Clicking Sound. Whats Up?

teetee

teetee

Member
I remember noticing posts quite some time ago regarding clicking sounds in someones tank. I thought it seemed weird until now. I have that sound. Click, click, click throughout the day. It's quite funny, actually, as I try to locate it. One sure thing, it is not coming from my two fish, nor from any equipment. It seems to be coming from within/amongst the pile of live rock. I have a Sally Lightfoot, Green Emeralds, Banded Shrimp, and a Purple Reef Lobster. Are they culprits? Anyone out there have the same experience? Whats going on?? :rolleyes:
 
car guy

car guy

Member
you might have a pistol shrimp, one of they're claws snaps shut extremely quick and produces a clicking sound, or the sound of a 22 revolver, therefore the name pistol shrimp
 
teetee

teetee

Member
No snails or hermits. Unfortunately the fish I have like to gobble up snails & hermits. The pistol shrimp sounds fascinating, although I have never seem a shrimp. Are they small? If they are, I am surprised they haven't become a meal for my fish.
 
kelly

kelly

Member
teetee,
It could be a mantis shrimp, they can hide fairly well. I had the same sounds coming from my tank a few years back, and I found and removed it.
 
teetee

teetee

Member
The dreaded mantis shrimp? Say it isn't so! Other than the clicking sound, what signs would I be looking for as signs of a Mantis shrimp living in my system? :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
bhav_88

bhav_88

Member
Look for, um, dissapearing fish, cracks in your glass, and large centipede-like things poking their heads out of the rock and raising two menacing claws. Don't mean to sound sarcastic. Actually, those might be good to look for anyway. Don't worry, the Mantis is not dangerous until he gets large, and I understand that only one gender (not sure which) is agressive enough to break glass and eat fish or whatever... Don't quote me on that.
 
teetee

teetee

Member
Hehehe Bhav, thats funny ;). Are they reef safe? I mean would they do damage to soft corals? BTW, before I kick off on a paranoid tangent, can someone else verify whether clicking sounds are from mantis shrimp?
 
bhav_88

bhav_88

Member
By what I've heard, they are reef safe until they reach a certain age. I don't think they intentionally harm corals, though if they walk across one it may hurt it... Not sure about clicking. It sounds like a Pacific Snapper Crab, but I doubt you would get one of those. I don't think it is a pistol shrimp, because they are LOUD as heck. (Although you did not make the volume level very clear...) Mantis would be my next guess, if not possibly the Tusk Crab. (The Tusk Crab snaps to find a mate. The Pacific Snapper Crab does it for fun, I guess.)
 
templar

templar

Member
Clicking sounds from a mantis shrimp will be in a succession like bam bam bam as they enlarge their cave in the live rock. A pistol shrimp will be more constant. The clubber type of mantis shrimp are the ones that break glass as well as inverts, the clawed ones have retractable claws that can slice a fish or invert in half in the blink of an eye. Keep an eye out for one as you do not want it in your tank unless it's the only thing in the tank.
 
teetee

teetee

Member
The sound of the clicking seems to be a bit louder and exactly the same as the clik from your computer mouse.
 
teetee

teetee

Member
Phew! Well Templar the sounds do not occur in a row. Just one click at a time. Sometimes I hear a dozen clicks in a day while at others just three, but never in a row.
 
templar

templar

Member
That is just a rule of thumb though, so it still COULD be a mantis. Do you have any caves in your rock you can see into or shine a flash light into? If not come into the room at nite, after the room has been pitch black for about an hour and use a red flashlight and look around your tank for anything suspicous.
 
teetee

teetee

Member
I guess I will be on a nighttime quest. In search of that which makes ye old clicking sound. I'm shakin...
 
ramey70

ramey70

Member
The sound could be coming from your lobster. This is from the description of a reef lobster on another website.
"Be sure to listen for me to sing to you after I become established. I am capable of making a sound that is very similar to a cicada (locust). In addition to singing I may dance, whipping my long, split, white antennae around as I wander the tank. I will do well in captivity if provided with ample hiding places and room to roam and I prefer aquariums with live rock so that I can have a safe place to hide during the day."
 
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