How do I know if I have a pistol or mantis shrimp?

sugartooth

Reef bully
I heard some clicking this morning coming from my tank. It is about 4 months old and I don't recall ever hearing anything like it before. It was definitely not my equipment.
I have yet to see anything like the pictures posted. The only things I haven't seen for a while are some Narssarius Snails (sp?)
I have hermits, porcelain crab, and cleaner shrimp. So far those guys are okay.
Do I have to stay up all night to try and look for this? Is there any way to flush whatever it is out?
 
some say you can tell by the number, type, or sound of the clicks but to be positive you'll have to see it. If it is a mantis you will at some point end up missing some inhabitants, but again that is not proof positive. FME my pistol(s) seem to start clicking once the lights go out. but then again it may be a mantis I don't know about.

best way is to isolate the rock it's in and remove it to a QT tank and observe
sorry not much help :)
 
Yikes,
I have an awful lot of rock, I can't tell yet where the clicking is coming from. Does anyone know if I need to panic or only when snails and crabs start disappearing? Nothing will happen to the corals, etc., right?
 
shouldn't bother corals. try using a red light at night and see if you can spot him. it may take a while just be patient. You can also try using a trap works sometimes.....
 
i hear clicks, been silent for a month or two now, it would be click, 3 in a row, then one last click,

so
click
1second break
click
click
click
1second break
click
 
It just happened again!
I hear a series as well, then silent. THen it goes again. My hubby doesn't believe me, so when it just happened I told him to sit by the tank because I can't tell where it's coming from.
Yes, it has been silent ever since he sat there, and I look like a paranoid reef knucklehead.

I guess I will have to keep checking in there to see if I can catch a glimpse. It's amazing, there is a constant surfacing of new critters. Just when you think you know your tank inside and out.
 
When i found the little bugger in my tank he was so loud that it would keep me up at night. he or she was stunning with coler to bad all i could thingk of was grilling him. I ended up useing a trap and sold him to my LFS.
 
i saw mine with a red LED array fro man exit sign (dont ask)

he had liek eyes that were balls, lie kany normal shrimp, he was abotu an inch long, and clear, one claw was only a small bit bigger than the other, possibly a baby pistol?
 
It can be really difficult to tell if it's a mantis or pistol just going by the clicks. Generally, the pistol will give a series of rapid double clicks whereas a mantis will give single louder and deeper clicks, but again, it could be either one and the number of clicks is not proof positive. If you have a mantis in there somewhere it is likely hiding in one of the tunnels in your rocks. Take a flashlight and inspect the holes and tunnels in your rocks at night. Also look for cracked open snail or hermit shells or shells with holes in them which would almost certainly indicate a mantis. There are various ways of capturing a mantis including the homemade plastic bottle trap with bait and also using a grabber tool from Sears. Usually the easiest method is isolating the rock and removing it and extracting the mantis using cold soda water.
 
I also have those clear looking guys with one claw larger than the other. Actually for mine, the part of the larger claw is bright orange. They are probably not babies...Mine came with TBS rock which I have had for 2 years and they are still only maybe 3/4" long. They stay small but make a big noise that I can hear from across the house. I have narrowed down where some of them have their boltholes in the live rock and have actually seen them out during the day once in a while. Mine also tend to click when the lights go out, but there are a few so they "talk" back and forth. Usually only one to three loud clicks at a time, separated by a few seconds.
 
engineer- are the rest of the inhabitants in your tank okay? Have you had problems with any disappearances?

HowardW- Thanks for the info....I hope to be able to find out what exactly it is. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a pistol shrimp.
 
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