pistol shrimp question

[albie611]

does any one know if they are hermaphroditic, and can they self impregnate?

i have had (1) one in my 20 gal reef for over a year .
it is about 2 inches in length and it looks to me like i found new one that i never noticed befor thats about 1/2 in in length.
i started noticing spawns of what looked like tiny shrimp in my tank about 8 months ago and they happen every 6 to 8 weeks or so. the thing is ,i only see the newly hatched spawn at night and they are only around for a day or two .

i was thinking that the spawn were just eaten by the corals .
i guess it could be that a few babies survived long enough to "grow up" but i dont know how the lone shrimp i had got pregnant in the first place. there was never a pair in the tank together..........thanks for the help and happy reefing ......al

 

[Hawkeye]

My theory - you may have spotted baby amphipods and the half inch pistol hitched into your tank somehow. But if you do find that you are breeding pistols, can I be on your list of "shrimp-frag" buyers? ;D

 

[jazzsam]

I had a similar thing happen. I never had any pistol shrimp in my tank at all and then babies started to show up and grow! That lasted about 2 months until I made that tank into my aggresive tank they all "dispeared".

 

[MikeNapoli]

I'll second the amphipods/copepods ... They only come out at night and they are alot larger than some think. They are kind of like misid shrimp. It's free food for you fish.

 

[albie611]

they are deffinitly pistols..........i hear them snapping all the time......i just dont know how i suddenly got the others.

if they grow a bit more ill try to catch a few and trade/sell them

happy reefing......al