maybe trouble

I realized that I had a hitchhiker in my LR...from the clicking sound that was going on for over a month. Silly me I thought it was the heater until my hubby saw a shrimp body one night. Well I was very worried that it was a mantis but we just got a good look at it today. It finally came out of the LR it's den is in to walk over to one of the other holes in the rock. I didn't get the best view but I know it's whitish and has a few reddish/burgundy bands around the claw I saw. The shrimp is only an inch in length and so far all my shrimps and hermits are ok.

My problem is that I thought through examining the rock yesturday that I saw two "hitchhikers" at the same time in different places (can't be sure) but I have been seeing alot of tiny tadpole like bodies swimming around. At first we thought our cleaners had babies but after realizing I had a pistol I wonder if they are baby pistols. They are tiny and swim fast in and out of the rocks. What are the chances of having 2 pistols mating in my rocks? Should I get a goby?

Is there anything I should be aware of with pistols?

 

PM inwall, he is very knowledgeable on these species.

 

Pistol (or snapping) shrimp are relatively harmless. If you have a pistol, it will have one claw that is bigger than the other one and that's the claw that makes the noise. They'll eat most anything that they can find but you can target feed them as well. Many people pair them with gobies because they have a mutalistic symbiosis with them. (I.e. the shrimp is darn near blind so it trusts the goby to let it know when there is danger. Watchman gobies can't dig tunnels in the sand but pistol shrimp can). There's all sort of cool stuff about them on this page including videos. ShrimpGoby


More than likely, the tadpoles that swim quickly in an out of the rock would be Mysis Shrimp. They are a common hitchhiker and they are completely harmless.