need help identifying a "bug" in rock!

I

igotsalt

New member
Was moving live rock in tank and found a really interesting bug in tank! Looked like a catapillar in shape and the way it moved. It was about 3.5"+ long and .5" in width. It was tannish brown with a outer shell ...not real hard but you could peck it with your fingernail. The body was segmented like a caterpillar and moved like a snail,flat on top of body and rounded sides. The head area had 3 diamond patterns embedded...pastel blue,pink,&yellow. It moved rather quickly and did not want bothered!

What is it?
 
Be careful, that thing will tear your finger up! I got a mantis out of my tank last summer. I made it much harder than it really was. After failed attemps of using a mantis trap and other wasted attemps, I simply waited and watched until he came out of his rock and went back, then i reached down and picked the rock up and with a net in the other hand...as he fell out I snatched him up in the net and it was quite easy. Do not kill him please, they are very cool animals and if you do not want to keep him in a seperate tank, then I am sure your favorite LFS would take him off your hands. Or, if he is not bothering anything and you like him, just leave him in there. The only problem is that they will eat all of your crabs for sure, and any other shrimp you have in there. Also, mine killed my brittle star fish, chopped all its legs off and into pieces everywhere, it was awful. They also make a clicking/tapping noise as they crack the shells of your crabs and snails.
 
Nope! It's not a shrimp! We couldn't see any legs and it's body wasn't colorful, just his head area. The diamond pattern was pretty and very unusual. The pattern started just slightly from the head area and was 3 diamonds in a vertical row, lined up end to end. He moved effortlessly in one continual motion. His body was smooth with the exception of the diamonds. They were embedded in is body. The sections of his body were visible but I couldn't feel them...on a caterpillar you can feel the different sections and they are visible to the eye, his you could see but not feel so I don't know if he really was sectioned out!

OK Phil! what is it! I was going to put him in my sump until I figured out what he was but, someone talked me out of it! I hope I don't have to get it out! I've never seen this before and have spent many night with a flashlight watching the night creatures!
 
This thing doesn't look anything like the picture of the mantis you showed me! I touched it and moved my finger acrossed it a couple of times. It was moving very close to the rock and turned and went another direction when I turned the rock, he wanted to be climbing up the rock not down, when I put my finger in front of it's head, it turned to go another direction.
 
I don't have a camera! I knew I should have thrown it in my sump! Give some websites to search and I'll find it and tell you what it is! It really looked like a caterpillar from my garden.
 
It really sounds like a mantis shrimp, they look like caterpillars and have what looks like three diamonds on their tale. Maybe you were looking at the business end of the bug. If you have a mantis you will also hear a popping noise in the coming from the tank. But plain and simple, without a picture you will not get an ID.
 
It is going to be hard to know without a pic. A mantis is the only thing I can think of that fits the description though. Do a google search for more pics of them.
 
I found a picture that looks like my guy in "the sea slug forum.net" The one I have has a lighter body color and the diamond pattern is pastel colors. Looks like I should have put it in the sump!

I couldn't link the site to here, so look up the seaslugforum.net type in the word "chiton"

go to - Chitons, Amphineura and Polyplacophora

go to #10
the author by Dee Ryden. Chiton or slug?

there is a picture of a chiton removed from a tank by a hobbyist They were identifying the picture

http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=chitons

the above address might work! can't be sure
 
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