Pistol shrimp snapping coral?

joshnunes · Apr 1, 2023

20g long
stock list: 1 clownfish, 1 tailspot blenny, 1 watchman goby/ candy cane pistol shrimp
We had such a beautiful array of corals that just kept dying off about a month after we got the pistol shrimp.
We never suspected, but I heard the shrimp clicking many many times and I went to look, it pulled down a small kenya tree and was snapping it and destroying it. Theres a teensy nub left but its definitely a goner.
has anyone else ever experienced this? What can I do to save my other corals?

Sharkbait19 · Apr 1, 2023

I’ve never heard of them actively destroying corals, though the burrowing activity can irritate or even kill sensitive ones.
Have you seen it actually attack the coral or just a before/after?

907_Reefer · Apr 1, 2023

My Pistol will hoard loose corals frags whole, but I've never caught him cutting them up.. I don't keep any loose, unglued frags anywhere low in the tank and anything that is on the sand bed is glued to a rock he can't move..now.

ryanjohn1 · Apr 1, 2023

joshnunes said:
20g long
stock list: 1 clownfish, 1 tailspot blenny, 1 watchman goby/ candy cane pistol shrimp
We had such a beautiful array of corals that just kept dying off about a month after we got the pistol shrimp.
We never suspected, but I heard the shrimp clicking many many times and I went to look, it pulled down a small kenya tree and was snapping it and destroying it. Theres a teensy nub left but its definitely a goner.
has anyone else ever experienced this? What can I do to save my other corals?

Kenya will grow back from a nub. I cut them all the time. Grows like weeds in my tanks

Stomatopods17 · Apr 4, 2023

You sure the kenya didn't just 'drop a branch' and it float into the pistol's home?

Only bad experience I had with a pistol was with an orange plate coral. Not only was it obvious sand would be an issue, but the shrimp actually did snap at it a few times (right after I was done recording too :/ )

It never bothered anything else. They're not aggressive but they do like the dig and anything around their burrow is going to be dug or buried.