Any tips on finding (and evicting) a pistol shrimp?

[Len]

There's been clicking in my tank at night. It's singular clicks, not rapid fire like my last mantis shrimp in the 120g, so I'm fairly confident I have a pistol shrimp in my tank (have lost no fish and no snails lately). I think I've localized the clicking to one side of the tank, but I can't find any burrows or freshly disturbed sand where the pistol might be residing.

Since pistol shrimps are blind, am I correct in assuming they don't move around much?

 

[Anonymous]

I've had a clicking in my tank for months, and like you, couldn't find any clues to where it was. It wasn't until last week that I found a small pile of newly turned sand in front of a hole under some LR. I looked in and there it was! Very small, only about 1.5". It's amazing he can make such a loud noise. :!:

Sorry, though, can't really offer any tips, except to keep looking for the burrow. Trying to follow the direction the clicks come from is tough, though. For a while I thought mine was in the refugium.

Yes, I think you're correct in assuming they don't move around much.

 

[Anonymous]

Mine tunnel all over the place and have a couple of holes in which to escape.

Why do you want to evict him?

 

[Anonymous]

Mine lasted almost 8 years, but I never found him during the great tank purge of 2006. He is probably dead in some rock in my garden, now.



Why would you want to get rid of it? They aren't harmful in any way, are they?

 

[Anonymous]

If you supply some pictures of your tank we may be able to come up with a solution.

 

[Len]

Nice try, Mark

I know they aren't reportedly harmful, but I still worry about my fish and would prefer not to chance it.

 

[Anonymous]

Sometimes hermit's shell will tap on the glass as they climb around and make a popping sound. Any hermits in that "tank"?

 

[Anonymous]

Nice try, Mark

I know they aren't reportedly harmful, but I still worry about my fish and would prefer not to chance it.

Got to try. I did some work on my stand. I'm waiting on you before I post any more pics.

 

[Anonymous]

Nice try, Mark

I know they aren't reportedly harmful, but I still worry about my fish and would prefer not to chance it.

Mine shared a tank with clown gobies and never posed a problem.

 

[Len]

I guess I have a strong paranoia to any crustacean that clicks. The mantis in my old tank killed a lot of fish.

 

[Anonymous]

I received one or more pistol shrimp with my gulf live rock in my previous tank. I would regularly hear "snap!" from my tank at night, especially soon after the lights go out. No notable fish loss that I can recall.

 

[waymack97]

i too have a pistal somewhere. and he/she has claimed 3 fish. a tang a mandrain and a copperband. i have tried to find it for almost two years with no luck. click...click. all the time. i have found snails shells with small holes in them to. a guy at the lfs said to put a lion fish in the tank, but i can't cause i have other shrimp i'd rather keep.
_________________
Honda Orthia

 

[Len]

waymack, i think you have a mantis, sorry to say. Pistols can't punch through snail shells. The snapping sound they make is actually a mini-sonic boom. It's a high pressure bubble used to stone small organisms, but it doesn't pack the walop that the physical punches of mantis shrimps can cuase.

 

[waymack97]

man i don't want to hear that bummer. i hope you catch your pistol. have you tried baiting it in a trap.
_________________
Mercedes Benz 430

 

[Anonymous]

I used to have one in my tank and I found that he was really a attention whore. I would take a picture of my tank and he would come right out, but he would only stay for a second or too. I found that if I posted the pictures on reefs.org, then he was out all the time and I just reached in a grabbed him with a net. I would try that if I were you.



:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

 

[Len]

:lol:

 

[Anonymous]

unfortunately I have not had to attempt to catch any shrimp so I am completely at a loss. However with a picture of the tank as a schematic I might be able to come up with something.

 

[Anonymous]

I used to have one in my tank and I found that he was really a attention whore. I would take a picture of my tank and he would come right out, but he would only stay for a second or too. I found that if I posted the pictures on reefs.org, then he was out all the time and I just reached in a grabbed him with a net. I would try that if I were you.



:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

BRAVO!

 

[Anonymous]

I used to have one in my tank and I found that he was really a attention whore. I would take a picture of my tank and he would come right out, but he would only stay for a second or too. I found that if I posted the pictures on reefs.org, then he was out all the time and I just reached in a grabbed him with a net. I would try that if I were you.

That's a good attempt to catch a Len!

 

[Anonymous]

I used to have one in my tank and I found that he was really a attention whore. I would take a picture of my tank and he would come right out, but he would only stay for a second or too. I found that if I posted the pictures on reefs.org, then he was out all the time and I just reached in a grabbed him with a net. I would try that if I were you.

That's a good attempt to catch a Len!

I'd rather try and catch that pistol shrimp, it can't wiggle as much as Len!