Pistol Shrimp Questions

[jag2232]

Hey, I've been considering having a pistol shrimp as one of the animals in my 75 gallon once it finishes cycling (which is going to be a while) but wanted to ask a few questions about them first. I've been looking up some info on them, but can't really find anything that seems too reputable in terms of keeping them. Is it true that these little guys can break glass with their claw snap? This is the one thing I absolutely need to know so that 75 gallons of salt water doesn't come pouring out onto the floor of my living room . Another question I had is what are some good pistol shrimp that tend to live well in captivity? When I've been searching different sites for them I come across at least 4 different pistol shrimp at a time from the sites that sell them so I have no idea which one I should consider. Thanks!

 

[Tayler]

they will not break glass with there claws.you might be mistakening them for mantis shrimp they can break glass. most pistol shrimp do good in captivity there are lots of different ones there all usually fish safe.

 

[Tylt33]

You're thinking of a mantis shrimp. A pistol shrimp by itself would be about the most boring pet you could have, while a mantis is highly entertaining.

 

[jawdubb]

I have to say although our pistol never comes out to show itself I love it. It has a burrow very close to the front of our 55 gallon tank. I hear it snap all of the time at snails, crabs and the occasional forgetful fish. It really is a beautiful shrimp, but I have almost forgotten what it looks like. I wouldn't buy it under the pretense that you will actually get to watch it though. We are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of ours on a few rare occasions. I do get to see a lot of it when I feed it mysid shrimp from the baster, but that is roughly it. The dust storm is mainly all I get to see to know it is doing well when it is redesigning its burrow. I also have a few new zoa colonies starting to grow from where he has pulled them close to the door of his home to have some flowers at his front door.

 

[ROB2005]

A Pistol shrimp by itself is boring, but when you get to pair it up with one of the Shrimpgobies, i.e. a yellow watchman, orange spot prawn, or high fin gobies, they can be very amusing to watch.

 

[dzeadow]

stick w/ Alpheus Randalli (Randall's pistol shrimp) or Alhpeus Bellulus(sp?) (Tiger pistol). The Randall's will pair up w/ more gobies and stay smaller 1-1.5". The Tiger's can get to ~3" from what I've read. I have some hi fin gobies and tiger shrimp coming tomorrow via Liveaquaria. I was worried that they wouldn't pair up since the hi fins only pair up w/ Randalls in the wild, but I saw enough pics on the internet of hi fins w/ tigers to put my mind at ease that they'll hook up. I just hope that the 2 gobies don't kill each other since there's no way of knowing sex on them... and the tigers, hopefully they sent what I asked for, opposing pistol claws. I saw a Japanese flier of some sort saying that it's one way to tell the sexes apart... but who knows if that's true. I set up a dedicated 10g tank for them w/ mixed fine grained sand and crushed coral substrate so they can make their burrows