Pistol changing caves

[kfisher109]

Just picked up a pistol shrimp and a yellow watchman goby. The first night I put him in, I watched him build a cave under a rock right in the front of the tank. WAY cool! I was happy, 'cause I figured I could watch him and the goby once they pair up. The next day I came back and this sucker has abandoned the cave in the front, and apparently moved to the BACK of my tank where I can't see him (damn!) and pushed a ####load of sand up front. I don't mind him shifting the sand so much, but I'll never see him and the goby now. 2 questions:

 

1) Do pistols change caves a lot or do they make one and stick to it forever?

 

2) Is they anyway to "encourage/discourage" them to set up camp in a certain area?

[flickj79]

they will move to diff caves, build new caves all over the place etc.

I have a tiger pistol which is I think the largest of the pistol shrimp, but at night he will seal up all of the cave entrances I guess so no predators can get in and the next day the burrows are open again, if you would like for him to keep his burrow where you can see it, get a small piece of pvc and place it under the LR that should keep him on one spot, I read that somewhere on here, I didn't do that I just added some crushed coral to my sand bed so that he could build a more sturdy burrow that wouldn't cave in all the time, I will let you know if he stays in his current cave or just keeps building them all over like yours

[idua]

Yes, your shrimp will move all over the place. Sooner or later he will build a subway system in your tank so that he can move from one end to the other without being out in the open. I don’t think there is no way to discourage this behavior, that’s just what they do.

[flickj79]

yep, I agree, mine has yet again switched burrows or actually built a whole new one, but at least he is constantly stirring the sand around which is pretty beneficial