Pistol Shrimp

I will be getting a Yellow Watchman Goby this weekend. I am strongly considering getting a Pistol Shrimp to go with it, in hopes that they will buddy up. That being said. I'd like any of you that have a type of pistol to weigh in on the care and feeding, make rec's on a type of pistol. Also, any of you with a YWG and Pistol pair, please give me a little info on how you got them to buddy(if you did anything) and what to look for. Thanx.

 

Following... i have a pink spotted watchman, no pistol shrimp.

 

I brought the shrimp (Tiger Shrimp) and the YWG home in the same bag from the LFS.

When I added them I had the light off. Mine paired up immediately

Shrimps will eat any fish they can get a hold of. I feed pellets, and Rod's Frozen food.

Move all smaller frags off the sand bed, the pistol will attempt to drag them down the borrow, even smaller clams are fare game.

If you do not see the typical cloud of sand for a few days the shrimp is most likely molting.

 

I would rather buy them already paired. I'm not sure if the LFS that I'll be going to has them paired. I don't even know yet if they have any pistol shrimp. I know they have some YWG. I guess I'll just have to call them again to find out about the shrimp. I wonder what the chances are that I could get them to put them together in a tank until I get there Sunday. Then they would have a head start on pairing when I put them in my DT.

 

I ordered my pair from the LFS. Usually if they do have Pistols they are in the same tank with Gobies.

 

I don't think I've ever heard of this pairing. Can you all expand on this? Do they hang out together or take care of one another? Just curious.

 

It's a symbiotic relationship.

The Goby gets a nice safe borrow and home built by the shrimp.

The shrimp having very poor vision if not totally blind is alerted to predators by the Goby.

If a predator or threat approaches the Goby jesters to the shrimp and the shrimp hides within the borrow. If you watch them interact you will see the Goby simply move it's tail or twitch and the shrimp will dive down the hole.

Both live in the same borrow built by the shrimp.

There are quite a few different types of Gobies and different types of Pistol shrimp that have this relationship.
If you know what your looking for it's easy to observe them in the wild behaving this way.

 

That sounds so cool. I just looked up the pistol shrimp and they are deadly to regular shrimp? My plan is to get some sexy shrimp...that wouldn't be a good idea correct?

 

Dont worry about pairing. The pistol shrimp will snap its claws and that is how the goby will find it. Mine didn't pair up for a few days. Even now my goby will swim around and check out old burrows. But by morning they are together again.

 

My wife and I bought a YWG and tiger pistol shrimp after reading about their symbiotic relationship. They were not paired when I bought them and actually came from separate tanks. I acclimated and put them in the tank at the same time and they immediately went in opposite directions. We went to bed and found them living in the cave together the next morning. Very cool.

What I really like about them is that you don't see them as often as you see the other tankmates and it is a treat every time they decide to show themselves. You rarely see them apart and the pistol shrimp almost always has at least one antenna on the goby.

+1 on the shrimp going after corals on the sandbed. It will go after snails too.