Can’t find my pistol but I hear him busting caps.

Nikio318107 · Feb 14, 2023

Hey guys so I can’t find my candy cane OR my Yasha…. OR my yellow watchman. I can hear the pistol snapping in the tank but aside from not being able to find the above mentioned I have not seen an ammonia/nitrate spike and none of my other fish seem to be injured. I’m just wondering if I should go digging to avoid a spike because my tank is only a 30gallon. Thanks for looking.

Sharkbait19 · Feb 14, 2023

If you can hear them, they are there. No need to go digging - if you put some food by the cave entrance you may see them come out.

Nikio318107 · Feb 14, 2023

Sharkbait19 said:
If you can hear them, they are there. No need to go digging - if you put some food by the cave entrance you may see them come out.

But if I can hear him snapping that’s their self defense mode right? You don’t think he would attack one of my missing shrimp goby’s? Do they snap just for the hell of it?

Matty Ice · Feb 14, 2023

My pistol attacks anything it wants. I feed frozen mysis and pellets to the cave entrance. It takes the food quickly and never see it otherwise. I do hear it often. Attacks anything that goes near its cave. Ate a blue leg hermit, Nasarius snail and started pulling in my sand sifting starfish but I was able to save it and remove the star. I’m not sure what he’s always snapping at at this point but if anyone wants a Tiger pistol shrimp, then I have one for free. Haha

Sharkbait19 · Feb 14, 2023

Nikio318107 said:
But if I can hear him snapping that’s their self defense mode right? You don’t think he would attack one of my missing shrimp goby’s? Do they snap just for the hell of it?

They will snap at anything - usually if a hermit or snail passes too close it will snap (or steal it). Might just be part of the digging process too.

FishDaddy1992 · Feb 14, 2023

"Scientists believe that the snapping is used for communication, as well as for hunting. A shrimp on the prowl will hide in a burrow or similar obscured spot, extending antennae to detect any passing fish."

This is from a quick google search. I'm pretty sure the US Navy used the clicks once for submarines to protect them from detection.

DaJMasta · Feb 14, 2023

I've got two pistol shrimp in my tank (I think I started with three, then one died, I'm not 100% that there are only 2 though), and this past week was the first week I had seen both of them for a month or more, and in both cases it was only a claw.

If they get under rockwork or in the back of the tank, or both.... don't be surprised to almost never see them. I think most people with a paired goby usually see them more frequently, but if the entrance to the cave doesn't face the outside, they're going to be tough to spot.

They will snap at things that come by just to establish territory - I've got one that snaps at me if I try to remove algae in front of it's hole, and I've seen them snap at snails and urchins that ventured too close to the burrow.

Tired · Feb 28, 2023

Did the gobies come back out? If one of them didn't, I'd suspect them infighting more than I would the pistol. Shrimpgobies are best not kept in the same tank unless it's fairly large.

Pistol shrimp snap to fend things (including snails) off from their burrow, to kill small worms to eat, to communicate, and they'll also use their snapping claw to break pieces of shell into the right shapes to build with. A lot of loud snaps in a row means it's after something, but milder snapping is normal.

Nikio318107 · Mar 7, 2023

Tired said:
Did the gobies come back out? If one of them didn't, I'd suspect them infighting more than I would the pistol. Shrimpgobies are best not kept in the same tank unless it's fairly large.

Pistol shrimp snap to fend things (including snails) off from their burrow, to kill small worms to eat, to communicate, and they'll also use their snapping claw to break pieces of shell into the right shapes to build with. A lot of loud snaps in a row means it's after something, but milder snapping is normal.

The goby’s are fine. My tiger pistol wound up warming up a bit. He now comes out of the cave when my ywg ventures out. However my candy cane/yasha pair. I NEVER see them. I saw my yasha’s fin a couple weeks ago and my candy cane’s claw a couple days ago but they stay in their burrow

Tired · Mar 7, 2023

If you have them in the same tank, no wonder- yellow watchmen and tiger pistols are both territorial and more aggressive than a yasha and a candycane. They should be kept separately, especially as yashas and candycanes are already fairly timid. If you can't separate them out (which you really should, before one gets hurt or killed), make sure to target-feed them so they don't starve.

Nikio318107 · Mar 7, 2023

Tired said:
If you have them in the same tank, no wonder- yellow watchmen and tiger pistols are both territorial and more aggressive than a yasha and a candycane. They should be kept separately, especially as yashas and candycanes are already fairly timid. If you can't separate them out (which you really should, before one gets hurt or killed), make sure to target-feed them so they don't starve.

Okay. Thanks man. I got both because a couple of people and my lfs said I would be okay. I’ll see if I can get one of the pairs out