Feeding pistol shrimp?
- Thread starter MrMorton
- Start date
EvMiBo
VictoriaConcordiaCrescit
I've never spot fed mine. Though I do see him come out to grab pellets and flakes from time to time (from feeding fish). I'm sure he gets scraps more then I notice. Mine seems to be very careful and quite shy, I'm not sure how successful and/or needed spot feeding would be.
I give mine a sinking invert pellet from time to time. It scavenges for leftovers when I feed my fish.
BEASTIEPENDENT
Member
In Germany we have live "food shrimp", which are Palaemon or Palaemonetes shrimp found in brackish waters along the european coasts. You get a small bag with some 20 to 30 of them for around 3 Dollars. These are big shrimp and our mantis shrimp Gonodactylus viridis "loves" them. He has to hunt a little bit what surely is good for him than just get frozen shrimp. If your pistol shrimp hunts something like this would be good.
SparseReef
New member
I'm not sure that spot feeding would work particularly well since getting near their entrance usually puts them into retreat mode. However, I could see it being beneficial to squirt some amphipods/copepods into the entrance in the hopes that they'll live inside for awhile before leaving the burrow. Mine comes out and hunts along the rocks, shooting into small crevices to stun inverts, so I'd imagine that would work just as well in the burrow. If you don't have other fish/inverts that will eat up your pod population, you could always just supplement the tank feeding with live pods since they'll stay alive in the tank and the shrimp can hunt them on its own schedule.
MrMorton
New member
how long can these guys survive in saltwater?? I ask because another I do not have any brackish tanks set up...I would like to just have a shrimp population in the tank that the tiger shrimp can hunt at will...
Wait!? pistol shrimp eat pods??
BEASTIEPENDENT
Member
Hi 
They come from saltwater, they just are euryhaline and do ALSO live in brackish water. But You can give them in the tank as "population" until the pistol shrimp has catched the all up. They usually don't reproduce successfully in a tank (larvae are shreddered by filters etc.) but they can live there as long as any fish or cleaning shrimp etc.
They come from saltwater, they just are euryhaline and do ALSO live in brackish water. But You can give them in the tank as "population" until the pistol shrimp has catched the all up. They usually don't reproduce successfully in a tank (larvae are shreddered by filters etc.) but they can live there as long as any fish or cleaning shrimp etc.
SparseReef
New member
They definitely hunt other inverts, though I can't say for sure what they're going after. Copepods could well be too small for them, but I'm pretty sure amphipods would be on the menu. This is based on them being all around scavengers/hunters plus seeing mine hunting on the rocks. If it was only based on hearing it "clicking" when it's in its burrow, then I'd assume maybe it was only eating worms and other larger prey, but I've seen it probing small crevices (this is in home-made rock, so I know the spots it's going for don't have tunnels that worms could hide in) with it's claws and then "shooting" into them. Maybe others can chime in if they have similar (or completely opposite) experiences.
MrMorton
New member
Hi
They come from saltwater, they just are euryhaline and do ALSO live in brackish water. But You can give them in the tank as "population" until the pistol shrimp has catched the all up. They usually don't reproduce successfully in a tank (larvae are shreddered by filters etc.) but they can live there as long as any fish or cleaning shrimp etc.
awesome...do the shrimp have a common name...also do you know any websites that have them for sale?? Thanks!
more awesome...another live food source...except I can breed these guys :fun4: How often does yours go hunting and how does its goby act during the hunt??
BEASTIEPENDENT
Member
Hi
Nice weekend, Ollie
I know some shops "“ but in Germany only. Don't know if they are commonly sold in the US. Vernacular name"¦ hm, just "Common prawn". The exact species is not to determine without microscopic examination by an expert. Commonly we think it can be these species: http://www.reeflex.net/tiere/854_Palaemon_serratus.htm or http://www.reeflex.net/tiere/1473_Palaemonetes_varians.htm
Nice weekend, Ollie
SparseReef
New member
I don't see mine out hunting too often, maybe once every week or two. The shrimp and goby live under a large flat rock, like 2'x1' and they spend most of their time opening up entrances on different sides of that. It's only on the occasions when the shrimp decides he wants to go for a stroll and starts excavating a trench across the tank and finds some new rocks. The goby just does his normal thing, sitting up above the trench (always with the shrimps antenna on him) and keeping watch. He does seem a bit more alert, but most of the other fish have learned not to mess with the pair.
I figure, if you supplement the pods anyway, there's a better chance of them finding their way into the burrow, so it's not gonna hurt anything. I hear the shrimp clicking away pretty much every day from inside the house, so I assume he must be finding something delicious in there. I've seen the shrimp, goby and two 12"+ bristle worms all sticking out of the same entrance without any animosity, so I doubt that the shrimp is spending his time battling the worms in the burrow.
All of this said, I also just find it awesome watching my tank and seeing little amphipods scuttling in and out of the rockwork. Diversity rocks!
I figure, if you supplement the pods anyway, there's a better chance of them finding their way into the burrow, so it's not gonna hurt anything. I hear the shrimp clicking away pretty much every day from inside the house, so I assume he must be finding something delicious in there. I've seen the shrimp, goby and two 12"+ bristle worms all sticking out of the same entrance without any animosity, so I doubt that the shrimp is spending his time battling the worms in the burrow.
All of this said, I also just find it awesome watching my tank and seeing little amphipods scuttling in and out of the rockwork. Diversity rocks!
SparseReef
New member
woops, double post
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