Pistol Shrimp and Snails

[phOOey]

As my multies will be moving to the new 20g soon, i was planning on making the 5g into a saltwater nano. I started a thread a while back about this and all my questions were answered.

But i just i have just one more question . I was looking into getting a pistol shrimp, but i read that the pistol shrimp used its developed 'shooting' claw, to break the shells of other crustaceans and eat them. So i was wondering if pistol shrimp could be kept with, hermits and snails?

 

[1979camaro]

ive never heard of this happening...many people keep pistols with other inverts...perhaps you are thinking of mantis shrimp?

 

[phOOey]

I'm not sure, i was pretty certain that it was talking of the pistol shrimp, i'll try and find the link.

 

[phOOey]

This was the link, but i now realize that it says that they are capable of doing it, not that they actually go around doing it in the aquarium

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/pistolshrimps.htm

 

[1979camaro]

yah...i suppose its possible then, but i don't think it is a common occurance...i thought most of the alpheid shrimp were scavengers anyway, but i've never kept one so i haven't researched extensively...let me look it up in a book and ill repost

 

[1979camaro]

alrighty here is what ive found:

nilsen indicates that their "normal diet is small invertebrates, but will take substitute meaty foods in captivity" and that they are reef safe, but require a deep sand bed for burrowing and do best in relatively low density aquariums

calfo gives a much more in depth description, the gist of which is that they will take both algal based foods and meaty fare and should be provided with at least 5 options though the majority of those should be meaty. brine shrimp (as we know generally) is not a sufficient staple food so krill and other small crustaceans make better options. because they dig, be sure to place all rockwork on the glass not on the sandbed and be sure that all rockwork is secure (cable ties, pvc substructure, glue, or something) because an avalanche can easily occur. the substrate should include different sizes of sand and crushed coral because it is impossible for the alpheids to construct a burrow using only fine grade sand. a good option is to provide it with several burried pipes (capped on the burried end) as a sort of ready made burrow. they tend to attack not out of agression, but out of territorial intrusion so most often they play well with others as long as the area around the bolt hole (burrow) is not intruded

 

[phOOey]

Wow, thanks for all the info camaro, theres alot more to pistol shrimp than i thought! So basically they should be alright with snails and hermits as long as they have they have enough of the right types of food, right?

Thanks

 

[1979camaro]

sounds that way

 

[aresgod]

yea I have 2 pistols, A japanese and a tiger, each in different tanks, one took to the burrow i set up for him, the other didnt, they eat pretty much anything, and keep to themselves, being basically blind they really dont leave the safety of the bolt hole, I have watchman gobbies in both tanks, and again one paired and one didnt kinda cool to see them living in symbiosis, they are fun little guys and havent hurt any of my inverts, they do burrrow but not too extensively at least in my case, one thing that you have to get used to is the popping sound, I have woken up in the middle of the night and ran to the aquarium thinking i heard the glass crack, but it was just my little old pistol shrimp, sounds a little bit like a cap gun, cool choice though hope you get one
Brahm

 

[phOOey]

I was going to get a randalls pistol shrimp, and a hi fin red banded goby in the 5g. Maybe that will pair up, but i hear that it's not all that easy to do.

 

[1979camaro]

your best bet is to buy an already matched pair (one that was collected that way)