mantis? Sharks please help me!

[mrmaroon]

I am posting this again because I did not receive too many responses.
I am hearing a clicking sound. Very loud, quite often, and any where form one to 3 successive clicks.
I put a 2L pop bottle trap in last night and only caught 4 hermits and a nassarius.
My wife saw my large left handed hawain crab today and she said she say him snap his claw and heard a click. Could this be the source?
The only UUO (Unidentified underwater Object!) sighting I have had was what I thought was a small (1cm) anemone crab.
let me know what you think.
Thanks

 

[tjkohler]

After I lost my 1st (lost 3) pep shrimp I listened very hard for 'clicks' because I heard them alot. Turned out that some of them (but not all ) were the heater turning on and off, the thermometer clicking against the heater, and snails retracting into their shells while on the glass. I just count all my critters every night and morning to make sure I don't have any loses (damned peps).
If you do have a predatory 'thing' the bottle is a good idea, as long as the opening is big enough for things to get in. Example, if you didn't cut the top off the 2 liter than big things can't get in. You probably already though about that, but it's amazing what we forget when we are involved with the problem/solution (or at least me).

 

[mrmaroon]

These are loud clicks. I can here them from 15 feet away. I am certain they are not mechanical. I also am not running a heater right now and my pump is below the tank. So I don't really have anything to make clicking noises except an animal. but nothing has died yet. I am starting to get worried though. I have had my big maroon for 4 years. I would hate to lose her.

 

[iechy]

If nothing has turned up missing and it has been awhile since you added any LR then my bet would be against a mantis. It would need something to eat eventually so things would be disappearing. I have heard others mention that the ballasts for their lights make a clicking noise. Just my .02

 

[mrmaroon]

My ballast are below my tank so I am sure that is not it. I can hear the general area it is coming form. But there are 3-4 pieces of LR there. I am worried that it is a baby mantis growing up.

 

[beth]

I don't have any first hand exp with mantis [thank goodness], but the mantis and the pistol are said to make the same type noise. If you have not added LR resently, and have had not casualities, then chances are it is not a mantis.
I have heard too, that some clownfish can be very noisy and have been mistaken for the mantis noise.

 

[phoenixrising]

I added new uncured live rock from www.gulf-view.com several months ago and all was good and well in the world UNTIL I was feeding one night a week or so ago and was amazed to see ANOTHER mantis dart out and grab a juicy looking piece of krill to drag back home. This makes the third mantis I have found (the last one got sucked down into my filter). I guess thats the price one pays for the beauty of uncured liverock. I had heard some snapping going on in there, so was suspicious but thought the sounds may have been coming from the refugium which housed a known mantis. The new one in the reef never killed a thing and stayed pretty well hidden for months before I found him lurking about in there. I removed the piece of rock he was hiding in and it is now in the refugium where Mr. Mantis is welcome to stay. They are really cool critters as long as they are in their own tank with nothing handy to kill. Feed it a variety of stuff and he'll grow and be happy forever. They are smart, quick and interesting.
Okay I have to add an edit to this post. I just clicked on the link I included to make sure it was right and was a little upset to find that the owner of this business is now selling teeny sealed ocean globes or whatever he calls them. They contain live animals. I'm really saddened that he is doing this. Guess I'll be buying my liverock somewhere else in future.

 

[ilove2ride]

I had a problem with a mantis. What I finally did, after trying traps (and catching my starfish!) for several days was I looked for small, perfect holes in the liverock. When I was just watching my tank, I saw some mantis eyes or antennae poking out of the rock. I stayed still, and it swam past me. And, it clicked. So, since I had 4 pieces of LR, I just took that piece out. I wanted to get the mantis off by putting the rock in freshwater and returning it, but it didn't come out. Now, the mantis lives in the backyard.
-Heather

 

[phoenixrising]

Ilove2ride--I know this is off the subject, but WHAT do you ride? I raise TWH's and 5 gaited Saddlebreds. It is such a thrill to my soul to ride early in the morning when the mist is still hanging in the trees and meadows and the sun is just starting to shine down through the branches. Nature is at Her finest at that hour of the day.

 

[beefman]

Yes i have been hearing CLicking Noises in my Tank. The only things that have died was my snail but i accedently cracked the bone piece that covers the opening of him and though that little stuff could get in him. then i had a Clam. Not the real color things but just some hitch hiker die. But i dunno if he died. I have alot of LR and cant get to it now. But i am gonna do is get a small pop bottle and do that trap. But i also hear these clicks at the day. I have 1 saddle back clown and dont think that it could be him. It sounds like a more high pitched sounds. I have heard the clown make clicking noises but they are more deep sounding. But all my corals are just fine.