clicking sound coming from tank...maybe a mantis!!!

jjj1100 · #1 12/26/2007, 10:33 PM

Ok, I have had a 300g reef up for a while wth no major issues regarding fish loss. Every so often just before "lights out" on the tank around 11:30 PM I hear a clicking sound. It doesn't happen that often and at first I thought it was the Niger Trigger...don't ask why. I know jus found out that mantis make clicking sounds and am kinda worried that I may have one in my tank. The tank has been set up for over a year and I completly rerocked it about 3 months ago and never saw signs of a mantis anywhere.

I may just be paranoid, but usually the clicking comes in three short spurts - almost like snapping your fingers.

any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

pointx · #2 12/26/2007, 10:43 PM

Maybe its a Pistol shrimp. I have 3 that I know of and they click away at night. It almost sounds like the tank is cracking.

regards.

jjj1100 · #3 12/26/2007, 11:44 PM

turned off the lights a half hour early tonight and sat by the tank...sure enough I heard 2 or 3 small clicks....

sigh

now I need to figure out what it is. I don't think its a pistol shrimp... i mean could they come as a hitch hicker?

I have a feelig its a mantis

stevelkaneval · #4 12/26/2007, 11:48 PM

depending on were the rock is from either one could be a hitchicker. you should look into the tank at night with a flashlight that has a red film over it.

Bygkid · #5 12/27/2007, 12:45 AM

Yes, Pistols can come as HH's. My tank has been set up for over a year and I have had a pistol shrimp living in my tank since the day it was set up. He arrive with the rock, set up shop the first day and has never moved. I have heard clicking as well. Ihave read(correct me if my info is incorrect) that the type of clicking can sometimes tell you what you have. Pistol shrimp have just that... a pistol, so the sound is kinda like 'pop'... reload...'pop'.
The Mantis have boxing gloves and tend to do alot of jabbing to get their prey. I have read that multiple close- together popping can denote a mantis. Ibelieve that I have 1 of each but have only seen the pistol. Of course, the shell graveyard at the point of the suspected mantis location could be a give away as well. BTW, they both came on LR that was brought to me in tubs just sorta moist at best and they survived the trip to my house, plus the time it took to set up the tank before the water went in.

uscharalph · #6 12/27/2007, 01:03 AM

I hear that click click all the time. I have yet to see either, but it's not for lack of trying.

pointx · #7 12/27/2007, 09:42 AM

My Pistols click through out the day and night. But I am only able to see em at night with a flashlight. I have only seen mine on the bottom besides rocks with holes or crevises.

Swanwillow · #8 12/27/2007, 11:27 AM

Mantis shrimp won't eat fish-at least the hitchhickers that we normally get. They'll decimate your cleanup crew though.
Fun buggers!

ITGUY · #9 12/27/2007, 12:26 PM

Could it be a timer for your lighting making the click sound?

allenpantino · #10 12/27/2007, 01:34 PM

my pistol shrimp sounds like hes clicking the glass but its actually the rocks hes clicking

jjj1100 · #11 12/27/2007, 02:52 PM

thanks for all the replies. It can't be a timer...i only have snails for a clean up crew, and haven't really lost any fish to speak of so maybe its not a mantis. how harmful are pistol shrimps

riley290 · #12 12/27/2007, 03:46 PM

not bad really. mine takes out a snail or two a month. I've seen mine eat a small bristle worm so I wasn't too happy about that.

Get a shrimp goby and I bet if you have a pistol you'll see him in a month or two once the goby becomes settled. But if you have a large mantis you may have a dead goby.

riley290 · #13 12/27/2007, 03:47 PM

forgot to add. if you have pistol i bet you'd know by the burrowing. i had 3" sand everywhere but now I have 6" on one side of the tank and 1" on the other. he's a little front loader and is rebuilding all the time.