Help! Sponge dwelling snapping shrimp hitchhikers - endangered species?

[exosket]

Hi Guys,

 

I posted an earlier thread in this invert forum about finding what I thought to be two pistol shrimp babies. You guys reassured me my existing pistols couldn’t successfully reproduce, so offspring couldn’t be the answer. I put them in a container with some sand and rubble in my sump and continued tank duties. It kept bothering me wondering where they came from so the googling began. Hours later, I think I’ve figured it out. I was annoyed my large colony of clove polyps was slowly being smothered by a gigantic sponge. I knew the sponge was there when I purchased it but thought it would add to the diversity of the tank. I never dipped the colony- just added it to my tank. Fast forward to today, the clove polyps were being taken over by the sponge and I had to intervene. I placed the colony in a container of water and gently began removing the sponge. The sponge had openings and as I began ripping at these, the pistols started snapping. I thought it was the two I have in the display so paid it no attention. The more sponge I removed, the more snapping until finally I found one shrimp and then a second. Please watch the video linked below. I have the larger female ‘queen’ and one worker. I wish I had paid attention because there were probably more I missed in the beginning. What do I do now  I destroyed their sponge home.

 

 

 

[mndfreeze]

Pretty sure you don't have that exact species of shrimp, they are TINY.  Like ultra ultra small tiny.  You wouldn't be able to hear their snapping.  

 

What did you do with the shrimpies?  If there are bits of the sponge left and you want to keep the shrimp, it will most likely grow back slowly over time.

[exosket]

17 minutes ago, mndfreeze said:

Pretty sure you don't have that exact species of shrimp, they are TINY.  Like ultra ultra small tiny.  You wouldn't be able to hear their snapping.  

 

What did you do with the shrimpies?  If there are bits of the sponge left and you want to keep the shrimp, it will most likely grow back slowly over time.

I have them in a container in my sump with sand and rubble. The sponge is totally gone. I salvaged some polyps from that rock and threw the rest out. Once that sponge hit the air the smell was foul. This was all before I knew they lived in sponges. I keep looking at them and they aren’t acting like normal pistols would. They are just hiding in the rubble and not moving. When I disturb them, they swim around in circles.  I feel awful.

[mndfreeze]

Well, IMO you can probably just put them back in your display and there is a chance they will be fine.  Sponges can come back from even just a few cells, though it could take quite some time.  It's also possible you have more sponges in dark places you dont or can't see like inside your rocks, etc.  

 

How big are these that you managed to save?  Can you get some pics of them?  If you don't want them in your tank you can take them to a local LFS, but they might just flush em, depends on the LFS I suppose.  Personally I'd love to have em but I dont have the cash to pay for you to ship them to Arizona.  

 

Also, the fact that you only found 2 leads me to believe you probably have a more common pistol species.   It IS really really hard to breed most shrimp but its not impossible to have occurred.  If they look like your 2 store bought ones there is a very very very unlikely possibility they did breed and some of them did survive the various plankton stages into juvenile form.  More likely however is that these are just another tiny species and probably a mated pair.  A lot of pistol shrimp pair up.  If it was social shrimp like the video you posted there would have been a lot more then 2.

[exosket]

8 hours ago, mndfreeze said:

Well, IMO you can probably just put them back in your display and there is a chance they will be fine.  Sponges can come back from even just a few cells, though it could take quite some time.  It's also possible you have more sponges in dark places you dont or can't see like inside your rocks, etc.  

 

How big are these that you managed to save?  Can you get some pics of them?  If you don't want them in your tank you can take them to a local LFS, but they might just flush em, depends on the LFS I suppose.  Personally I'd love to have em but I dont have the cash to pay for you to ship them to Arizona.  

 

Also, the fact that you only found 2 leads me to believe you probably have a more common pistol species.   It IS really really hard to breed most shrimp but its not impossible to have occurred.  If they look like your 2 store bought ones there is a very very very unlikely possibility they did breed and some of them did survive the various plankton stages into juvenile form.  More likely however is that these are just another tiny species and probably a mated pair.  A lot of pistol shrimp pair up.  If it was social shrimp like the video you posted there would have been a lot more then 2.

I’ll take some pics of them today!

the female is quite larger than the male, the male is about the size of a adult amphipod, maybe a bit larger and is kind of clearish and the female has a slight pink tinge to her but also clear. I have candy cane pistols in the display and I’m pretty sure these are not them. 

I’ll probably not take them to my lfs. They seem too fragile and tiny. If no one local wants them, I’ll release them back into the display and hope the dragonets don’t snag them. 

[exosket]

Got some pics of these guys! Noticed they each have the larger claw on opposite hands so they were holding hands after I moved them in here for pics. Must be a pair? Tried to include a measurement you can see in one photo. Put them back in their chaeto house... closest thing I have to a large sponge for them.

 

[kismetsh]

They are so cute!

[exosket]

14 hours ago, kismetsh said:

They are so cute!

They are pretty cute

 

My boyfriend gave me the idea of purchasing a large live sponge for them and letting them live in that in the sump or frag tank. I wonder what these guys eat? Some articles I read mentioned they feed off their sponge home. 

 

Anyone in NYC area interested in taking them? 

[mndfreeze]

Thats pretty rad! I'm jealous.  If you decide to try to buy a sponge for them, try to find one that is the same species or similar.  Its very possible they are commensal with just that species or type, or it could have just been the best hiding place for them being they are so small.  I would definitely put them back in the display.  Best done after you get them a hiding place then put the entire hiding place in with them in it, at lights off.  They will most likely end up fish food if you don't get them right into the rock work or sponges the second they enter the water.

 

The ones you linked in the video are different I'm pretty sure though.  The video ones are smaller then grains of rice and you would have found more then just two.  They are most likely a mated pair though as its fairly common in pistol species.

 

[jesseatam]

Those shrimp are an awsome find! I love pistol shrimp.

[hoodle]

That was a neat video.