Mantis Shrimp

bunn

bunn

New Member
Hi guys,
Tried to catch my Meeeen ol mantis shrimp last night but no luck. Maybe its not one but so far I have lost my Sailfin, Hippo, Yellow Tangs. I am so maaaaad. So I'm pretty sure that is what it is been hearing clicking in my tank but some people say that is from a pistol shrimp so not really sure what i have. Oh and my other yellow tang looks like he has been through a war all his fins are frazzeled. I tried the bottle technique last night I'm gonna stick with that for a while because i Dont want to rip apart my tank. Does anyone else have any other suggestions? they sure would help.
 
maroonclownfan

maroonclownfan

Member
Have you seen the shrimp at all?
Clicking sounds are usually associated with pistol shrimp.
Why do you think a mantis shrimp is killing your tangs?
Can you tell what your setup is like and how old it is?
MCF
 
buzz

buzz

Active Member
Generally, the type of mantis you would find as a hithhiker would be a clubber, and I can't really see them attacking your fish...they generally stick to crabs and snails, unless perhaps the fish was asleep on the substrate and it surprised them.

[hr]
type mantis are very rarely seen in tanks from what I understand, and that is where the threat to fish would generally be.
Of course, a pistol could very easily stun your fish if they got in it's path. From what I understand, they release a shockwave with the force of a .22 calibur bullet.
If you have all of those tangs together, they may very well just be fighting with each other. Am I counting right at 4 different tangs?
 
banshee

banshee

Member
I have removed two Mantis shrimps. They caused the clicking sound I heard in my tank. I also lost several fish, crabs and shrimp to that @#$@! One was about 4 inches long and VERY bold. He would come out and swim around. The other I never saw until I lucked out and caught him. I was rearanging my live rock and put a few pieces in my sump until I was ready to put them back in the main tank. As luck would have it, he was on one of those pieces of live rock that I put in the sump and must have left the rock while it was in there. A couple of days later I heard the clicking in my sump and spotted him....buh-bye Mantis. Good luck in finding yours!
 
bunn

bunn

New Member
Yes i had four tangs and they all got along very well no fighting. This is happening at night when the lights are off and they are sleeping. The only one i found was my yellow tang and his head was eaten off. Never found my hippo or sailfin. That is why i asked if maybe it was something else bothering them. Like i said have not seen the little bugger or big bugger. I stayed up last night to see if i could find it but no luck. Ive been set up for about 10 months now and have always had that clicking noise in my tank but can never find where it is coming from. Just with in the past 3 weeks is when my fish have been coming up missing.
 
buzz

buzz

Active Member
Let me make sure I understand this...
The yellow tang's HEAD was eaten off?!?!?!?!?! :eek:
And there wasn't even a trace of the others?????
WOW!!!...sounds like you've got yourself one nasty carnivore in that tank...what else do you have in the tank? Clean up crew? Starfish? Crabs? Other fish? (just to rule these out)
 
ags

ags

Member
Hey Banshee where did you get your LR? Just curious because it sounds like you have a predatory crab of some sort. There are a few that hitch a ride into our tanks that are nasty SOB's. Is your LR native to Fla? I never had problems with predatory crabs till I switched to Fla LR. Love the stuff, hate the crabs.
 
shnookums

shnookums

Member
I got it!!!!!and I dont know if you guys have ever heard of this happening but i did some research on it and last night i got her!!!!! It was my Sally Lighfoot she caught my last tang last night and i seen her doing it. I could not believe it but its true they say if you have a Sally dont rule her out because it could be her and sure enough it was. So know four fish later and about a 100 dollars just eaten up. Has anyone else ever had that Happen?
 
maroonclownfan

maroonclownfan

Member
I have never heard of a SLF crab attacking fish, but it could happen.
Is it possible the fish died and the crab was just cleaning up the dead bodies? Not trying to give the crab a fair trial. Tangs are not known to be the hardiest of fish. Maybe the crab was just doing its job.
Not trying to start an argument. Just trying to look at all angles.
Hopefully you found the culprit and you won't be losing anymore fish.
MCF
 
shnookums

shnookums

Member
No I dont think so all of my fish were doing really well. Never were sick or anything like that. The one he got last night was the very first tang i had put in my tank hes been in there for along time. Like i say they were all doing really good. At night while they were sleeping she would jump them or something and just start eating them. When i would get up in the morning they were gone. So watch your sally's everyone.
 
jonthefb

jonthefb

Active Member
this is very interesting, and is th efirst ive ever heard of sally's going after fish
good luck. hopefully your problem is now eliminated!
jon
 
shnookums

shnookums

Member
Thanks jon, I know i could'nt believe it either but i say it with my own eyes. And when i was researching the mantis shrimp they mentioned the sally lightfoots and said not rule her out. I guess they were right.
 
banshee

banshee

Member
Ags,
I got my LR locally (Tallahassee) a couple of years ago. The first batch I got was FL live rock, whick did come with a couple of predatory crabs. But, they were easy to take out. The Mantis shrimp, however, were a much different story....
 
swilbs83

swilbs83

Member
wow.....the first crab I ever got was a pretty large sally lightfoot and it did the exact same thing to my percula clown fish...every time they would come within distance he would attack them..The sally lightfoot also ripped apart my feather duster....I had to rip apart my whole tank to get that little p.o.s....But I got him and never again will i have one of those things
 
buzz

buzz

Active Member
Glad to hear you figured it out...the mantis thing really just wasn't adding up to me, especially in saying how much of those fish were devoured without a trace.
How big is your Sally? That thing wolfed down a whole lotta fish!
 
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