Hi mantis people

zep

New member
I have just read a bunch of the threads in this forum today and have to say I can definately see your fascination with these awsome creatures!:D

I'm hoping I can pick one or more of your brains:

I moved the inhabitants of my 45 gallon 2.5 year old tank into a 105 earlier this year. Since the tank was larger I added new liverock from figi (advertised as such at least.) For about four or five months after I would hear clicking sounds coming from the tank after about 7pm (lights go off at midnight.)

I thought (hoped) it was a pistol shrimp because I didn't realize mantis shrimp could make the same noise, so I added a yasa hashe goby (very expensive) which I never saw again. I then added about a month later a yellow nose goby which I never saw again. A month after that I added a randalls shrimp goby (he hung around for a couple of weeks) then dissappeared.

My tank is very stable and I am not accustomed to losing fish so this has been upsetting. Not to mention it took me 2 years to find a yasa hashe goby (sometimes called white ray.) He was my "most desired fish" after my sunburst anthias.

At any rate, I can't say I am sure I have a mantis for two reasons: One - I haven't heard the clicking in months
Two - I have an evelnae goby (half inch in length, probably less than a gram of weight), a yellow clown goby, and a mandarin. Wouldn't these be food for a mantis of just about any size? I'm not finding piles of empty snail shells either.


Well, as they say YOUR'E THE EXPERTS! Does this sound like a mantis problem?

Thanks!
 
Hi,

Nope, I'm sure they didn't jump out. But thanks:)

I thought of something else:

I have a black cap basselet who has escavated a series of tunnels through the sand from under the live rock. At about the time the clicking stopped he had some gashes and torn fins. Do you guys think he could have killed the mantis(if there ever was one?)

any ideas?
thanks
 
I just wanted to add:

I hope I haven't offended the people in this forum with the title of my first post - that wasn't my intention - please let me apologize if I did.

thanks
 
I primarily only lurk on this site, I'm interested in mantis shrimp but have never kept one so take this as a grain of salt, I'm more replying to find out what others say.

The mantis would have been faster, smarter and a hell'o'lot tougher than the fish. Based on what I've read once for ounce there may not be a more dangerous predator on the planet. In an encounter the fish might have been lucky enough to escape, but I really doubt that your black cap basset could have killed a mantis[Especially one big enough to catch other fish in your tank].
It's possible that you had a mantis and it died because it wasn't able to molt properly.
 
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