Snapping sound

[Sir MArcus]

I keep hearing a snapping sound from my 18 gal.

I have:

2 peppermint shrimp, 1 yellow tail damsel, 1 watchman gobie, 1 tomato clown and a rock blennie. They live in 36 lb of LR and 18 lb LS for the past 3 months. When I first heard "the sound" I thought it was a mantis shrimp. But, none of my inhabitants have gone missing or has been found dead. Should I relax and chalk it up as a pistol shrimp, or is this the calm before the storm. I've been trynig to see the noise maker. I'll show up around 3 am with a flash light and see only some porcelin and small hairy crabs, but no noise maker. Does anyone know how to spot the culprit?!:*(

[Crakeur]

it could still be a mantis. We have a mammoth mantis in our 180 at work and we haven't had a fish go missing in months. It could be a pistol as you mentioned as well. Try setting a trap near the clicking sound and see if you can snag the beast.

[Twins Guy]

my guess is mantis...i have a lil guy that gets punked by my fish. i think he takes down a snail every now and then for fun but it gives him something to do and the brittle stars get some vittles too so...other than his snapping in the night and the occasional eye stalk appearance i haven't seen him in a couple months at least. this guys prolly about 1-1.5" but until i move up to a bigger tank he'll just be hiding from fred the fridmani

tg

[Sir MArcus]

What traps do you guy's recommend? What's the best thing to bait it with cooked shrimp or silver sides? I bought the watchman gobie to see if I could lure the pistol shrimp out. (If it is a pistol.) But, I'm starting to think it is a mantis. I don't think any of my turbos have gone MIA either. Anyway thanks for the responce guy's.

[reefphreak]

My guess is that you have a Pistol Shrimp. Because that is what I have.

[Twins Guy]

the x-terminator trap shown here is one of the only readily available pest traps. i picked one up but my tiny mantis doesn't trigger it and usually my hermits get all tangled up in it-PITA!

HTH!

 

http://www.ultralifedirect.com/traps.htm

 

tg

[reef hugger]

here is something you could try, you most likely won't be able to catch him but, you will at least know where he is at in the tank. sound travels very well under water, so its hard to pin point where the sound is coming from when they snap. especially in a small tank.

 

what you do is take a piece of shrimp or fish and stick it on a skewer. move the skewer slowly around the lr, particularly around holes about 1/2" diameter or so. if you get close to the shrimp you should hear the popping sound. they snap as a warning when they feel threatened and/or use it for stunning prey. at least that is what mine does.

 

normally mine pops alittle bit and usually not very loud, but when i got the shrimp near his hole, it was loud. my wife heard the snap all the way across the house.

 

hth

[ajroahkni]

IME, pistol shrimp. Do you have holes and build up under your LR? I do, and it's from pistol shrimp. Pull the rock and you'll see it under there.

[Sir MArcus]

I do have some holes. What do you mean by build up? Do pistols ever come out of hiding?

[ajroahkni]

Build up like sand pushed up into mounds outside of the edges of the bottom of the LR. Sand looks "fresh" and clean. It's like if you were living under a rock and decided to burrow out yourself a doorway.

 

I've had a pistol burrow along the glass before, but only at that. If you don't have LR along the glass, you'll probably not ever see them. They just stay under their pieces of LR if it's placed in the middle of the tank. My experience w/ Mantis (and I've only had 2 hitchhikers) is that they'll show their faces in the tank and don't really burrow - although I've seen some burrowed in the public aquarium.

 

Try dropping a piece of raw shrimp into the tank, or some other sort of seafood (I used to feed my mantis raw salmon). The mantis would always show it's face to grab the salmon, the pistols never showed up.

[Sir MArcus]

Hey, ajroahkni. I tried your idea and no mantis showed up so I'm pretty sure it's a pistol. Thanks for the advice. Now I could probably sleep better noing it's a PISTOL. Thanks again.

[Sir MArcus]

$#!T, I just saw the bugger. It's definately a MANTIS! It's about 1 and half inches. He's a pretty one. But he has to GO!!!!!!!!! I going to buy that trap now. Thanks for the help you guys!

[BlackSumbel]

====It's definately a MANTIS! It's about 1 and half inches. He's a pretty one. But he has to GO!!!!!!!!!====

 

After seeing how pretty they are, I'd never kill one. I'd just post up that you have one that you want to get rid of, or take it to the LFS... sometimes they'll take them.

 

-Sumbel.

[Sir MArcus]

I already have a couple of people who are interested in the mantis. I just don't want all my hard work to be in vain. It hasn't done any damage yet. That's only because it's still small. Anyway I just bought the exterminator trap twins guy referred me to. I hope it works. I'm gonna set it tonight.

[Crakeur]

that trap is good for trapping everything but the mantis. I have tried them for years with absolutely no success. The best way to get the mantis is to start feeding it shrimp attached to a string. Lure the mantis out of the hole and let it get used to coming out. If you do this for a few days, the mantis will be more willing to come out for the shrimp each day (they are supposedly very smart). Once it is comfortable coming out, drag the shrimp(food) and lure the mantis into the bottom of a plastic bottle (coke) and snatch it. If you want to exact revenge, lure the mantis in front of the intake of a powerhead (without the protective cover) and, when the mantis is close enough, turn on the powerhead and puree the bastard.

[Sir MArcus]

Thanks, Crakeur I'm definately going to try that. I put the trap in last night and when I woke up my lawnmower blenny was in it. He's doing ok. But no mantis. Well I'll let you know whats up. Thanks again.