pistol or mantis clicking in my tank - how do i find/remove?

[aentrop]

I hear clicking coming from my 150gal reef... How do I find the shrimp doing it?

I can't keep peppermint shrimp... I'm assuming the clicker is killing them...

 

[DaveG99]

I used to get mantis shrimp when I had my tank in Florida. The rock from down there is loaded with them. You really just have to keep an eye on the tank and hope you see him. Once you see him you can locate his borrow. The usually dig a hole in the sand or have a hole in a rock where they live. Once the borrow is located then you have to remove that rock. Then you either pour fresh water in the hole to make him come out or you split the rock in two and physicaly get him out. I have had soem stubborn ones that would not even come out with fresh water poured on them. I probably have had about 10-12 of these little guys as hitchhikers when I was collecting my own rock a long time ago in Florida.

 

[Jeff]

Don't they make a trap for those guys? I have no idea how well it works though.

 

[DaveJ]

There are several ways that people have got them out... just go down the list until you find success, or add your own.

Mantis Trap - Plastic box with a spring loaded end on it. Bait it with shrimp or something meaty. Set it as close to the burrow as possible and wait it out.

Locate the LR its in and remove the LR and drop it in a bucket of RO/DI. Wait for it to come out and lift LR out.

Locate the LR its in and use seltzer water in a similar fashion to the above and squirt into the hole.

Use a nylon, wrap shrimp or fish meat in it and try to snag it that way.

Pull all your shrimp out and dose a larger quantity of interceptor. This may or may not work, you might need to do it multiple times and of course, it will knock out your pod population and any crabs/shrimp remaining in the system.

There are other techniques that I can't recall..... Good luck and let us know what finally worked for you.

 

[aentrop]

It's a 150 gallon tank loaded with coral... So removing rock is not much of an option... And, its been a year now and I have yet to see it... Or find it's burrow.

 

[Opus]

I used a small hook with a piece of shrimp on it when I had one in my 120gal tank. I think I just got lucky but I had him caught in under 5 minutes.

 

[BigJay]

Can't you make a fish trap out of a plastic coke bottle and catch him?

 

[Tj51]

I had the same clicking noise but noticed that all my peppermint shrimp and clean-up crew were still alive and well, so I figured it a pistol shrimp. I have not heard it in a week or so, but peppermint shrimp and clean-up crew....still alive

"Mantis Shrimp or Pistol Shrimp?

Many hobbyists have heard the "dreaded clicking" in their aquarium and wondered if it is a mantis shrimp or a pistol shrimp. In college, my roommate was the lab technician for the worlds foremost authority on mantis shrimp, so I had ample opportunity to observe these little demons. I have found that when attacking prey, a mantis shrimp will repeatedly strike with a loud series of repeated clicks. On the other hand, pistol shrimp - a rather beneficial and attractive reef inhabitant - usually click just once or rarely twice. I don't believe that pistols can "reload" as fast... If you hear a clicking or popping coming from your aquarium, this tip might save you a lot of unnecessary anguish."

 

[Hoss]

If you catch him, I'll take him off your hands. My mantis tank is days away from being ready and I've been hunting around for a donor or local guy selling. Thanks.

Oh, I've heard the little trap is the best bet, but you have to find his burrow first.

Josh

 

[BigJay]

@Hoss wrote:

Frank's tanks has a gorgeous peacock mantis shrimp in stock. It made itself a burrow in the tank, and it comes out all the time looking for food. It's probably the neatest and most colorful mantis I've ever seen.

 

[dmarkham]

@tj51 wrote:

I tend to agree.

I have a pistol and it has never messed with the CUC. The clicking I hear is when one of the emerarld or strawberry crabs gets down in is tunnel. Then the pistol gets upset and runs them off. It is a blast to watch the pistol makes a clicking sound when it is hunting for pods also. Alot of people do not like them but I have found in a the research that they are good for keeping the sand bed turned. Just depends on what type of pistol. The plain white ones stay the smallest and are the least aggressive. Tigers will kill other shrimp if they are not kept fed. There are others that will kill fish. The most common of the hitchhikers are the plain white ones.

 

[Darby]

I had this same thing going, but only after lights out. I looked and I looked and I looked, then figured out that it was 2 things happening:

The first was that after the lights went out (Nove Extreme T5s) and everything was cooling, the wood canopy and whatnot were popping due to the cooling.
Second: my astea snail also did some dancing on the glass after lights out, I'd never seen it before, but they twist back and forth really fast, which sometimes knocks their shells against the glass. It sounds just like a mantis or pistol shrimp. I didn't know what it was until I was looking right into the tank and one in front of my face did it. It really startled me!

But was I ever happy to know what it WASN'T!

 

[Tj51]

@Darby wrote:

Second: my astea snail also did some dancing on the glass after lights out, "]

Are they good dancers? Break dancing, ballroom, twisting?????

 

[Charlie]

@BigJay wrote:

lol, much easier said than done. I've had a rock crab in my 120 for at least 6 months. We've tried every trap method, and I KNOW where he is. Unfortunately, he is burrowed in a rock at the bottom of the rockwork :s I'd have to remove every piece of rock and coral to get to him. I've put shrimp this and meaty stuff that all around his home and he has yet to be caught. I can sometimes see him in a small hole and have tried to stab the bugger a few times, not successful.... yet.

 

[BigJay]

@Charlie wrote:

lol, much easier said than done. I've had a rock crab in my 120 for at least 6 months. We've tried every trap method, and I KNOW where he is. "]

Ouch, you almost want to send a mantis in there to get rid of it. But then you'd be stuck with the mantis.

Any dead snails or hermits from the rock crab?

 

[Darby]

Just the twist, though they can almost do a shimmy!

Rock Crab removal:
Have you tried a lasso? I'm not kidding. I caught a small gorilla crab by making a small snare, putting it on teh end of a stick, tehn ticking the crab off by poking it with another stick until it tried to reach out. Slipped the noose over the claw, and I had him. Of course, dragging him out was a bit of a fight, but I won... eventually. (and without pulling his arm off too!)

 

[Charlie]

@BigJay wrote:

lol, much easier said than done. I've had a rock crab in my 120 for at least 6 months. We've tried every trap method, and I KNOW where he is. "]

Ouch, you almost want to send a mantis in there to get rid of it. But then you'd be stuck with the mantis.

Any dead snails or hermits from the rock crab?"]

Yup, he likes snails. It's funny you mention that, cause the wife wanted to get a mantis then try to remove the mantis. I passed I really need to take care of it before it moves to another location though....