Soldier missing in action (pistol shrimp)

[Calappidae]

For the past 2 months my tiger pistol has always been an eyesore in my 125 gallon with his ywg. For the past week I haven't been able to find him.. and he never comes out for food.. I also see the watchman goby swimming around more often and out in the open with no visible antennas or pistol shrimp around him..

What is the molting behaviors like for these? Or is it not looking good given the situation..

The only new addition was a 6" diameter brittle star (hitchhiking in my ten gallon)

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Hope you find him. Do you hear the pistol popping sound?

 

[Calappidae]

Hope you find him. Do you hear the pistol popping sound?

Nope

 

[ArmasCG]

I have had my pistols go missing for up to a month at a time in a large tank and it turned out fine. Mine tended to molt quickly and didn't really seal themselves up for long though. Yours may just be exploring, worst case scenario is it dug under the wrong rock and accidentally crushed itself.

 

[Calappidae]

It came out! phew..

And buried my plate coral..welcome back I guess

 

[robotman]

It came out! phew..

And buried my plate coral..welcome back I guess

awww i love my pistols, not a fan of tigerrs though, they seem more aggresive

 

[Calappidae]

awww i love my pistols, not a fan of tigerrs though, they seem more aggresive

Ironically the tigers are pretty safe. My tiger hasen't hurt a fly (Other than my plate coral.. several times, seriously he hates my plate coral.. he stood there shooting the coral for 5 minutes straight..) I think it depends on the animal's diet. Usually the goby pairing shrimps are safer and more of a scavenger while the ones who don't pair are more aggressive hunters (bullseye for example). A tiger does get bigger so maybe in a nano tank full of small shrimp like sexies one can say they're a little aggressive.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QSuuPVJ-jgQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
litteraly seconds after I stopped recording he started snapping at it.. sadly I couldn't catch that on film (sorry for poor quality btw)

 

[Calappidae]

Last night my tps shot the yellow tang. It got in his face and then snapped at it.. the tang is perfectly fine (But the ywg nearly jumped out of the tank being startled)

 

[robotman]

jesus your tiger is huge, i rarely see my randalls pistol, but my yellow pistol is getting much bigger and is constructing alot.

 

[Calappidae]

jesus your tiger is huge, i rarely see my randalls pistol, but my yellow pistol is getting much bigger and is constructing alot.

My tps and ywg is only 2 inches long, and the plate is about a 3 inch radius

I used to have a green pistol shrimp that randomly disappeared a long time ago.. never seen it.. this tiger pistol on there other hand will not stop building and is always out in the open moving sand.. and the plate coral.. Thats why I was concerned when he disappeared for a week.

I was consituring getting more pistols in that tank but this tiger litteraly claimed the entire 125 gallon.. I don't think there's a spot for another's terratory.