pistol shrimp + gobies

[pr0teus]

does anyone have a goby and pistol shrimp that are 'buddied' up? i just read about how pistol shrimp have this symbiotic relationship with some gobies... utterly fascinating!

if you do have a goby + pistol shrimp, what kind of things do they do? do they really share food, etc etc?

 

[morg59]

I have a pistol shrimp that has been sharing bunks with a yellow watchman goby for over a year. The goby really does watch out for the shrimp and seems to try to protect it. My shrimp however has obsessive compulsive tunneling disorder. Each day I watch the shrimp work relentlessly to build the perfect cave. The next day no hole exists at all where it was the night before but a new one across the tank has started. Its almost as if the goby is the picky wife who can never be satisfied and the shrimp is the poor husband caught in a forever hell of doing honey do's

 

[Anonymous]

Mine don't share food, but they do occupy a burrow together. Pairing them is sometimes species specific, you can't always just put any old goby with a pistol shrimp. Lots of places will probably sell you an established pair. I have a yasha or whiteray goby, Stonogobiops sp., paired with an Alpheus sp. shrimp. I'm not sure of the species of the shrimp.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't pistol shrimp snap hard enough to crack a glass tank????

I heard this several times, but so many people have them that it can't be true.

Also, don't they hunt small fish and crustaceans? Or do they just scavenge? I though the snapping was to stun prey.

Is this pair reef safe?

 

[Anonymous]

Absolutely. My pistol shrimp is housed with a firefish and an anemone crab and has harmed neither. I've seen it attack bristleworms, but it leaves small snails alone. I doubt their snap could crack a glass tank. You might be thinking of a mantis shrimp (Stomatopod).