bullseye pistol killer?

[benthos]

Ive got this beautiful bullseye pistol shrimp bought thinking It could host with with my watchman goby then upon reading further about them I found out this is one of the pistol shrimps that dont take a host.

So a week ago I noticed that I hadnt seen my orchid dotty. Cant say if it jumped or not cause there are four cats walking around that would of surely knabbed it if it did. But does any one know if the bullseye pistol shrimp is known for killing fish on occasion? The watchman goby is still around so...just curious

 

[Anonymous]

Is this the species they're calling A. soror?
I seriously doubt this shrimp is killing your fish. While it is an omnivore it is mostly a scavenger, though it will eat smaller crustaceans. It may be able to catch sick or dying fish. I would say if underfed all bets are off though.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[benthos]

yes, Alpheus soror... yellow/orange with a black dot on its tail and purple claws. all night long sounds like there is a mantis in the tank but is described as harmless and mostly a scavenger besides the occasional threat to small shrimp. The fish must have jumped then and one of my cats had gotten a $20 fish treat.

 

[Unarce]

I remembering seeing Pistol Shrimp use their popping claw to stun and eat small fish on Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel. If yours is large enough, there's a small possibility that it could kill a small dottyback.

There's even a story here of a Mantis Shrimp not surviving it's battle with a Pistol:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-03/jf/feature/