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View Full Version : Interesting finding when removing pistol shrimp


ser_renely
05/02/2010, 07:32 AM
So, to give a bit of background I have been dealing with a lot of pistol shrimp over the past year. I took out all my rock out and 4-5 months ago to remove them, since they have killed a number of my fish. I took out about 4 of them that go around and one that was pretty big.

the larger of the pistols
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/7664/p1020114p.jpg

two working together trying to get food. Got these guys out.
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/8603/p1010889l.jpg

Put my tank all back together and two came out of the rocks and re-established their domain :( I wasn't too worried as they were small, and I figured I would be able to them out - somehow. Fast forward 5 months, and constantly trying to get the last two out, no luck. One has grown up and is pretty big, killed a couple of my fish :(

So yesterday, I finally had time to get into taking the rock out and finding the last two...or 3, as I wasn't sure how many were in there. Long and very entertaining at times story cut short, I got what I believe are the last two shrimp out. The strange thing was, when I got the bigger one out and trapped it in its home, it was living with 3 LARGE fireworms. I took them all out, even though I know fireworms are not that bad, but I decided have in 3 6inch fire worms wasn't the best thing. When I put them all in a bucket the two shrimp curled up with the firewoms....it was so bizarre. Is there some relationship between the two? Has anyone ever heard of this? I didn't take pictures, for some stupid reason. I think the larger one had an egg sac as well, not sure if that is possible?

So, I think I am pistol shrimp free for the first time ever, 2 years in the hobby. I woke up this am to not see my tank re-engineered but them....
Anyhow 6 pistol shrimp have been taking out in total, and hopefully my fish have nothing to worry about now. :)

noahm
05/02/2010, 08:55 AM
Interesting. Glad you were able to finally get them. Did you celebrate? I always did when I caught a mantis.

It took me a while to find them in your second pic. I was like 'umm... thats an emerald crab... lol' I had images of two green pistols merging together like a transformer.

ser_renely
05/02/2010, 09:10 AM
Did I ever celebrate, Champagne, lots....still hung over, and you can see all the typos in my post I am not firing at 100% :)

Ha, yeah, they killed that emerald as well, Arnold. His arms were the largest I have ever seen from an emerald, 2-3x larger than any other one I have ever seen.

Ohhh, and nothing was killed, all taken to new homes.

ser_renely
05/02/2010, 09:11 AM
dp,sorry

ser_renely
05/02/2010, 05:10 PM
I can also actually get other types of shrimp now, as well :)

ser_renely
05/09/2010, 09:15 AM
I found this on wiki, "The genus Periclimenes contains a large number of species of shrimp that live symbiotically with larger animals, most commonly sea anemones, though some corals, sea stars, sea cucumbers and, in the case of the imperial shrimp, P. imperator, the Spanish dancer sea slug, Hexabranchus sanguineus, are often preferred hosts [2]."

The Escaped Ape
05/09/2010, 10:33 AM
A lot of fish will eat Periclemenes shrimp, so think carefully before adding any more fish if you want to keep them (just saw your other thread). Check carefully - there is usually a comment in books like Scott Michael along the lines of "will eat small ornamental shrimp".