Randall's Pistol Shrimp Yasha Goby Question.  12/23/07
Hi crew. First time writer here.
<You are a stranger here but once Jonas>
Your site has been an incredible tool to my so far successful start in marine aquarium keeping. Thank you, and keep up the awesome work!
My tank is a standard 30 gallon with approximately 25-30 pounds of live rock which has been running for about 3 months after completing the curing and cycle process. I have nearly 2 inches of sugar grain Arag-alive substrate, with a small layer of live sand on top. For circulation I have 2 maxi jet 900 power heads (running opposite directions), and a mechanical carbon filter that came with the tank. My water parameters are perfect or as close to as they can be according to my LFS (whose measuring equipment detect levels my test kits cannot). In my tank I have 1 small ocellaris clown, 1 royal Gramma, a peppermint shrimp, 2 Astraea cone snails, and 10 blue legged hermit crabs.
I recently introduced a Randall's Pistol Shrimp and Yasha Goby pair to my tank, about a week ago. When I added them to the tank they separated by darting in two different directions and hiding in different parts of the tank, and have not paired up since. To add to the problem, the pistol shrimp managed to get sucked up in my filter the first night (not sure how he fit between the bars on the cap of the water intake for the filter, but he did.
I modified it so it SHOULD no longer be possible for anything larger than 2mm in diameter to fit). I found him grazing on the filter the next morning, next to his two no longer attached claws (which by the look of them were forcibly ripped from his body (likely from passing through the small filter motor) as there was some muscle attached at the end of the large claw). The goby has been hiding in the same spot without much movement since he was introduced and does not come out at night as far as I can tell, while the pistol shrimp comes out at late at night (typical behavior) . Will the pistol shrimp regrow his claws with molting?
<Likely in a few molts...>
Are they likely to pair up again when they are more familiar with the environment?
<Yes... though not a certainty... and I have a concern re the Gramma in this sized/volume system>
Is there anything I can do to help the healing/reunification process?
<Perhaps some small pieces/diameters of PVC pipe set into the substrate... under/near the rock... with one end open to the surface... will help the Alpheid settle in...>
I'm unsure if the yasha goby is eating, so I try to squirt some food into it's hole every few days, but I am reluctant to do it more regularly (I feed the others small amounts 2-3 times a day) as I do not want the food to rot away in there if he is not eating. I am also hoping food outside his cave will encourage it to come out a little more, but it is still early I think.
<You'd do well to read re refugiums... Please start here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marsetupindex2.htm
the second tray>
In addition tiny white spirally growths (the largest ones are smaller than 1mm diameter) have been accumulating on the glass. Any idea what this might be?
<Likely tubiculous polychaetes... Maybe sex products... do you have snails?>
My LR has an abundance of life, especially the piece I acquired from a 2 year old tank. Life includes red and white tube snails (ranging from 3mm to 2 inches long), several types of fans, an Aiptasia that I think is to large for the peppermint shrimp to eat, several green/blue clams, pods, an abundance of micro brittle stars, a couple of very small starfish, two black sponges, and some smaller critters I only see on a rare occasion, to name a few.
Any help/information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
- Beginner marine aquarist, Jonas
<Glad to share with you, Bob Fenner>

Missing Pistol Shrimp
Hello WWM Crew!
My pistol shrimp has mysteriously disappeared. He lives (lived?) under a liverock with a banded goby in a burrow, and I have not seen him appear in about 24 hours. Could his engineering abilities have failed him and he's trapped in his burrow?
<Possible>
The goby seems fine, but I haven't observed him entering the burrow.
The tank is 55gal and I just tested the water:
pH - 8.4 - 8.6 (slightly high?)
Alk - 1.1 meq/L (low)
<Yes, both of these are a bit off as you suspected. Probably nothing to do with your shrimp disappearance.>
Nitrates (slow react test) 2.5 ppm (ok)
Nitrites - 0 ppm
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Temp - 78 - 82 deg F
<I would like to see less of a temperature swing, no more than two degrees in 24 hours.>
S.G - 1.024
Salinity - 34.1 - 34.9 ppt
These parameters are consistent to what they have been for the past couple of months and everyone in the tank (two damsels, one maroon clown, one bubble anemone, one banded goby, couple of hermit crabs and turbo snails) has been fine. The only other thing that I can think of that could be the culprit is the pump was off for a couple of hours on Wednesday and the temperature was about 2 deg.s lower while the pump was off. Is there anything else that I should look into?
<I would look to see if he has not setup another home elsewhere. My pair have burrows under every bit of liverock in my 55.>
Thanks! Stella
<You are welcome. -Steven Pro>