Will a pistol shrimp kill my fish or invert?

[DOTZ]

I want one, but can I put it in my tank? It's a 30L reef with a 3 inch deep sand bed.


Fish:
coral beauty
small black clown
lawnmower blenny

other animals:
2 peppermint shrimp
several hermits
emerald crab
several snails.

Also I have several soft corals and two condys.

Can I add one without the chance of it getting harmed or anything in the tank getting harmed. If there is a chance of it harming something, what is the something? Thank in advance for any help.

 

[DOTZ]

?

 

[Sk8r]

I have a 2" one in a tank with hermits, snails, peps, and a silly mandarin who doesn't understand right of way. I have seen it grab a hermit and move him. I have seen it click at one, but the impact hit the hermit's borrowed shell and did no damage. This is a tiger pistol with a yellow watchman.

 

[DOTZ]

How long has he been in there? Do you know if it make a difference on the type of pistol. The one at the LFS is a brown color and I think if I remember right it had yellow on the large claw. Anyone else have one, or know?

 

[lorawalters13]

I have a blue legged pistol shrimp that hitched a ride with some LR. He is a huge PITA. He has claimed the entire bottom of my 29g BC as his. He harasses any bottom dwelling fish, including a YMG, until they have to be relocated to another tank. He also "popped" and grabbed a feather duster I was trying to place on my sandbed.

I know lots of people like them, but I will never have another one.

 

[Sk8r]

They're very specific about species, so far as I observe. Don't just buy what your lfs has unless you see him shack up specifically with your species of goby.

Tiger pistol: YWG.
Candy cane pistol: highfin red stripe goby.

I don't know the others.

Certain other pistol shrimp are purely solitary and do not associate with gobies.

 

[akabilly]

Found this on wikipedia.com

"The snapping shrimp competes with much larger animals, like the sperm whale and beluga whale, for the title of 'loudest animal in the sea'. The shrimp snaps a specialized claw shut to create a cavitation wave that generates acoustic pressures of up to 80 kPa at a distance of 4 cm from the claw. The pressure wave is strong enough to kill small fish.[7] It corresponds to a zero to peak pressure level of 218 decibels relative to one micropascal (dB re 1 μPa), equivalent to a zero to peak source level of 190 dB re 1 μPa at the standard reference distance of 1 m. Au and Banks measured peak to peak source levels between 185 and 190 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m, depending on the size of the claw.[8] Similar values are reported by Ferguson and Cleary.[9] The duration of the click is less than 1 millisecond.

The snap can also produce sonoluminescence from a collapsing cavitation bubble. As it collapses, the cavitation bubble reaches temperatures of over 5000 K.[10] The light is of lower intensity than the light produced by typical sonoluminescence and is not visible to the naked eye. It is most likely a by-product of the shock wave with no biological significance. However, it is the first known instance of an animal producing light by this effect."

Pretty Cool effect...

 

[Inigma]

I bought a red one with blue legs and a white stripe that runs down his back. I think its a Carribean Pistol Shrimp. I did a little research on him, but not enough. I think he's one of the ones that doesn't pair with a goby. I had a Tiger Pistol for a while a few years ago. For the most part, I think your tank inhabitants will be fine. You might loose a hermit here or there, but I don't think Pistol's really attack them. They're just trying to defend their little homes under our rocks.

 

[dragonladylea]

I actually have two - a small Tiger paired with an Orange spot goby and a Caribbean mutation (best quess Id from the experts). My Mutation is approx 3"-4" long not including "whiskers" I have seen him snap at things while guarding his territory but have not ever been able to attribute a death to him. He will however "pick" assorted corals or move small frags to his den. We regularly argue over who owns a few mushroom polyps. I truely love the little critters and they have added alot of excitement to the tank and the sump (Tiger and Goby reside in the sump).

 

[Kemo484]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKPrGxB1Kzc heres a cool video of a pistol, they slow down the video so you can actually see the snap in super slow motion. I have a pistol in my tank, it's white with a blue claws, it's never bothered anything that I've noticed. It will remove a hermit from it's hole occasionally. I have 3 other shrimp in the tank also, a cleaner, peppermint and anemone shrimp. I say if you want one, go for it.