Help! I've been hearing clicks, Pistol or mantis????

[DesertBandits]

I only added a very small rock, 3x3in that i bought for it's maiden's hair algae. For the last few days I've been hearing periodic clicks coming from my tank, usually 2 or 3 in rapid sucession, and then nothing until a 1/2 hour later. I even tore most of my tank appart inspecting rocks, trying to find the culprit, but try as i might i've failed. I'm certain something hitchiked into my tank, but I haven't been able to spot it. It can't be very big, no more than an inch long if it was hiding in one of the holes in the rock.

Can I tell whether its is a pistol shrimp or a mantis by the sound? Is there a way i can make a trap for this critter? i'm totaly lost and i need some advice to figure this out, and start me off in the right direction. How can I figure out/resolve what I'm dealing with?

 

[mickey85]

It's very hard to tell by the sound. The mantis that I have will hit something every half to one second in intervals until he breaks through, so if its' faster than that, it might just be a pistol.

 

[DesertBandits]

damn, well that sounds like what im dealing with, though so far nothing has been missing to my knowledge. maybe he's too small to break through? So far I've hear up to 7 clicks in a row, pistols wouldn't click that much in a row would they?

If this is a mantis is there a way to locate him easily? how do they hide, in a hole in a rock?

 

[nanomilk]

My three pistols would click in quick sucsessions of 3 clicks.

My two mantis on the other hand just give off a random single click every now and again.

 

[icyuod2]

you cant tell by the clicks.

i have both pistols and mantis and i cant tell the difference. sometimes you get 1 loud click, sometimes lots of quiet clicks. other times it sounds like fully auto weaponry., groups of 2,3,4 clicks. it changes all the time
this is true for both my mantis and pistol shrimps.

 

[DesertBandits]

I geuss i have to wait till thing dissapear to know if i have a mantis. I keep checking everywhere and i cannot find this thing.

 

[dantodd]

you could always stick a piece of thawed shrimp on the end of a bamboo skewer and stick it in the tank. Move it around the tank by all the rocks for about 5 minutes and you'll likely get to see him if it's a mantis. You could also build a mantis trap fairly easily. Cut the top off of a plastic soda bottle, usually a half liter bottle is plenty. Then flip the top around so that it makes a funnel going into the bottle. Drop in a piece of raw shrimp and wait.

 

[Kazza24]

can crabs make similar noises to mantis shrimps?

 

[jumboshrimp18]

Coul well be the sound of snails hitting the side of your tank.

 

[fanaglethebagle]

snails hitting the side of your tank?

 

[psychodave]

yeah, that happins all the time. I constantly hear clicks from my hermits shells bumping into the glass while walking around...

 

[Kazza24]

My noises come from inside the rockwork where I have seen crabs live. I have been looking each night but haven't seen a mantis only crabs. I know what one looks like as I have already had two that I had successfully removed. I hope I don't have any more. Before I got the mantis out though I never heard noises and I actually saw the buggers which is how I knew.