Neptune Aquatics

Pistol Shrimp Assasination

SoulFish

SoulFish

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Ok I have this stupid shrimp in my tank reaping havic. He's killed $75 of shrimp and I suspect about $100 worth of fish. And I was lucky enough to get him for FREE in my green star polys cluster. Ok FF now he's loose in my 90 gallon reef. I has established himself in the base of the reef. I can see his beaty eyes looking at me inside his hole at night.

Last night I tried a unique trick I have done with nusiance algae, I ran a sugical tube into his hole and pumped in boiling water. Tried to turn him into a cocktail. But it seems as though there is a exit door, I say him crawl out the bottom somehow. Then when I stopped pumping he went back in.

I do not want to break the entire tank do to get this bastard, is there a way I can poison him? Either by injecting into the hole OR feeding him laced meat?

Any ideas are appreciated. He's brown and about 1-1.5"es long. Def a pistol, NOt mantis
 
strange, pistols typically don't do that.

You say you see his eyes? They on stalks?
 
Does your pistol shrimp have stripes? Hmm... I've never seen a solid brown pistol. The one other advantage of breaking down the tank to remove him is cleaning your rocks of detritus and planaria!
 
Couldn't see if his eyes were on stalks or not. I'd have to guess no, the seem really close to his head. I did manage to see a large claw, it did not look like a mantis claw rather just a large long pincher type. I did see his shell and tail, looks solid brown.
 
There are two types of mantis with two very different weapons... spearers and smashers

If no eye stalks then it's a pistol :)

Interceptor is pet medication of which hobbyists use to kill "red bugs". It will also kill shrimp.
 
could I blast it into his hole without worrying about the other reef crabs? Basically not enough for the whole system but enough to knock him out? Or is is a slow kill medication?

For some reason I am having flash backs of what people used to do in FL when they killed lobster.. and coral.. they injected bleach into the hole. NOT that I would consider that. Just trying to think out of the box.
 
found a pict of him online! This is the bugger!!
Snapping shrimp (Alpheus lobidens)
597274001_9ac40ddccd.jpg
 
It's pretty quick and a single pill is good for ~300g.

You want to pull out any crabs or shrimps that you want to keep though.
 
even at a normal dose it'll suffer, and suffer enough it should be rather easy to dig out/spear it in it's hole.
 
But it will kill all shrimp and a lot of inverts!

I have the same problem! My pistol digs up so much and buries my corals alive! He's skilled a few already! I would love to catch him but he's not going in the traps I set for him.

I also have flame shrimps and banded shrimp that I care about... I don't want to lose any inverts! :((
 
Eight said:
I took all my shrimp out of my displays. I got sick of them picking food out of all my LPS.
Click to expand...

Ditto accept I still have "sexy shrimp" since they don't seem to steal food :) My peps live in the sump.
 
I must be the only person fascinated by pistol shrimp. I miss the shrimp/goby pair I used to have in my 60 gallon tank. Because my corals were relatively inexpensive, I overlooked the burying and was impressed by the shrimp's ability to stir up vast amounts of sand every day!
 
I love them, I just love my corals more and don't want them buried & have silt flowing 24/7 :) My tank was also in my bed room and those suckers are load at times :(
 
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