"click-click".....HELP!

[pitt_prodigy]

I have another thread posted on this page in which i suspected that my niger trigger (3") was responsible for the murder of two newly added damsels (added at different times). If you want that story the thread is still here below.

BUT i couldnt help but think that my docile purple friend didnt have it in him..... especially since he never shown agression while i was watching (which is quite often). Yesterday i was watching tv pondering how i was going to get the trigger out when i heard a very distinct clicking noise... and my heart just dropped. Unless my fish have magically learned to communicate with morris code I think that the killer of my damsels is a Mantis... as i have heard the clicking noise a few times today as well though i can see him. This would also explain the scuff marks on the damsels the day before they were killed. What do you guys think??? Plausible or probable?

Anyway.... is the bottle trap and dismantling the lr and dousing it with soda my only options?? any advice is greatly appreciated.

ALSO why doesnt the mantis bother my angel, trigger or goby? they are all bigger than the damsels but not by much...

I gotta get this figured out before my new GSM comes out of quarantine!

 

[spotfin]

My mantis has taken out 2 damsels too. It now lives in my sump. I was able to determine what rock it lived in. When I saw him in the rock, I took the rock out of the tank. Held it over a bucket and squirted freshwater into the hole where the shrimp lived. Out popped the shrimp into the bucket. They are really neat creatures. If you do catch yours, maybe put it in its own tank. I tried the bottle trap but it didn't work.

 

[mitzel]

To be honest this was my thought when you explained the problem in your other thread but I thought you would have had problems before the intorduction of the niger.

One thing to think about before you get to crazy trying to oust a mantis shrimp is trigger's do make a clicking sound. My niger will come to the top and click when I feed him. as well a spit water at me.

:wildone:

 

[pitt_prodigy]

Yeah mitzel... it was your post that got me thinking about other options. My question is why doesnt the mystery mantis if there is one, not bother the angel or niger? they sleep in the same reef structure?

I didnt know that trigs make a clickin noise.... i suppose that could be it but i cant be sure. Only thing i can think of is to remove the trig for a night or two and see if the maroon gets damaged at all. It has hosted the anemone so i dont know if that will make any difference.... but im really at a loss here.

 

[JoSndd]

My Niger killed two Yellow Tailed Damsels. But they started it by attacking the Trigger when he swam through there little territores.

 

[jcopp24]

clicking...

I second the thought that it could be the Trigger...

My Undulated Trigger makes loud clicking noises at the top of his tank... he goes up and bites the few air bubbles that are in the top of the water, and it makes a very loud "clicking" noise.

 

[Petstorejunkie]

it 3am flashlight time!
definately if it is a mantis keep him in his own tank, youlll love him!

 

[pitt_prodigy]

thanks for the advice guys.... i'll 3am flashlight search my next day off.

 

[jcopp24]

ship him to me I will take the mantis... Put him in with my Undy and watch WW 3

 

[tah532]

What clicking tempo does a Mantis usually sound like? I have a dark gray looking shrimp living in a hole in the rock that comes out to grab some food here and there, ugly little sucker. I question the clicking tempo cause this guy will click once and then again a few seconds later. I have read that mantis make a clicking that is a bunch of consecutive clicks in a row, and pistol just does one click every few seconds or every so often. Any opinions?

 

[BJJ]

I had the same clicking in my tank. I could here it upstairs while I was sleeping BTW the tank is on the main floor.

If you look real close you can see him sitting up on a peice of live rock. I spent a lot of time looking for him...

 

[pitt_prodigy]

hehe....thanks for the replies. As far as the clicking... its just one click then a few seconds... then another and then nothing. Might be a pistol shrimp if thats what they do or it could just be the trigger playing silling games. I'll let you know how the mantis hunt goes.
This is day 3 for the GSM and everything is going well. Though he sleeps in his RBTA so i think that might protect him.

 

[billsreef]

This would also explain the scuff marks on the damsels the day before they were killed.

Sounds like the work of a mantis. If it was the niger, you would have seen bite marks on the fins, not scuff marks on the body.

 

[46bfinGA]

and the damsels would have been missing eyes.since that what triggers go for first.my former foxface can contest to that.

 

[pitt_prodigy]

I still hear the clicking and was looking for him during lights out but i think i need to get a red lens for my Maglight so he wont be startled by it. Im putting the bottle trap in tonight. I will let you know if i get him.

Other than that the GSM is doing great as well as the RBTA shes hosting. I'll keep my fingers crossed until i catch this phantom mantis. He must not be very big but he did quite a job on the 2 damsels.