mysterious clicks: pistol or mantis?

[ejmeier]

I have always heard a strange underwater clicking noise in one of my tanks, and it seems to happen more often at night than during the day.

At first I thought it was the heater coming on, but after some thought, I realized heaters don't make any noise when they come on.

I have recently suspected that it was perhaps a pistol shrimp, but recently I lost a Cherub Pygmy Angel in the tank - I have no idea what happened to it. I could've died from anything really, but I now am starting to wonder - could it be a mantis shrimp?

What do you guys think?

 

[MDKyleZ]

First of all, What kind of rock do you have?

And second Smasher mantis rarely ever kill fish they go for the easiest prey possible. Spearer mantis on the other hand are more likely to kill fish.

Kyle

 

[ejmeier]

Well, my "theory" is that a shrimp came in as a hitchhiker on a piece of coral - yellow polyps. When I was first adding the coral to the tank, I wanted to break the coral in pieces and put some in different spots, so I chiseled the rock open. To my surprise, a weird grey shrimp thing jumped out as soon as I had split the rock open. It was maybe 1" long at the time; this was about one year ago.

I thought it would be a pistol shrimp for sure because of the grey color, but are mantis greyish colored when young too?

 

[ejmeier]

Actually, there were two hitchhiker shrimp on that piece of coral - one is in the tank I am now inquiring about, the other in my main tank.

Anyway, I found a really weird looking molt today in my main tank - it was blue. I started a thread about it here:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=206113

 

[MDKyleZ]

To tell you the truth I have never seen a grey mantis however there are so many spieces that there very well may be some that are grey.

Have you had a chance to ask Gonodactylus? He is an exspert...(unlike me).

Kyle

 

[ejmeier]

After finding out some moer information, I am leaning much more toward a mantis shrimp than a pistol.
1. The rock that my mystery shrimp came in on was... well, a ROCK. I chiseled it open and found the shrimp, so he was burrowed into the rock.
2. I have stuff squirting out of one of my rocks a while back. Haven't seen this happen in a while, but could this be a mantis cleaning out his new home?

 

[MDKyleZ]

Yes, that might have been a mantis cleanning out his home.

 

[RogueCorps]

Hey Eric,

I've heard that pistol shrimps are more likely to click less frequently in "ones and twos." Although this won't positively I.D. a pistol, if you hear multiple clicks it's much more likely to be a mantis. Ours will sometimes hammer continuously for a few minutes at a time while cracking shellfish or while home-building.

hth!

-Rogue

 

[ejmeier]

That is what I am so puzzled about... I have never found any remains of snail or crab shells anywhere. I never really have lost any livestock to date, except for my Pygmy Angel which I cannot say for certain that it was any sort of predation. I just found no trace of the fish after being in the tank for several months.

Also, I suspect there is somthing in my main tank too. I have never heard any sort of clicks, and I have never had any livestock disappear, but I did find a very strange molt - it was mostly blue. I only saw bits and pieces of the molt, so I have no idea what it could be, only the color - a blue with some shades of green.

 

[ReefWalker]

I have a mantis in one of my rocks as well. It sounds a lot like yours. It's greyish in color with some darker spots. Mine's maybe 2 1/2 inches long. It hasn't touched any of my hermits yet. Several times, I've seen a hermit picking some algae near/on top of the mantis' hole. The mantis would poke its head out to see what was going on. It would take a few hits at the shell, but then slide back down into its home. Hasn't bothered anyone yet. When I feed my fish, a piece of shrimp will float down near the rock and the mantis will shoot out to get itself a meal. Once in a while, I'll try to target feed the guy to keep him satisfied.

 

[zafirablanca]

I got both as HH on my live rock. I don't think that you could tell which you have until you get a good look at one. My pistol shrimp are orange with purple antennae, and about the size of a cleaner shrimp (long legs). One mantis is orangish brown, and the other two are a teal blue/ grey with orange, these guys are between 1"-3" (short legs). Blue green sounds like a mantis molt to me. Also the size seems more appropriate.
My pistols will definately make a loud CRACK if they feel threatened, where my mantis just seem to make a true clicking sound. The mantis have smashed all of the barnacles on my rock.
Neither have killed any real livestock in the tank.
Good luck,
-Christine