Osidedude
Community Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2018
- Messages
- 55
- Reaction score
- 64
- Location
- Oceanside
- What state or country do you live in
- California
Hey...have some bad pictures but maybe someone can tell me if these are baby pistol shrimps. You may be wondering why I think they are pistol shrimps? Well...one of my first purchases for my 140 gal mixed reef tank was a small Watchman and Pistol Shrimp pair. After a month or so the Watchman disappeared and of coarse you rarely see the Pistol Shrimp. Anyway I chalked it up to new tank loss and several weeks later I bought a bigger Watchman and smaller Pistol Shrimp pair. This time I set up a nice little rock formation for them prior to putting them in...to my delight they went for it and now I had front row seats to their little life for several months...seeing the Pistol Shrimp daily.
Now my first Watchman had been missing for about 3 months when I decided to check my overflow box and of course found him doing quite well. Put him in the tank again only to have him going missing within the week. Checked overflow again but this time he was not there. After another month I was cleaning out my sump which has 2 filter socks but also several sponges between baffles. Tossed the sponges in my sink and put new ones in. Several hours passed before I could clean the sponges and unfortunately I found a dead Pistol Shrimp along with some huge pods that had died because I did not look very close to the sponges after pulling them from the sump. I also found my little Watchman living in the 60 gal sump. My guess he followed his Pistol Shrimp into the sump (twice).
While this was going on my big Watchman and Pistol Shrimp also disappeared...I found him/her in the overflow but could not catch him. I drained the water and still cant catch the guy but noticed 3 tiny shrimp in the water I syphoned out into a bucket.
Could it be the Watchman followed baby shrimp into overflow/sump to protect them? I raise my own pods and feed the tank 2-3 times a week with Rotifers, Apex and Tigger pods for Dragonettes and Ruby Scooter and corals so I know there is plenty of food for any type of babies born.
I can also hear a Pistol Shrimp snapping in my refugium but with 40 or 50 lbs of rock there is no way of catching it.
In the end...can anyone say from my bad pics if these are baby Pistols?
BTW...I have 4 or 5 Pistols with other Gobies.
Now my first Watchman had been missing for about 3 months when I decided to check my overflow box and of course found him doing quite well. Put him in the tank again only to have him going missing within the week. Checked overflow again but this time he was not there. After another month I was cleaning out my sump which has 2 filter socks but also several sponges between baffles. Tossed the sponges in my sink and put new ones in. Several hours passed before I could clean the sponges and unfortunately I found a dead Pistol Shrimp along with some huge pods that had died because I did not look very close to the sponges after pulling them from the sump. I also found my little Watchman living in the 60 gal sump. My guess he followed his Pistol Shrimp into the sump (twice).
While this was going on my big Watchman and Pistol Shrimp also disappeared...I found him/her in the overflow but could not catch him. I drained the water and still cant catch the guy but noticed 3 tiny shrimp in the water I syphoned out into a bucket.
Could it be the Watchman followed baby shrimp into overflow/sump to protect them? I raise my own pods and feed the tank 2-3 times a week with Rotifers, Apex and Tigger pods for Dragonettes and Ruby Scooter and corals so I know there is plenty of food for any type of babies born.
I can also hear a Pistol Shrimp snapping in my refugium but with 40 or 50 lbs of rock there is no way of catching it.
In the end...can anyone say from my bad pics if these are baby Pistols?
BTW...I have 4 or 5 Pistols with other Gobies.
