i hate my pistol

[kevantheman35]

i have to blow off some steam about my pistol. Im always cautious about putting any coral on my sand because of my pistol. Well things have been fine for awhile untill about 5 minutes ago when i looked in and that little bastard took my sweet acan and green ric. I dug around and cant find them anywhere, i dont recomend ever having a pistol shrimp

[redfishsc]

What is he doing, stealing them and hiding them? Strange.

You might be able to catch him at night, put a scrap of shrimp in a net and put it in front of his favorite rock. If he comes into the net to eat, snatch the net up.

[Hoodrich]

is he killing the corals?

[Cantonesefish]

he's probably reselling them online for crazy prices.

[shrimphead]

hold on, did he snip them off a rock or were they on small enough rocks thats he could move?

[Cozmo4]

I've found that you have to be careful with small frags in the sandbed near any burrowing creature. My blue spotted jawfish has done the same to me and I've had to dig out small zoa, cyphastrea and acan frags from his burrow wall occasionally and then secure them somewhere else so it doesn't happen again.

[Junz]

Originally Posted by Cantonesefish

he's probably reselling them online for crazy prices.

LMAO

[SDguy]

Originally Posted by redfishsc

What is he doing, stealing them and hiding them? Strange.

Originally Posted by Hoodrich

is he killing the corals?

Pistols use various rocks and pebbles when they arrange their burrows, in addition to simply burying them. This will kill small loose frags eventually...

[shrimphead]

don't have a go at the pistol shrimp, he probably just thought that frag rock is the perfect size to use as a strut in my cave

[Lateralus]

Originally Posted by Cozmo4

I've found that you have to be careful with small frags in the sandbed near any burrowing creature. My blue spotted jawfish has done the same to me and I've had to dig out small zoa, cyphastrea and acan frags from his burrow wall occasionally and then secure them somewhere else so it doesn't happen again.

Yup I gotta keep stuff away from my pearly aswell. Sometimes I've gotten lucky if he cant do anything with it and he'll discard it a little later.

[Pcrain]

my engineer Gobi's love to bury my frags and sometimes a frag makes it into the cave of doom

[deangelr]

secure your frags! that is one lesson the hard learned the hard way

[Larah]

Originally Posted by deangelr

secure your frags! that is one lesson the hard learned the hard way

with what?
I have tried so many different products from super glue gel to special reef epoxy, none of it works for sh*t.... Do youhave any suggestions? PLease!

[warnutts]

my sand sifting goby took ona my zoo frags and spat it out somewhere luckily i found it tho dont think they are doing it on purpose just building theire homes

[SDguy]

Originally Posted by Larah

with what?
I have tried so many different products from super glue gel to special reef epoxy, none of it works for sh*t.... Do you have any suggestions? Please!

This works every time for me...

Take steel brush. Brush clean surface of live rock where frag is to be attached. The surface must be free of algae,detritus, etc. Also, the steel brush will "rough up" the surface, allowing the glue to adhere better. This is all done without removing the rock from the water. Next, remove the frag from the water, and do the same thing to the surface of the frag that is to be glued. If it is a frag plug, I usually just dremel off the peg. I also will crisscross score the surface of the plug/disc, again, so the glue will adhere better, especially for larger pieces. Rinse off any dust made by the steel brush or dremel. Next, take an appropriate amount of Aquamend epoxy (depending on size of frag) and knead it thoroughly. Pat dry the surface of the frag to be glued with a paper towel. Add superglue gel to this surface. Squish the epoxy ball onto the superglue gelled surface. Add superglue gel to the opposite side of the epoxy ball. Place frag into water. A skin will form over the superglue gel. Firmly squish the epoxy ball onto the already cleaned surface of the live rock. You may need to slightly rotate the frag as you press, so that the skin on the superglue gel is broken. This will ensure proper contact between aquamend and live rock. Hold for anywhere from 5 to 30 or more seconds (again, depending on frag size). Done!

Don't touch the frag for at least 24 hours, so that the aquamend fully cures.

