How to catch a murderous pistol shrimp?

[rishma]

Any tricks to catch a pistol shrimp? No luck with bottle trap.

I used real live rock from Florida when I set up my tank a few years ago. I caught a couple pistol shrimps when I first put the rock in the tank, but I know i didn’t get them all. I have heard the occasional snap of a pistol since then.

The remaining pistol shrimp(s) have murdered countless snails. I added a cleaner shrimp a couple years ago and the next day its head was flowing around and its body wedged in a hole in the rock. I could not find the culprit.

I really like snails. Not only for the cleanup, but I enjoy them as tank inhabitants. I want to find and remove the murderer. I have never seen it, but occasionally hear it.

Advice is appreciated.

 

[shakacuz]

a wrasse might be able to help if it ever leaves its burrow, but the real solution would be to take the rock out and place it in another tank you can closely monitor it and make sure its not in the rock before taking it back out.

 

[rishma]

a wrasse might be able to help if it ever leaves its burrow, but the real solution would be to take the rock out and place it in another tank you can closely monitor it and make sure its not in the rock before taking it back out.

Thanks! Sadly, I don’t think I can do either of those things.

The tank is small, 25 gallons with some peaceful/timid fish so an appropriate wrasse is not an option.

The rock is cemented/zip tied into 2 islands structures. Both covered in corals. I could pull the structures out and place in a bare bottom tank, but would have to duplicate the equipment to keep the corals healthy if it required any extended observation.

 

[BryanM]

in my experience they are difficult to catch. Sorry, just the truth.

 

[Tahoe61]

Surely you can remove the rock from a 25 gallon tank. Do one structure at a time.
An animal acting as a natural predator is not a murderer.

 

[rishma]

Surely you can remove the rock from a 25 gallon tank. Do one structure at a time.
An animal acting as a natural predator is not a murderer.

Thanks…I thought murderer was obviously in jest and certainly didn’t mean to offend the species

 

[JGT]

I got the Ultralife XTerminator trap to try and catch a Mantis. No luck but I did catch 3 Pistols.

 

[rishma]

I got the Ultralife XTerminator trap to try and catch a Mantis. No luck but I did catch 3 Pistols.

Oh cool. Never heard of it. Will check it out

 

[Ziggy17]

Thanks…I thought murderer was obviously in jest and certainly didn’t mean to offend the species

Just ignore people like that and certainly don’t validate their ridiculousness in any way.

 

[rishma]

I got the Ultralife XTerminator trap to try and catch a Mantis. No luck but I did catch 3 Pistols.

I just ordered one. Wish me luck!

 

[JGT]

I just ordered one. Wish me luck!

It worked really well. I caught one after another 3 nights in a row. I used a small piece of raw shrimp as bait.

 

[Dr. D]

Thanks…I thought murderer was obviously in jest and certainly didn’t mean to offend the species

Offend away. A pistol shrimp gunned down my cousin. They deserve no mercy.

 

[rishma]

Offend away. A pistol shrimp gunned down my cousin. They deserve no mercy.

Im sorry for your loss