another question on mantis

S

sparkle

AC Members
Jun 28, 2006
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Hi again,
another question...I have been hearing clicking sounds since the start of my tank. I was worried i had a mantis but not many of my creatures were disappearing. I have over the course of 8 months now lost 2 snails, 3 hermits, but i thought this might be natural loss. I did recently put damsels in and i have lost all 3 of them....i i found ..but the other 2 have disappeared. I have had 2 clowns from the start and they have been ok.
I have never seen anything in the tank which looks like a mantis or pistol...i have looked when it was dark and have tried the mantis trap with no luck.
If i had a pistol or mantis..should i have not seen something by now.
Thanks again for your help.
Sparkle
 
Depending on the size and how shy the pistol / mantis shrimp is, you may not ever see it unless you actively try to hunt it down. When you look at night, are you using a red light? It is less startling than a white light.
 
Hi,
thanks for your response...yes i have used a red light, but it is a home made one, so not sure if that makes any difference.
Sparkle
 
hi,
that is what i have done, but have never managed to see anything. I know i have some crab hitch hikers, could they be making the clicking noises? I am sure i would have seen something by now. My friend has a pistol and it can be seen during the day. She has a mantis in another tank and although I have never seen it without lifting up the rock, she said that when the house is quiet [say everyone is out and she has returned] she has caught it scurring back under the rocks.
I am still sure i would have seen something by now, my only thoughts are that it is still small. How long do mantis or pistols take to grow?
thanks
Sparkle
 
I've never had a mantis in my aquarium, so I don't know too much about them. But just out of my interest, I did some research and found the following. I quoted some lines from this article I was reading on about.com.

"Some species can reach up to a length of about 12 inches. We find a very large six to eight inch, black and white striped species here in Moloka'i waters on the mud flats that are not to be taken lightly. We also have a two to three inch green species that may be small, but still very powerful."

that doesn't answer how fast they grow.. but it sounds like they certainly have the capacity to grow into a monster.


"From our own personal experiences, we would suspect a Pistol Shrimp before a Mantis Shrimp, because we have Pistols in our tank and hear these noises all the time. Pistol Shrimp are an unlikely candidate for attacking or killing fish, but they will punch holes in hermit crab, snail, and other mollusks shells to kill and eat the animals in them. "

You mentioned that you lost hermit crabs and snails. See if you can remember seeing these signs when you found them dead. That might indicate it is pistol, not mantis.

To get rid of a mantis, you first need to find out which hole in the live rock it lives in because the best way to catch it is to isolate that rock into a separate bucket. To make sure you don't hurt all the other inhabitants in the live rock, you can pour freshwater into the hole and it's supposed to come out. I've never tried it, but that seems to be a widely suggested method.

Good luck!
 
I heard about some dude who went crazy for like 6 months trying to find the cause of the clicking noise. he bought/built traps, stayed up way late w/ a red light etc.

turns out he had an astrea(?SP) snail that would raise up on its foot and bump up and down on the rock and "click" all night

my mantis does rennovations, and its a consistant WHACKITY WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK
 
Hi thanks for all your replies,
the clicking comes in ones or twos , however on very, very rare occasions i have heard a series of up to 4 or 5.
It is spaced out throughout the day, usually just in ones. It's not regular and it is quite loud but not piercing.
Many thanks again,
Sparkle
 
Let us know if you find it! I'm wondering what it is now too!
 
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