argh... what would you do?

[squintypanda]

I hear constant consecutive clicks ALL the time (especially after lights out)... I know for a fact I have at least one pistol shrimp (saw it when I first put the rocks in)... I have not seen a mantis YET... not even 100% positive that I have one but I did discover a dead scarlet hermit crab today (looked like he was ripped out of his shell... can't find his shell... his claws/head are intact but body looks torn up). This is so frustrating I don't know what to do... I tried the inverted bottle trap (several attempts) with some defrosted frozen shrimp in it but didn't catch anything... my tank is fairly established (about 3 months now) w/ cleaner crew, mithrax crab, emerald crab, 2 percs, etc... so I'd hate to try and tear everything down and find this bugger that I'm not even sure is there... but at the same time I'm really hesitant to add anything else to the tank now fearing it might be the next victim.... this is so annoying!!! argh.... what would you guys do if you were in my situation? Everytime I hear click click click I freak out and run to my tank trying to see if anything's getting attacked but I never see anything....

 

[digitallinx]

are you sure your crabs are not motting and the sounds are in fact the pistol, just protecting his home....

 

[Hwarang]

The sounds could also be the hermit shelss knocking against the glass. If you only lost one hermit in 3 mos I might not jump to the conclusion that it's a pistol or mantis. Hermits fight for shells all the time, have you got some extras in there? Buy a handful and pile 'em in a corner. It's a shell shopping mall. Once I did that, I noticed far fewer of my hermits ending up in the condition you describe.

Good luck!

 

[Gonodactylus]

Most stomatopods that are commonly found in LR are strictly diurnal and should not be setting up a racket after the lights are out. Generally when people tell me that they hear stomatopods after the lights go out, they are referring to the aquarium lights. If you hear clicking at 2 am when the room is completely dark, it most likely is not a stomatopod.

Roy

 

[squintypanda]

Thanks for the input guys... I really don't think it's a molt since where the body is "messed up" there seems to be flesh hanging out... I could be wrong though and simply have no way to check since I pretty much forgot how many scarlet hermits I bought, lol... (4-5 or so) Can pistol shrimps make 4-5 clicks in a row? It really sounds more like a stomatopods doing some construction work to me... I do know for a fact that I have gorilla crab hitchhikers also though.. so they might be the culprit too... I guess I really need to just stop worrying about it until a fish dies or I actually do see this guy.... oh yeah... the clicking doesn't just happen during lights out... just happens more.... so I dunno....