clicking noise, not sure if is hermit crab to something else

[al404]

during the night i hear a clicking sound, i have turbo snails and my tank is very small and just started 5 weeks ago

i'm feeding phyto since a couple of week, my fish shop told me that helps to get the tank started

I also got 2 hermits in it 1 halloween and 1 red hermit

it seems to me that clicking noise started with new hermit, not 100% sure

last night i set up my IR ip cam and record all night my 10G tank and i saw a small crab picking from rocks

i did not anything like a mantid shrimp

is it possible that the mantid share the same rock with a small crab without killing him?

could be the crab or hermit to make that sound?

could a mantid hide all night without walking around?

 

[heathlindner25]

Mantis or pistol shrimp...

 

[Bent]

What kind of drain system do you have?

I thought I was having clicking noises and turned out to be bubbles being sucked down the siphon randomly.

 

[al404]

no sump, and hope no mantis, maybe the koralia powerhead...

i also have a strange clam that looks like a small rock, about an almond size, is alive because i recorded last night and it slightly moves

how long can a mantis live without killing something?
my turbo looks like an easy target

 

[davocean]

Mantis or pistol would be my guess, usually you will see snail shells piling up at a mantis cave.

 

[al404]

if i don't see a snail or some other tank guest dead in 2 weeks can i consider my tank mantis free?

 

[heathlindner25]

do you have those powerheads on a wave maker? because those things click like mad....is it a predictable click?

 

[stingeragent]

Could be a mantis. One thing you will realize, is you can have critters in your tank that you never see for months or years, and then 1 day you see them. I set up a 55g tank about 14 months ago with all live rock. Was a fish only tank, and the fish I had in it were the type that would eat snails, starfish, etc, so I didn't have them. I bought a new tank a few weeks ago, sold the fish, pulled out all the rock into a temp tub for a few weeks. When I put the rock into the new tank and was aquascaping, I looked down and saw a 6in across brittle star fish. All the live rock I started with was the same and I never added any more. That star had been in the tank the whole 14 months and I never saw it until the tank got tore down. I've also had emerald crabs that disappear for months at a time, and I assume them dead, and then 1 day they are on top of a rock in the middle of the day munching on some algae.

 

[davocean]

if i don't see a snail or some other tank guest dead in 2 weeks can i consider my tank mantis free?

I would certainly not stick my hand in rocks until you absolutely confirm.
If clicking is only at night, it is almost certainly one of the two animals.

 

[Bcrowe2012]

On my first reef I kept hearing clicking so I checked one night and found a pistol shrimp. They're pretty cool though. Maybe try looking at the tank at night.

 

[borg]

I had 3 pistol shrimps when i first setup my tank , did a dip and got rid of them cause i was worried ... one survived dip and has been in my tank since , clicking most nights or when someone gets to close to his home... but hasnt killed any fish or inverts that i know of yet

 

[al404]

just guessing but the other night i heard a lot of click noise, in the morning halloween hermit crab had molted

i can hear some clicking during the day too, i'm thinking is hermit

 

[garyinco]

I would doubt it's a hermit. I've had a couple unwanted mantis. They clicked in the day, but much more so at night. In my case they were hammering on the shell-based life embedded in my live rock. Keep an eye on your little clam-like creature. If you see it getting eaten I'd say that was proof positive of a mantis/pistol. I know some people like them. I hate the little jerks. So hard to trap/kill/remove.

 

[Shawn O]

Your hermits will make noise when they clink their shells against the glass. It's pretty distinctive. Once you know that sound, you'll be able to rule it out from the clicking sounds you're hearing.

 

[al404]

i read on other tread that stressed hermit makes click noise

thats why i matched hermit molt that i found in the morning with a lot of click noise during the night

 

[e048]

how big is your tank?

get a clear cup, cut holes in it and float in in the tank so the hermits can breathe and be happy put your hermits in it at night, place a dime piece of shrimp or fish food in the tank, turn off the powerhead

turn the lights off, wait about an hour, if the food is still in the same place then you probably don't have anything too bad in there, if its gone then I'd dip your rock in ro-di water (same temp and ph) and see if anything falls out you could also tie a piece of fishing line to the food, then see where its getting dragged to and now you know where the mantis or pistol is hiding

bottle trick works too

 

[al404]

my tank is 15G but i have 2 hermit and a lot of works
but no turbo snail is missing

I'm also sure to have a crab, I did point a night ip cam at tank and record the crab walking around during night but i did not record any other animal

i may try with shrimp and cam

 

[e048]

that crab could be clicking too

i'd get that crab out and id'd asap a crab in a 15g tank will cause some destruction

 

[al404]

When I recorded it seem to eat algae or something out of rocks, like the hermit

If I need to take it out I would start with a glass and a peace of shrimp, what happens if crab and hermit will fall in the same trap?

 

[e048]

That's why you take the hermits and let them float in a critter keeper or a small Dixie cup with some holes in it