Randall's Pistol Shrimp

Randall's pistol shrimp is recognized by the red–orange bands on its white, translucent body and its single, oversized claw. When it snaps this claw shut, the collapse of the resulting water bubble produces a loud "snap" that can be heard from outside the aquarium. Its most fascinating trait is the partnership it forms with gobies: the shrimp digs and maintains a burrow in the sand, and the nearly blind shrimp learns of danger from the goby by keeping an antenna in contact with it. To see this behavior it should be kept together with a goby of the genus Stonogobiops or Amblyeleotris.

• 60 liters or more; a substrate of fine sand mixed with coral rubble at least 5–8 cm deep.
• Salinity specific gravity 1.023–1.026, pH 8.1–8.4, temperature 24–27°C.
• Reef safe; but it may undermine rocks while digging its burrow, so the rockwork should be built securely.
• It should be acclimated by the drip method for at least 1 hour; copper-based medications are lethal.

An omnivorous scavenger; it takes leftover food, detritus, frozen mysis and small sinking granules that fall around its burrow. Small morsels placed near the mouth of the burrow give the best results.

It spends most of the day in its burrow, carrying sand. It does not touch fish or corals; it is possessive of its partner goby.

Good companions: yasha goby (Stonogobiops yasha), Stonogobiops nematodes, Amblyeleotris gobies; clownfish, cardinalfish, snails.

Avoid: hawkfish, large wrasses, triggerfish, lionfish; boxer shrimp.