I'm hearing an aweful lot of clicking noises in the middle of the night, I've jumped up several times to investigate hoping to atleast catch a glempse of it, but he has yet to show himself. My guess would be a very sneaky mantis shrimp. I've lost 2 blue leg hermits in the past 2 days, but I've also seen the hermits fighting amongst each other and actually had to seperate a few. I have plenty of algae for them to eat, they could be fighting over the shells for a new home. I also have tons of baby critters that only come out at night, they are so small I can't even tell what they are, but they do look like some kind of shimp. They are less than 1/4 of an inch in size, they almost look clear, when in the sand they become almost invisible and they have large black eyes. I've seen a few of them chasing each other all over the tank, they are extremely fast and don't sit still long enough to get a good look at them. The wife thinks that it is them making the clicking noise cause everytime we go to investigate, there they are. I was thinking that they are way to small to make that loud of a noise. I figured maybe they are the babies and Mom is just in hiding. As far as the clicking noise, I'm hearing an aweful lot of clicking, I've heard that the pistol shrimps tend to snap in ones and twos, and the mantis shrimps make multiple hits. I'm hearing multiple hits! I've made a trap out of a water bottle, dropped a piece of krill in for bate and the only thing I've caught is a hermit crab. This is the third night with the trap, maybe I just need to be patient. I'm also going to try to catch a few of these babies to take to my LFS to see if I can identify them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Clicking Noises in the Night
- Thread starter codsack
- Start date
I've had those popping/clicking sounds in my tank for almost 2 years with no ill effects that I can see.
Ok. Be worried!
1. The small "baby shrimp" are likely mysis shrimp or amphipods. Both are just dandy. Neither make noise.
2. Your clicking noise is most likely a mantis busting open shells of your hermits or snails.
After I finally caught ours (nine months) and got a sand sifter, I found DOZENS of cracked open snail shells. I never had any hermits. I didn't suffer any fish loss that I thought was from mantis. I tried coke bottle trap for awhile, caught a wrasse a couple of times. So, I stopped adding clean up crew.
After a couple of weeks, I figured if he wasn't hungry, he wasn't dangerous. I fed him a whole krill on a feeding stick a few times a week. I'd hold it down near the rock and he'd come out and get it. After quite a few months of this, I stopped. Mostly because I was tired of it, not because I'm smart. After about a week, he was coming out every time I sat down, waiting for his food. Saw that, baited the trap again, and caught him in thirty minutes.
So, take precautions, but don't panic. You can't really protect your cleanup crew unless he's full. If he's eating them, probably won't bother your fish much. Try feeding him with a LONG feeding stick and then use the trap. Oh, and don't be moving live rock with your bare hands!
Mantis free since December!
1. The small "baby shrimp" are likely mysis shrimp or amphipods. Both are just dandy. Neither make noise.
2. Your clicking noise is most likely a mantis busting open shells of your hermits or snails.
After I finally caught ours (nine months) and got a sand sifter, I found DOZENS of cracked open snail shells. I never had any hermits. I didn't suffer any fish loss that I thought was from mantis. I tried coke bottle trap for awhile, caught a wrasse a couple of times. So, I stopped adding clean up crew.
After a couple of weeks, I figured if he wasn't hungry, he wasn't dangerous. I fed him a whole krill on a feeding stick a few times a week. I'd hold it down near the rock and he'd come out and get it. After quite a few months of this, I stopped. Mostly because I was tired of it, not because I'm smart. After about a week, he was coming out every time I sat down, waiting for his food. Saw that, baited the trap again, and caught him in thirty minutes.
So, take precautions, but don't panic. You can't really protect your cleanup crew unless he's full. If he's eating them, probably won't bother your fish much. Try feeding him with a LONG feeding stick and then use the trap. Oh, and don't be moving live rock with your bare hands!
Mantis free since December!
seamonkeychar
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Once they get use to you, Mantis can be quite bold. Currently mine is stalking my sister's kittens (the kittens are playing beside the tank). If you manage to get it out, it could make a great pet.
On the flipside, it might just be a pistol shrimp. I have a tiger pistol that is LOUD, and many of the hitchhiker varieties are too.
On the flipside, it might just be a pistol shrimp. I have a tiger pistol that is LOUD, and many of the hitchhiker varieties are too.
Ehh....I don't know. I've had the "clicking" noises since my 90g was set up in 2007 and I haven't seen any broken shells in my tank (I have countless snails/hermits). I also haven't lost any of my small fish (chromis). I also had a coral banded shrimp in the tank for over a year before I lost it to Interceptor. Seems like that shrimp would have been toast in a tank with a mantis.
Usually within 20 minutes of lights out, I'll hear one or two clicking sounds....so it might be a pistol shrimp, but I've never seen one in my tank so who knows.
I don't know what it is, but I don't think it's a mantis.
-Dustin
Is it rapid-fire clicking, or a single click at intervals?
If it's the former, it's likely a mantis. The latter, a pistol.
I had a mantis in my seahorse tank for 3 years. Heard it twice daily - morning and night for 3 years. Never laid eyes on it. Tank was heavily fed so it never did any damage but that's the exception, not the rule.
Sometimes snails falling off the glass or hermits moving along the glass make a click as their shells tap the glass - make sure of what you have going on before you take drastic measures.
If you do have a mantis, my recommendation would be to get it out at all cost.
I have a "pet" mantis in the shop for over 2 years, in her own tank (female peacock) - she's a trip - but anything that goes into that tank gets devoured.
Jenn
If it's the former, it's likely a mantis. The latter, a pistol.
I had a mantis in my seahorse tank for 3 years. Heard it twice daily - morning and night for 3 years. Never laid eyes on it. Tank was heavily fed so it never did any damage but that's the exception, not the rule.
Sometimes snails falling off the glass or hermits moving along the glass make a click as their shells tap the glass - make sure of what you have going on before you take drastic measures.
If you do have a mantis, my recommendation would be to get it out at all cost.
I have a "pet" mantis in the shop for over 2 years, in her own tank (female peacock) - she's a trip - but anything that goes into that tank gets devoured.
Jenn
Mine never seemed to bother fish at all. I didn't see cracked shells until after removal. I had no clean up crew for almos nine months. When they disappeared over and over again, injust quit buying them. Mine was rapid clicking and once I started feeding it, it would come out and let me see it. Mine was over an inch long. Fascinating creatures.
Jenn, you helped me out again. I've only heard clicking in my tank since the pistol went in and then the crabs disappeared. The culprit in my tank is definitely the pistol shrimp, not that there was any doubt because of the pile of hermit crab shells in their burrow... but at least there's no mantis.
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the clicking is in your head cod! wake up dude. how long you been doing this. the clicking started before you got the tank. ok the fun is over.what you been up to. still waiting on pics,haha. what you saw sounds like pods. you want pods. one of the post say to use a stick. easier way, cut a plastic bottle close to the bottom and put your food in it and place in the same spot in the tank. get him use to that location and then start bating him once you notice it feeding. what ever it is, it will learn food in that location,and that should bring it out.
