mantis sounds?

[Beemo]

i just setup my 55 gallon about 10 days ago. it has 50 lbs base rock and 45 lbs select premium fiji from liveaquaria.
i added a clean up crew ( i know im rushing things)
various snails, scarlet hermits, queen conch, red foot conch, sally lightfoot crab, 5 peppermint shrimp, emerald crab and 4 green chromis.
all are doing great and i have no deaths
today i heard constand popping noises coming from a rock pile on the right side of the tank. after checking all equipment and trying to follow the sound i narrowed it down to the location.
it sounded like someone was throwing pebbles in the tank
it went on for about 15 mins then stopped. then it happend again several hours later but this time it was more quiet, it came from the same area.
it did sound similiar to a hermits shell hitting the glass but when i looked there was no hermit near the glass, infact i can only locate one hermit today, which has me more paranoid.
the tank has tons of caves and nooks so its pretty easy for crabs etc to hide from my view.
yesterday i noticed in a hole (opposite end where the pops were coming from) this brown mottled dark dying macro algae swaying in the current. now this is pretty new live rock so it has tons of dying macro algae on it, but this one did stand out from the others in the oddity factor. i dismissed it as algae since i havent heard these pops until today.
i peaked back into that rock with this odd swaying algae and it was gone, no trace of it, while all the other macro's are were they were yesterday.
could this have been a mantis i saw? with a feathery swaying tail??
it was so dark it was hard to make out
so whatta ya think? mantis or im just being paranoid?

 

[Salty Bginners]

the noise and missing crabs could be the work of a mantis shrimp...

 

[Beemo]

morning here and i found 2 of the 4 hermits alive and well
phew that gives me some hope
if it is indeed a mantis, how long before he ventures out? are they shy at first?
after reading all night about mantis shrimp it could be that a mantis is making a tunnel in my live rock which would explain the noises
so if it is a mantis i know its a smasher lol
would i be able to keep larger fish? like a foxface?

 

[Hutton]

you might have a pistol shrimp instead of a mantis, the pistols make the popping noises over and over, while a mantis will only do it for a little while if he is hitting a hermit. there are traps you could use if you have a mantis, you take a washed out soda bottle(2 liter) cut the top of were it fuses and become the cylindrical shape of the whole bottle, then invert the top so it makes a cone going inot the bottle, poke some holes in the bott so the when you put the bait in it(raw shrimp or crab) the smell can get out into the tank and attract what ever is makeing the noise, then if it is a mantis you could take it out and either sell it or set up an extra little tank for it.

 

[Beemo]

pistol shrimp would be nice, then i can get him a goby friend
the live rock came from live aquaria, i figured they would be the safest out there sine they "clean" their rock with a spray of sea water on a shelf to drive out mantis and bristle worms, so they say in the description.
so you think coming from live aquaria the chances are slim its a mantis?

 

[dantodd]

No, the chances are the same. The "washing" is no more effective against mantids than pistols.

With hermits etc. disappearing immediately I'd guess mantis. Some species will bang repeatedly to carve out tunnels in LR. I know mine did for some time until he had the whole piece riddled.

Mantis won't usuallt mess too much with fish. You might be a little worried about fish that sleep on the bottom though. If it were me I'd get a 10gal tank and set it up for him. All you need is a tank, some live rock, heater, 2 powerheads and a cheap light. Should be able to do it all for less than $60. This will allow you to have a clean up crew in your 55 which would otherwise be a losing proposition. It will also mean that the mantis will be more visible more often so you can spot feed him etc.

Once you have the new tank set up you can either move the piece of rock he is in into the tank or take it out and use ro/di water to flush him out. If you don't know which rock he is in try the coke bottle trap. I'd use a 20oz bottle first but a 2L will work too.

Depending upon the size of mantis you can probably get by with a 5gal tank. Oh yeah, glass tank is fine, he won't break it.

 

[Beemo]

live aquaria emailed me back they said it is indeed possible that one hitchhiked in the LR.
they use a high salinity dip to rid most critters
how can it survive being packed in a box with newspaper for 2 days? thats a miracle lol

 

[dantodd]

tough buggers....

 

[Beemo]

i have a few questions...
if i do have a mantis knowing me id probably keep him, im known to keep pests lol...i had a house mouse once stuck in a glue trap, i picked him out with a spoon and kept him in a cage with an exercise wheel, bedding food etc. i had him for a lil over a year, so you can see im nuts lol.
i can stock up on hermits and snails as feeders, but how many do they eat in a day? do they kill out of hunger or just for fun? if i add 20 hermits will he pick them off slowly or waste them all in one day?
if i train him to eat (i havent even seen the thing yet) would he then be less likely to hunt and kill? i can make him fat and lazy lol
what clean up crew can i keep with a mantis? i need something to pick up left over food every once in a while.
im guessing shrimps are out of the question?
my LFS had huge queen conch's, they were the size of a mans fist, can a small manits kill that too? dang conch was like a puppet lol
what about a foxface's venomous spines? would that have no protection against a mantis?
id like to mix him in a community if this is possible, im sure its been done before.
when i see serious damage then ill say hes goin bye bye

 

[BLockamon]

You think a mantis living in a damp rock is impressive, my LFS actually had a FISH hitchhike in on live rock. The little sucker was just swimming around in their live rock vats. Can't remember what type he was. If my tank wasn't full, I might have bought him. At least I'd know I had one fish I couldn't kill no matter what.

 

[Beemo]

lol thats crazy
well i havent heard any clicks in a few days...makes me wonder if i heard just a snail stuck in the rocks...still dont know
everyone is alive and well still (knock on wood)