Who is clicking in my tank?

[Minireeftank]

So I’ve heard a clicking sound in my tank for a few weeks now, have read it could be a pistol or a mantis but I can’t think of how either could have got in as the only thing I’ve added recently were very small coral frags, I’m pretty sure it’s not a mantis as I’ve read they click a lot of times in a row, this is random clicking just once at a time. I was wondering if it could be caused by any of the current residents? The tank currently houses a hermit crab an emerald crab and three nassarius snails, as well as a stomatella snail who hitchhiked his way in a few months ago. I had two hermits however one kept bullying the other out his shell (despite trying very hard to give him numerous shells to choose from) eventually I guess the one being evicted got sick of it and they ended up fighting as I found the original bully naked with both his claws removed with the other hermit on top of him, despite helping him into shell and placing him in a secluded area of the tank he died the next morning.

[ReefGoat]

Did you use live rock from the ocean or dry rock? Could it be your equipment making the noise?

[Clown79]

I had a pistol shrimp yrs ago. Started as a loud clicking, about 3 in a row but with space in between the clicks.

 

It was in my live rocks but the clicking started mnths after starting. 

They can come in on some pretty small items, especially if they are small 

[Tired]

Snails can make a clicking noise sometimes. Some snails do a sort of twisting motion if something is attached to their shell, and can tap against the wall and make a sound. And definitely check your equipment for clicks. Could also be a hermit crab falling off of something. 

 

Mantises and pistols both tend to click multiple times. You're probably more likely to have gotten a pistol, out of the two. I had a bitty half-inch pistol turn up inside a closed-but-empty clamshell, and fortunately noticed the little guy before I put the shell in the tank. He would have been hard to find and get out otherwise, and would probably have fought my existing pistol shrimp and lost. 

 

If you're only hearing one click at a time, it's probably not a mantis or pistol. 

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, Tired said:

Snails can make a clicking noise sometimes. Some snails do a sort of twisting motion if something is attached to their shell, and can tap against the wall and make a sound. And definitely check your equipment for clicks. Could also be a hermit crab falling off of something. 

 

Mantises and pistols both tend to click multiple times. You're probably more likely to have gotten a pistol, out of the two. I had a bitty half-inch pistol turn up inside a closed-but-empty clamshell, and fortunately noticed the little guy before I put the shell in the tank. He would have been hard to find and get out otherwise, and would probably have fought my existing pistol shrimp and lost. 

 

If you're only hearing one click at a time, it's probably not a mantis or pistol. 

That is true. My trochus do the twisting which causes a clicking noise against the glass