Aha! Finally captured my huge pistol shrimp hitchhiker!

[Sierra_Bravo]

If anyone would like to adopt this guy, please let me know and it's yours.

I have been after this thing for weeks. I'm certain his IQ is right around 165. I shined a light in one of his several connected burrows under my rock and the next day he had shells blocking it off. Another time I was trying to coax it out with a piece of shrimp held in some forceps and he made a showing on the right, ducked around the rock and darted out from the left and took it before I realized he was coming the other direction. He's demonstrated the ability to recite pi to the 100th decimal. He's read War and Peace...twice.

The bottle trap finally got him last night. I don't know what changed - maybe he was hungry enough - but at 4am this morning the little sucker was in there. As I put him in the sump I heard him defiantly quote Teddy Roosevelt:

"Far better it is to dare mighty things,
to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure,
than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much
because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

Unfortunately as soon as he was in the sump I heard another click in the display tank...I apparently had more than one. :hypnotyized:


http://i.imgur.com/L6GQgAW.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/FDvI3od.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/P3OCx3s.jpg?1

[alton]

Congrats, now you just have to catch the other one and you can add your shrimp and goby pair when it is time. I have had great luck with with the bottle trap method.

[Justin]

Is it still available? I have a yellow watchman I can try and pair him with. PM me.

[Sierra_Bravo]

It probably wont pair, at least that's the "word on the street" based on what I've researched. This species is much more agressive with supposedly much better eyesite and they aren't known to develop a symbiotic relationship. In fact some folks have mentioned them killing small fish, and mine definitely was taking out hermits and a couple of small mithrax crabs that I didn't even know I had. I had a medium large gorilla crab in my refugium and when the pistol got in there they clashed and he sent the gorilla running.

The little guy is cool as hell and has a beautiful green and gold hue under the actinic lights. He'd be awesome solo in a more mature or larger tank.

That being said you are more than welcome to him if you want to give it a shot. I was going to take it over to Terry at Salty Fish and see if he could find a home for him otherwise.

[Justin]

Thanks for the headsup. I'll pass on him then. I'll be swinging by Terry's anyway to get some salt and check out his store.