HTH

[kevantheman35]

well if there small enough frags, like the ric on some rubble he takes them into his burrow or burries them. If there a bigger piece, like my large suncoral colony, he shoves all the sand from his burrows out and completely burries them

[firsttank]

A year ago, I had the same problem, I lost the goby and the pistol made burrows in multiple places under the rock work. It was real hard to catch him as well.

Finally one day, I got so frustrated that , I removed all the rock work to get him out...He is not very fast in running but very good at hiding...

[mndfreeze]

IMO you shouldn't be buying a pistol or known burrowing creature if you are going to get mad at it being what it is. Glue your frags to rocks, dont put them on the sand bed, etc.

My pistol and goby were the first fish in my tank. I thankfully have a huge pile of base rock and all my rockwork is glued so he can dig all he wants and not cave anything in. My sandbed is pretty small and any frags get secured to the rock. No problems.

[Ritten]

Originally Posted by SDguy

This works every time for me...

Take steel brush. Brush clean surface of live rock where frag is to be attached. The surface must be free of algae,detritus, etc. Also, the steel brush will "rough up" the surface, allowing the glue to adhere better. This is all done without removing the rock from the water. Next, remove the frag from the water, and do the same thing to the surface of the frag that is to be glued. If it is a frag plug, I usually just dremel off the peg. I also will crisscross score the surface of the plug/disc, again, so the glue will adhere better, especially for larger pieces. Rinse off any dust made by the steel brush or dremel. Next, take an appropriate amount of Aquamend epoxy (depending on size of frag) and knead it thoroughly. Pat dry the surface of the frag to be glued with a paper towel. Add superglue gel to this surface. Squish the epoxy ball onto the superglue gelled surface. Add superglue gel to the opposite side of the epoxy ball. Place frag into water. A skin will form over the superglue gel. Firmly squish the epoxy ball onto the already cleaned surface of the live rock. You may need to slightly rotate the frag as you press, so that the skin on the superglue gel is broken. This will ensure proper contact between aquamend and live rock. Hold for anywhere from 5 to 30 or more seconds (again, depending on frag size). Done!

Don't touch the frag for at least 24 hours, so that the aquamend fully cures.

HTH

That was really nice of you to take that much time to type that out! Your method is exactly what works for me. But being a girl that doesn't use tools, I didn't know how to remove the peg. I just ask my husband to use a dremel?

[SDguy]

Originally Posted by Ritten

That was really nice of you to take that much time to type that out! Your method is exactly what works for me. But being a girl that doesn't use tools, I didn't know how to remove the peg. I just ask my husband to use a dremel?

Yes, or even just cut it off if it's breakable enough (some plugs are easier to snap than others). Dremel is the easiest way to go, though, especially with PITA type plugs like the ORA black ones...

[smoothdog]

Be a not a . Just go to your LFS and get small bag of rubble from the bottom of their rock tank and spread it around the shrimp's burrow openings. Your corals and shrimp will thank you for it. Also, if you get coralline growth on your overflow that will break off in sheets, you can break this into smaller pieces that it can use to brace the walls of its tunnels. I found that after I did this mine did much less rearranging.

[brycerb]

I bet the pistol shrimp thinks your the problem.

[shred5]

Originally Posted by Cantonesefish

he's probably reselling them online for crazy prices.

Too funny...

I agree with Smoothdog. give him some rubble so he stops stealing the corals to line his burrow..

[Neogenocide]

I'll take him off your hands!!! But it would be cheaper to buy locally than drive to come and get him :-(

[phenom5]

Originally Posted by SDguy

Don't touch the frag for at least 24 hours, so that the aquamend fully cures.

FWIW, I use a similar method with a good deal of success, that's the only difficult part. Sure, I know not to touch the frag, but every crab, snail, shrimp, and fish in the tank has to give the new arrival the once over.

And...I hate ORA plugs btw. They are the worst, and such pain to cut. The worst was when I was trying to cut off the plug on my Roscoe frag, and I dropped it. Little piece of acro everywhere...oh the humanity. Love the corals attached to them, but I really hate the plugs.