Any surefire way to confirm existence of mantis?

[Scooter64]

My tank is approx. 4 months old and I have never had visual evidence that I have a mantis in my tank, but do have some suspicion that one is in there. First off, I had a Royal Gramma and came home one evening to see its pectoral fin ripped off. The only other inhabitants at the time were 2 Percula clowns and 3 Peppermint shrimp and some blue and red hermits. The next day, the Gramma had disappeared completely. A few weeks later, I added a coral beauty. It died (was shredded) a day later. I have added 3 chromis, 2 still exist but the third has disappeared completely without a trace. My 2 original Perc's and all 3 pep's are still fine. I have heard, with increasing frequency, clicking, snapping, ticking sounds from the tank, after lights out. It sounds like two marbles being hit together. I have a flashlight covered with red cellophane and since I have heard the clicking, have been trying to see visually what is making it. I have not been able to. Everything looks normal (I've spent hours looking). Is there any way to confirm it's existence by coaxing it out? I want to confirm or rule out a mantis in there but cannot. Is the red cellophane effective when it comes to Mantis'? Thanks for any help.

 

[Jacob D]

My guess is some kind of crab is killing all the fish. The popping could be a mantis, or a pistol shrimp. The sound is similar but IME the pistol shrimp pops much faster. My mantis will pop a snail, then grab it, re-position it against something then pop it again, repeat until mission accomplished, so it's like pop............pop...........pop, the pistols that I've heard are more like pop..pop..pop..pop..pop

I doubt the red light trick will work w/ mantis, but better than bright direct lights anway. There are various traps you can use, do a search.

 

[dc]

My Mantis, is closed up at night, so I've never heard it at night. I imagine different species come out at night. My Pistols OTOH, are snapping all night. The Tiger was a model citizen, the red one is a killer. He's about wiped out all my inverts in my main tank. Can't catch the little bugger either. So he'll live out his life in my main tank. I'll just not get new inverts until then. Also he's a rock dweller, I see him everytime I feed. Until you see him, you'll never know. I did have a crab for months without ever seeing it. You can try baiting a small vase or jar with pellets just after the lights go out. Set it so it is tipped up, a crab cannot climb out. If there's a crab there you will eventually get it. Of course you'll get your snails etc also but you can just dump them out. My crab was in it about 1 hour after the lights went out. I used crab bites.

 

[Scooter64]

Ok. I'm going to try the "bait the jar" suggestion and see what I catch. Thanks!

If there is one, and I catch it, anyone want it? I might need some shipping technique instruction though.

 

[Scooter64]

Hehehe, I guess I should read the stickies!

 

[floridajhawk]

you catch a mantis i would love it i have been looking for ages for someone to find one for me thanx