Homicidal Maniac on the loose?

[wjm6449]

Hi all, I just went to my 16 gal biocube to do my daily checks and found a casualty in my tank, a green chromis fish (thank god he's cheap?) torn to ribbons on the powerhead. I am pretty much 99% sure it was my pistol tiger shrimp as I have only two clownfish and a hermit, a bicolor blenny and a randalls, lets face it, they arent going to rip off the rear tail and gut a chromis up the middle.

That said, should I worry about an ammonia spike since I just caught the casualty? Also, that said, do I need to worry about my clowns being next on the list? If not, any advice on what fish to replace the Chromis? I think what made him an easy target is at night he hides in the rockwork, which is prime real estate for my pistol shrimp.... does this occur if he's underfed? Should I be placing an offering of food in front of his burrow every day? Any advice is appreciated, I dont need a jack the ripper on my hands.

That stated, I also had fed my tank that night, saw the shrimp and it had grabbed a few bites of mysis shrimp. It could have been getting hungry, I am only providing 1/2 a cube of Mysis to 5 heads not including the shrimp, but no one looked skinny. I should note the Chromis was also chilling particularly close to the pistol shrimps cave.

 

[Timfish]

Green Chromis are notorious for just dying. I'd think it had a problem and died then the rest of the tankmates went to work on the carcas.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

On the very slim chance the tiger pistol is causing problems, getting it a partner goby may help (but if you have a randall's pistol in there too, it may choose to pair with that pistol instead):

As stated, these guys really aren't the vicious hunters they're made out to be.

They're actually omnivores (see the quote below), and the tiger pistol (Alpehus bellulus) is one of two species so far (Alpheus randalli being the other - see the link in the quote below) that has been confirmed to feed on its goby partner's feces,* so adding a goby may very well help on the off-chance that your shrimp actually is being aggressive:

A quick note here on pistol shrimp diet - pistol shrimp do not seem to be predatory, rather they seem to be more opportunistic, omnivorous scavengers (the only "hunting" that seems to take place outside of the burrow is done by the gobies, not the shrimp, and - to my knowledge - no one has ever confirmed if the shrimp actually eat the "prey" brought to them by the gobies; it might be that the goby eats them rather than the shrimp, or the shrimp might eat them as people generally assume):

Goby and shrimp associations: more than meets the eye - Coral Reefs

link.springer.com

Some more info from the article linked in the quote above:

"Diet analyses of shrimp associates indicate copepods, interstitial matter, and seagrass as main food items. Incidental observations revealed a more varied diet, facilitated by goby associates. Cryptocentrus cinctus and C. singapurensis [= C. leptocephalus] were previously reported to introduce items such as algae and bivalves into burrows for associate shrimps. We observed the goby, Amblyeleotris latifasciata, capturing a small crab near the burrow entrance and carrying this prey item toward the burrow entrance. Upon arrival, it rapidly moved up and down, a characteristic behavior we can best describe as ‘jumping’. The shrimp emerged from the burrow and proceeded to remove the entire prey item from the mouth of the goby, without resistance or struggle from the latter, before retreating into the burrow (Fig. 1)."

Additionally, as noted in the article linked above, at least some Alpheus spp. clean their gobies by eating the parasites off of them.

*Source:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312094089_A_novel_aspect_of_goby-shrimp_symbiosis_gobies_provide_droppings_in_their_burrows_as_vital_food_for_their_partner_shrimps

 

[wjm6449]

Green Chromis are notorious for just dying. I'd think it had a problem and died then the rest of the tankmates went to work on the carcas.

Bummer. Was a juvie chromis and looked fairly healthy. Had it for two months and showed no illness.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Uronema is a common killer of chromis - but after two months I wouldn’t expect it to pop up.

Tiger pistols are harmless - they don’t kill fish (they can barely see). My money is on the clowns, which are notoriously aggressive, especially in small tanks.

 

[Timfish]

Sorry for your loss. Unfortunately we can't test fish like we can cats or dogs for potential health issues.

 

[wjm6449]

Uronema is a common killer of chromis - but after two months I wouldn’t expect it to pop up.

Tiger pistols are harmless - they don’t kill fish (they can barely see). My money is on the clowns, which are notoriously aggressive, especially in small tanks.

That’d be interesting especially since the damage was fair significant. However now you mention it my clowns are getting territorial when I put my arms in the tank nipping and chasing me.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Do you have any cuc? Whatever killed it, they would do a pretty good job picking apart the body after the death.

 

[wjm6449]

Do you have any cuc? Whatever killed it, they would do a pretty good job picking apart the body after the death.

snails, the shrimp, urchin. about it.

 

[Northern Flicker]

When I worked at an LFS, I tried to talk people out of Chromis. Unfortunately they just don't do well in most tanks. The only time I ever saw them look like they were truly happy was when I serviced a tank at the Mandarin that had around 60 of them.

 

[littlefoxx]

Hi all, I just went to my 16 gal biocube to do my daily checks and found a casualty in my tank, a green chromis fish (thank god he's cheap?) torn to ribbons on the powerhead. I am pretty much 99% sure it was my pistol tiger shrimp as I have only two clownfish and a hermit, a bicolor blenny and a randalls, lets face it, they arent going to rip off the rear tail and gut a chromis up the middle.

That said, should I worry about an ammonia spike since I just caught the casualty? Also, that said, do I need to worry about my clowns being next on the list? If not, any advice on what fish to replace the Chromis? I think what made him an easy target is at night he hides in the rockwork, which is prime real estate for my pistol shrimp.... does this occur if he's underfed? Should I be placing an offering of food in front of his burrow every day? Any advice is appreciated, I dont need a jack the ripper on my hands.

That stated, I also had fed my tank that night, saw the shrimp and it had grabbed a few bites of mysis shrimp. It could have been getting hungry, I am only providing 1/2 a cube of Mysis to 5 heads not including the shrimp, but no one looked skinny. I should note the Chromis was also chilling particularly close to the pistol shrimps cave.

I second getting a watchmen goby for the shimp. My two are best buds. And honestly I think the chromis died and the pistol just got to it and was eating it before you found it.

 

[littlefoxx]

When I worked at an LFS, I tried to talk people out of Chromis. Unfortunately they just don't do well in most tanks. The only time I ever saw them look like they were truly happy was when I serviced a tank at the Mandarin that had around 60 of them.

Huh interesting, Ive got a trio of green in my reef tank and they look like they have a blast. Always together!

 

[wjm6449]

I second getting a watchmen goby for the shimp. My two are best buds. And honestly I think the chromis died and the pistol just got to it and was eating it before you found it.

Not entirely sure. Yesterday found that my pistol shrimp assassinated my hermit crab. I’m thinking that I may need to target feet the ******* .

 

[littlefoxx]

Not entirely sure. Yesterday found that my pistol shrimp assassinated my hermit crab. I’m thinking that I may need to target feet the ******* .

I had a pistol that picked a fight with one of my halloween hermits and that hermit took him out my one now is very chill.