Pistol Shrimp in nano reef?

[Frank B]

I've noticed other people posting on the various boards about keeping a pistol shrimp/watchman goby combo in their nano reef, which I think is a neat idea. I would like to try this with a tiger pistol shrimp and a yellow watchman goby but my question is would the shrimp cause an avalanche in the tank? And would the shrimp harm any of my other inhabitants?

 

Tank specs:

10 gallon Perfecto

Aquaclear 150 w/ no media

Aquaclear 301 PH

Ebo Jager 50watt TS submersible heater

19" JBJ 2x36 watt PC (1x10000K/ 1xActinic Blue)

20#Arag-Alive (mixed grade)

14# Fiji Live Rock

 

Tank Inhabitants:

4 Scarlet Reef Crabs

2 Blue legged reef crabs

4 Margarita snails

6-8 Nassarius snails (I put in 8 but have only counted 6 lately)

3 Turbo snails ( I will be finding a new home for these soon)

one rock of green button polyps(20-30 strong)

one mixed yellow polyp/ pink and beige Zoo rock

one star polyp rock

tons of pods, some spaghetti worms, a couple bristle worms, some tube worms, some mantis shrimp(yikes), and a small crab of some sort that will be gome soon.

 

I plan on adding more corals and polyps and possibly a fish or two but I was just curious about the pistol shrimp and watchman goby doing any harm to my tank if I decided to go that route.

Thanks,

Frank

 

ps sorry for the long post

[davejan]

I recently got a tiger pistol shrimp with a yellow watchman for my 20 gallon. I was fine becasue all but one of my rocks are secured and the sand just filled in under them so they couldn't fall over. I have 4 scarlet hermits and a blue leg, 4 or five margaritas and the same amount of nassarius. I have had them for 5 days and they haven't caused any problems so far. I haven't had any sandstorms either.

[The Unit]

I LOVE PISTOL/GOBIE PAIRS!! i have a yellow watchman and tiger pistole in my 2.5 gal and have a nother pistol on the way from saltwaterfish.com...i dont have any problems with the rocks as the shrimp are blinfd but GREAT diggers and they no what will hold and what wont....they will constantly move your sand around and they are great to watch...i had a hermit attach my pistol about a week ago[ or i think it was the hermits as i pu them in to go after some hair algea and the next day my shrimp has no claws] well he molted and he has them back but they are smaller claws but will be bigger next molt...i just love these guys..........

 

OH and dont but them as a "Pair" from your LFS or anywhere...they wil pair up naturaly so SAVE YOUR MONEY...but the shrimp ..under $15...buy the gobie[ under $20]

[Frank B]

Thanks for the replies. They are greatly appreciated.

 

So you are saying that even if the live rock is placed on top of the sand that the pistol shrimp will know not to dig too deep so as to not topple the rock work over? I know I should have put the rock in first.... Did you put your shrimp and goby in at the same time and let them pair off naturally or did you put one in first and put the other in later on? Do you keep your tank well covered, because I heard that these gobies like to pretend that they can fly? If so I have a glass top that I can put on top of the tank, I just took it off because I didn't like the glare that the JBJ's gave off in the tank when I had the tank covered.

Thanks again,

Frank