Mantis vs pistol shrimp

[Kamao]

I have a pistol shrimp in my tank, and earlier today i noticed a smaller mantis shrimp. It is half the size of the pistol shrimp. Will they attack each other, more importantly, will the mantis kill my pistol shrimp?

[Kamao]

*bump*

[lanceleaderx]

i think mantis will take pistol shrimp one shot ~~ , so get the mantis out first

[Longinus]

i think mantis will take pistol shrimp one shot ~~ , so get the mantis out first

 

I second that, but I say get the pistol out first

More seriously though, try to catch the mantis alive, they are really neat critters.

[Nick's Reef]

What kind of pistol is it? I have one that pairs up with my gobies and does no harm. And yeah get the mantis out.

[CoolGuy77]

I read somewhere once that, depending on the size and type, a pistol shrimp can actually kill a mantis shrimp. It said it's one of the few inverts that can do this. If I find where I saw that I'll post it, but I probably won't find it. If I didn't read that I would of said the pistol doesn't stand a chance.

 

 

Edit: Here's a cool video I found it's probably not a pistol shrimp we'd have in our tanks, but it's still pretty cool.

 

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/653413/pistol_shrimp/

[Kamao]

I dont know what kind of pistol it is, but its cool and i wanna keep it. It hasnt killed off the mantis yet even if theyre not far from each other, if it will ever kill the mantis. Catching the mantis will be hard. Its not big and my tank got liverock with a LOT of hiding places. It wont be an easy task to catch the sucker. I hope the mantis will kill some of the hitchhiker crabs though.

[mattyice]

hahahahahahaha you guys crack me up, if the mantis is half the size of the pistol chances are the pistol will kill it if it tries anything, that mantis is most likely fully grown and wont do any damage to the pistol, and a pistol can kill a mantis but...they have to team up on a mantis, if not the mantis will be persistant and kill the pistol only if it is larger

[Polscot]

they will be fine untill the mantis reached 1.5 time the size of the pistol, BUT if u feed the mantis and keep a routine of it he wont touch the pistol at all

[cuog]

I think you'd be best looking for ways to trap the mantis now before it gets too big that it becomes a problem, and hopefully you can trade it for some corals or something. Since he's half the size of the pistol you'll have some time before the two start to battle, might as well take advantage of that.