2 shrimp 1 hole

[Sbk89]

A couple months ago I got a Yasha goby/candy cane shrimp pair and added them to my tank only to have them completely disappear.

After not seeing or hearing them at all, I decided to get another pair today. I added them in the same corner as the pair before and immediately, the old pistol shrimp (smaller one) came out. I was expecting them to fight but they both went into the hole (hidden underneath my Sunkist bounce). I waited for popping but nothing happened.

Soon after, the small one came out and was digging around the hole. The bigger one came out and grabbed the yasha goby and guided it to the burrow.

Now they’re all inside hidden away and I wanted to see if anyone else has successfully had 2 pistol shrimp in one burrow. Thanks!

 

[Stomatopods17]

Its pretty common for them to pair up.

Pistol Shrimp aren't that aggressive or territorial, one species is actually the first recorded instance of aquatic 'hive mind' similar to bees and ants because they occupy sponges with a queen pistol shrimp.

Our shrimp goby ones may sometimes need space apart from each other but if they're a mated pair they'll live together, same applies to the goby fish as well.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

A couple months ago I got a Yasha goby/candy cane shrimp pair and added them to my tank only to have them completely disappear.

After not seeing or hearing them at all, I decided to get another pair today. I added them in the same corner as the pair before and immediately, the old pistol shrimp (smaller one) came out. I was expecting them to fight but they both went into the hole (hidden underneath my Sunkist bounce). I waited for popping but nothing happened.

Soon after, the small one came out and was digging around the hole. The bigger one came out and grabbed the yasha goby and guided it to the burrow.

Now they’re all inside hidden away and I wanted to see if anyone else has successfully had 2 pistol shrimp in one burrow. Thanks!

Yeah, they and the gobies can both pair up and happily share their burrows as mated pairs:

It's absolutely worth a shot.

They are monogamous and will share a burrow - and not just for the mating season, but permanently (and most Alpheus spp. are this way - see the links at the bottom). I would assume they have two separate sexes (i.e. that they aren't hermaphroditic), but I don't know for sure. Additionally, I'm not sure how to sex the shrimp, but I've heard it's quite difficult to do without taking the shrimp out of the water.

If you're careful with the pairings, you can get two gobies and two shrimp living and breeding in the same burrow:

"When the sexual maturity is reached, normally a pair male-female of gobies shares the same burrow together with a pair of shrimps."
(Quote from the reefs.com article linked below.)

For examples of the shrimp and goby pairings (both in and out of aquariums), see these links:

https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/nftt/index.php

Aquarium Fish: Sharing a small house without conflicts: the pistol shrimp and the shrimpgoby’s life

Coral Reefs, thousand of species, thousand of associations: but the relationship between little gobies and their shrimp partners is one of the most famous and better balanced, where everybody wins and nobody loses. A wonderful example of mutualistic symbiosis.

reefs.com

UWL Website

bioweb.uwlax.edu

Breeding and Heterosexual Pairing in the Snapping Shrimp Alpheus estuariensis (Caridea: Alpheidae) in a Tropical Bay in Northeastern Brazil

Abstract. We investigated aspects of the breeding biology, including the reproductive period, egg production, and heterosexual pairing of the snapping shri

academic.oup.com

 

[Sbk89]

Oh that’s good to know. I was pretty much yelled at like 10 years ago for thinking about having 2 goby/pistol pairs in my tank because the pistols would fight to the death lol. Guess that was wrong ¯\_(ツ)_/¯