Bristleworm baiting?

Although I haven't seen any bristleworms that actually eat algae (there must be some, I suppose), I often see large nereids grabbing shells and pieces of debris for building shelters. I have, however, seen those guys nipping the occasional piece of mushroom for a snack. Some also say they will nip at large-polyped corals, but I haven't seen that myself.

Before someone jumps in with "but bristleworms are harmless scavengers," I should point out that polychaetes are very diverse, and some, like nereids and eunicids, have nasty jaws.

Regardless, I have never actively removed them. You can try panty hose with a piece of food to try to entangle and remove them, or (like me) you can consider them an entertaining part of the tank. The coralline will do fine in spite of a little grazing.

Hmmm. Sounds more like an amphinomid, like hermodice or palythoa. I've never seen one pick anything up before, though.

What kind of pistol is it? If it's a hitchhiker, it may not be commensal with a goby. It's a fairly diverse group, in which species can be commensal with sponges, anemones, or nothing at all.

A clown goby would not be a problem with a pistol shrimp. They will probably ignore each other. However, putting any fish in a 5 gallon is pushing the envelope, at least in my opinion.

If you come up with a way of luring pistol shrimp out, let me know. I have probably a dozen in my tank, some of which came in with a batch of rock 3 years ago, and I feel lucky if I see one for a few seconds every few months. They are very shy. If I didn't hear them, I wouldn't even know they were there.