LR Hitchhiker ID please

[gomrjoe]

I was feeding my fish tonight like usual and out of nowhere a pair of red pincers came out from under a rock and the sand to stab at some food that had fallen onto the sand right at the entrance to a crevice.

I then speared a lance fish and tried to lure it out. It appears to be some sort of lobster or possibly a shrimp, but I am leaning more towards a lobster.

The body was red and pincers were as well. It had one pincer clearly larger than the other and had an elongated body, not stubby like a crab. It would not come out of its hole, but my wife was able to shine a flashlight inside and get a pretty good look at it, she said there were clearly two sets of antennae, which suggests a shrimp.

It was afraid to come out of its hiding spot, it made several attempts to grab the lance fish off of the spear. I finally placed the lance fish at the base of the crevice and the pincers came out and quickly grabbed it and brought back under the rock.

Tank background:
This tank has been up for two years now, I have approx. 150 lbs. of LR. the most recent LR was added 6 months ago.

Interesting symptom in this tank is that I go through hermit crabs very very fast. I put in nearly 200 hermits 3 months ago and I have less than 50 now for sure. Coincidentally, we noticed a pile of shells just above this crevice, coincidence?

Any help would be appreciated, will try to take a pic and post, but it will be difficult.

Thx.

 

[SHK_ATK]

do you ever hear a clicking sound could be a pistol shrimp. A pic would be a great if you can get one. But I know its difficult I currently have a crab who I cant ID I cant really get a good pic of him either. Hes kinda hairy so Im assuming a hairy crab but not sure. Good luck ID'ing yours.

 

[Gildurath]

If the one claw is bigger then the other, it is probably a Pistol Shrimp. Mine at 3 peppermint shrimp and put holes in the tops of about 6 of my blue hermits.

They shot a blast of water at the speed of a bullet basically. I know this link is to ebaums, but it is actually a real clip of a natural Pistol Shrimp in the wild killing a cleaner shrimp; http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/22496/.

You can try trapping it with a glass with food in it, then put a pantyhose, or saran wrap around the end and cut a whole in it. The shrimp will go in and not be able to get out, like a lobster trap they use in the ocean. I used saran wrap because I did not have pantyhose and did not know better, but saran wrap may let off chemicals, so I would strongly caution against using it and go buy some hose.

Unfortunately it did not work for me... I had to sysematically remove my live rock. I filled a huge plastic tote with salt water, your rock will only be in it for 60 minutes tops. And then pull out the rocks above where he hides. He will usually cling to the bottom of a rock you pull out, so you have to really watch him. I had a friend constanly watching him as I pulled out rocks, and he told me when the shrimp clung to the bottom of the rock.

 

[Pallen81]

hah, the shells piling up in front of the cave certainly is highly suggestive of unfair play by a lobster/shrimp.

 

[WinnipegDragon]

Yeah, pistol or mantis shrimp from the sound of it.

Some people remove them, some people just keep adding more snails/crabs and leave them be.

 

[gomrjoe]

I know it is not a mantis shrimp, I have had one of those buggers in a tank before and this was definitely not a mantis shrimp. It had clearly defined red pincers and its legs were longer than a mantis.

I have an acrylic tank, so I am not sure if I would really hear the snapping a mantis would make, or a pistol for that matter.

My concern is that it is a lobster of some sort, because I have never seen a pistol shrimp as a true red color like this was.

Wouldn't a pistol or a fire shrimp eventually come out and be more visible than this thing has? I know they are shy, but to be completely unnoticed for at least 6 months, which was the last time I added live rock to my tank?

 

[gomrjoe]

Update

Well,

My wife and I came out at night when the light was off and we used a red tissue paper over a big flashlight... and sure enough it is a pistol. He is very shy, he must have come on rock that I got about 6 months ago. That explains all my missing hermits, I have never fed him because I didn't know he was there, so he fed himself!

2 questions i could use some advice on:
1. Can I slowly build up my hermit population now if I start to feed the pistol? Or are future hermits doomed?
2. Will this pistol find my engineer gobies and be-friend them? I have to engineers, there burrows are actually pretty close to each other, but I don't think they know about each other yet.

I have never had a pistol before, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thx.

 

[Reefscape]

2 questions i could use some advice on:
1. Can I slowly build up my hermit population now if I start to feed the pistol? Or are future hermits doomed?
2. Will this pistol find my engineer gobies and be-friend them? I have to engineers, there burrows are actually pretty close to each other, but I don't think they know about each other yet.

I have never had a pistol before, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thx.

Yes, building up the hermit population is good, but, to ensure that harmony is gained, you want to start target feeding the pistol to stop it havin a special munch the hermits...

Yes, there is a good possibility it will pair up, however, nothing is guaranteed with the symbiotic relationship happening...

Niko