would warn you - it might be difficult - even with taking everything down - to catch the pistol shrimp
I would ask you - why do you want to get rid of the pistol shrimp? And I would warn you - it might be difficult - even with taking everything down - to catch the pistol shrimp
The Pistol is a substrate menace basically. Even though I researched prior there were so many glowing and happy reviews of the Goby/Pistol pair with little to no negative comments, that I decided to add them to my tank not realizing how much remodeling they do. Basically the entire substrate of the tank is unusable for corals because he plows over everything that I have down there , not to mention the mounds of substrate he makes all over the tank.You may be disturbing the balance of the system quite a bit - or not at all -by pulling out the rock - there is no way to say 'how much' - because it depends on how long the rock is out of the tank, etc etc etc. The size of the tank, the filtration you use (will you keep that running, etc) Will it take 30 minutes or 12 hours to do this?
I would ask you - why do you want to get rid of the pistol shrimp? And I would warn you - it might be difficult - even with taking everything down - to catch the pistol shrimp
Thanks for the input. I have a 90 gallon and a pretty decent amount of rock but I think I could have it all out in bins in 30 minutes before replacing. I will have my return off and only power heads running during the hunt.
What wrasses eat pistol shrimp? I've had pistol shrimp in my tank for years at a time with as many as 14 wrasses (including 3 Halichoeres and 1 leopard) with no pistol shrimp demise. One of the pistols is a hitch hiker and pretty nocturnal so he isn't usually out until the sand sleepers are gone to bed. The other is a candy cane and he is out often during the daytime.
Is it a tiger pistol? They are much larger and disturb far more sand/real estate than the smaller A. randalii.
Have you tried a 20oz bottle cut in half and the top inverted? I caught a buddies pistol shrimp like this. Load the bottle with chunky food and park it right in front of his hole. Cut the lights and wait for the booger to smell the food and get hungry.
Can you swing by and try your luck again? I’m afraid I’ve tried this a couple times with different bottles. Clipped a big chunk of LRS on the inside. He would edge out of his hole to tease me but would never go in. Every little movement had him shooting back into his hole. Left it over night and caught every hermit and several snails. ;Shifty
MnFish1
10K Club member
I';m curious are you sure its a pistol shrimp? They usually make a burrow and stay there. I had one for 3 years - and he just sat in his burrow - and came out when food was present.
MnFish1
10K Club member
PS - either way - I think they are super cool - I would landscape around him - rather than remove him to put coral on the substrate (or wait until you can afford bigger coral to put on the substrate)....
madweazl
2500 Club Member
I dont keep corals on the sand so they've never been an issue (wouldnt have a tank without them). Some are very busy and some are content with one spot. They certainly collect anything they can get their grubby lil mits on though; very industrious will all the empty shells and pieces of coral skeleton that end up on the sand bed.
GThompson
Active Member
After just ripping my landscape apart chasing Damsels, I should have made me a little spear and just stabbed him. Btw, my reason for removing him was his attack on my tang. Noticed little bite marks all over the tang and it was him. So bye-bye Damsels
Yes definitely a tiger pistol. I’m guessing that’s why most folks like them because I thought he would find a place and stick to it but mine goes from one end of the tank to the other periodically making a mess of everything. Nothing on the substrate is safe.
