I have always been interested in pistol shrimp. I have a diamond goby now who does a great job at cleaning my sand. Here are my concerns if I get a pistol. What are the odds it will pair with my diamond? If it does pair, will my goby still venture and clean the sand? What are the dangers to me/other inverts of owning a pistol shrimp (can i have other shrimp, crabs?) How loud is the click and how often (roughly)? Thanks for your input.
Pistol Shrimp
- Thread starter cdeboard
- Start date
I'm not sure where you got this information, but it is incorrect. The diamond goby is in the watchman goby speices and will pair with a pistol shrimp from the same geographical region.
A tiger pistol would be a good choice. They are the more active of the symbiotic pistol species and are great fun to watch. Here is more info on pistol shrimp - http://hubpages.com/hub/pistol-shrimp
As far as pairing them up, they typically find each other very quickly, especially if you release the pistol near where to goby has it's burrow. The sound of their pop will vary. My tiger only pops loudly when something has entered it's burrow (snail, crab, etc). It will occasionally pop very qiuetly, a few clicks at a time. Overall, not very loud at all, and maybe only a few times a day.
Yeah I was waiting for more replies before I said anything. The documentary I have shows several of them with orange spot gobies. Thanks for the info!
I have my 90g in my living room. Thats why I was wondering about the clicks. It would be interesting to hear them occassionaly but didnt want it to be annoying. Anyone know if my goby will steal venture out and clean my sand. Thats my main concern.
I have my 90g in my living room. Thats why I was wondering about the clicks. It would be interesting to hear them occassionaly but didnt want it to be annoying. Anyone know if my goby will steal venture out and clean my sand. Thats my main concern.
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Hydrologist
New member
I had a hitchhiker pistol shrimp in my reef tank. I can tell you that the clicks he made was very annoying and very frequent as a result he was fed to my Clown Trigger.
Yes, it will still venture out. The pistol will follow the goby out of the burrow and will constantly be housekeeping and shoring up the entrance to the burrow. Toss some rubble and empty snail shells in there for it. Mine uses rubble and snail shells to build up the entrance to the burrow. Not a great picture, but it shows the entrance to the burrow. The black piece at the top of the entrance is a piece of plastic that broke off a PH holder. He wedged it up there and supported it with the rubble. :lol: They are clever little creatures.
It should still be the same. The pistol will try to follow it around, and more than likely it will make several burrows under your rockwork. Mine excavates it's burrows on a nightly basis, but stays in the main burrow during the day.
there are diamond watchman gobies and there are diamond sifting gobies.
so my information is correct. i have seen a few people think the same and see their diamond goby swimming around with a nice shrimp meal in its mouth.
why dont you give us a scientific name before sugar gets excited and lets you kill something.
http://www.aquacorals.com/Pics/Livestock/Fish/WYSIWYG/Goby-OrSpotted-W10.jpg
orange spotted watchman, seen sold as diamond watchman and diamond goby.
http://www.thereefshoppe.ca/images/diamond_goby.jpg
Diamond sleeper goby, seen sold as diamond watchman, and diamond sifting goby.
So before you jump to any conclusions why dont you figure out which it is first. Also, the whole diamond sleeper goby pairing with a shrimp i have yet to see or hear anything leading you to this conclusion. search google for images and you could search for days you will never find a diamond sand sifting sleeper goby paired with a pistol shrimp.
orange spotted watchman, seen sold as diamond watchman and diamond goby.
http://www.thereefshoppe.ca/images/diamond_goby.jpg
Diamond sleeper goby, seen sold as diamond watchman, and diamond sifting goby.
So before you jump to any conclusions why dont you figure out which it is first. Also, the whole diamond sleeper goby pairing with a shrimp i have yet to see or hear anything leading you to this conclusion. search google for images and you could search for days you will never find a diamond sand sifting sleeper goby paired with a pistol shrimp.
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/Diamond-Goby_p_248.html#MoreDetails
States they could pair with the pistol shrimp but seems to be a very general message.
States they could pair with the pistol shrimp but seems to be a very general message.
From general findings what you are saying is true as well. So a resolution would be to buy a shrimp goby/pistol if I really decide to get a pistol. I even read a post where someone tried to pair with a regular diamond and it did not so they bought a shrimp goby as well. I have also seen one pair with a diamond but they tend to be out of the burrow so much that the shrimp isnt happy.
So kcooley.. I have always had interest in the yellow watchman anyway. Would this be a good pair for a pistol? Will there be issues in a 90g with a yellow watchman and a diamond sleeper together?
Also will a pistol be a danger to other shrimp/inverts? (peppermints, or cleaner shrimp, crabs, etc?)
So kcooley.. I have always had interest in the yellow watchman anyway. Would this be a good pair for a pistol? Will there be issues in a 90g with a yellow watchman and a diamond sleeper together?
Also will a pistol be a danger to other shrimp/inverts? (peppermints, or cleaner shrimp, crabs, etc?)
i introduced my yellow watchman about a month before i introduced my pistol shrimp and when i put him into the watchmans burrow they had a three second tussle followed by dinner together. i think the shrimp won that argument. also, yasha gobies have come down in price reasonably in the last few years, those are my favorite. also splendid shrimp gobies. but both are a little harder to keep than the YWG. i had a diamond sleeper in my 25 with my yellow watchman and there were never any problems. when the diamond jumped out i replaced it with a two spot signal goby (too small for your tank and not hardy enough for most) and the YWG seems to think he has to be a little tougher with him. But the shrimp will be out of the burrow digging around while those two are flirting. he is the least timid pistol shrimp i have ever seen. always out right in front of the tank.
Thanks for the input. I have a fairly open sandbed. A lot of my rock is in my sump. I have decent piles of rock in my tank. Now I am just mostly worried about the pistol bothering other inhabitants and also how they will coexist with my diamond. He makes my sand look great.
I would be surprised if the pistol shrimp bothered anything. Mine is ALWAYS in his hole, and it's as if he doesn't even know about the world outside. Now that he's paired up with a goby, he doesn't seem to even look for intruders, leaving that responsibility to the goby.
I've only had this one, but I wouldn't be surprised if they would pair up with any goby that typically likes a hole to live in. That is where I wonder if you might have some issues. In other words, I don't know much about the diamond goby. If he is like my dragon goby, he never wants a hole to go into anyway, and is most often in open waters or just inside the shadow of some rock..and wouldn't go in a sand hole if it was available. He's not going to pair up with a shrimp for that reason. Still yet, I wouldn't expect any problems between the two.
I've only had this one, but I wouldn't be surprised if they would pair up with any goby that typically likes a hole to live in. That is where I wonder if you might have some issues. In other words, I don't know much about the diamond goby. If he is like my dragon goby, he never wants a hole to go into anyway, and is most often in open waters or just inside the shadow of some rock..and wouldn't go in a sand hole if it was available. He's not going to pair up with a shrimp for that reason. Still yet, I wouldn't expect any problems between the two.
Yeah the diamond is all over the place all the time. The above suggestion was to also get a yellow watchman. So that would be two gobys in a 90g. Still afraid of how that will work out. I know the yellow watchman and the pistol probably wont leave the hole much. Just afraid of feeding issues etc.
