A pistol shrimp ate my lobster!

[Simon68]

Got a lobster as throw in from Richard. I come home last night and my wife and kids said something (a mantis maybe) dragged our lobster under the rock and ate him. I take a look and I can see the lobster there and after awhile the perp comes out, he's a big pistol shrimp. Never even knew he existed, nice hitchhiker!
Could he have killed the lobster or was the lobster prob already dead and he just dragged him under for dinner?
Are they a threat to anything else in the tank. I am missing a pep shrimp as well, and I know I have a mantis on the other side of the tank.

 

[redwarrior77]

I've heard that different kinds of shrimp will fight each other in the same tank. (At one time I was under some strange kind of idea that it would be cool to have a peppermint shrimp and a blood shrimp together and I was told this wasn't going to work.) I'm not sure about actually eating each other. I have heard that a mantis shrimp would love to eat a peppermint, though.

It sounds like you may never know who the true killer was!

 

[divemonster]

Re: A pistol shrimp ate my lobster!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13005841#post13005841 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Simon68
Got a lobster as throw in from Richard. I come home last night and my wife and kids said something (a mantis maybe) dragged our lobster under the rock and ate him. I take a look and I can see the lobster there and after awhile the perp comes out, he's a big pistol shrimp. Never even knew he existed, nice hitchhiker!
Could he have killed the lobster or was the lobster prob already dead and he just dragged him under for dinner?
Are they a threat to anything else in the tank. I am missing a pep shrimp as well, and I know I have a mantis on the other side of the tank.

The mantis may have been responsible for the peppermint shrimp but it might've been crabs. I lost one to a large stone crab :mad2: It sounds more pausible that the lobster may have been dead and the pistol was helping you clean up. But I'm new at this reef keeping stuff and could be wrong.

 

[Maxi]

The pistol shrimps natural prey are shrimp. So, don't be surprised if you do loose something. Provide it with a goby, and the pistol shrimps agression should drop. Also feed the goby often, it will share its food with the pistol shrimp.

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13006740#post13006740 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Maxi
The pistol shrimps natural prey are shrimp. So, don't be surprised if you do loose something. Provide it with a goby, and the pistol shrimps agression should drop. Also feed the goby often, it will share its food with the pistol shrimp.

Maxi, thanks for the great information! Now I know why my goby lives in a specific part of the tank. That's where the pistol shrimp lives.

 

[redwarrior77]

It's neat to watch the goby/pistol shrimp pairing. The pistol shrimp takes care of cleaning and building them a burrow and the goby acts as a guard and helps provide food.