Loud "Clicking" in tank

Mantis shrimp sound like they are working on something and I find their clicks come in quick successions. Like "I want to break apart this rock". Bang Bang Bang Bang!

I've found pistols to be more intermittent. Like "don't come near me". Click!........ Click!

I feel like I'm reading a kids book... And the cow goes "Moo Moo!"

 

I have little experience with mantis, but I deal with pistols alot, when I catch one and put it in my 10 they dissapear for months, only reason I know they're there is the constant snapping, I would watch your fish, if they develope gashes or even disappear totally it's probably a mantis and it needs to be dealt with, if not it's a pistol, and can be left alone just fine! Goodluck!!!

 

Yeah pistol is very intermitant. Like every few hours but maybe two quick ones. Its also extremely loud like a ball pion hammer against the glass. Mine is fairly large though almost 3 inches probably.

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its not your thermostat is it? mine clicks lol

 

Do you have a pump malfunctioning? Mine clicked at one point and I had to pull it out and clean it really well before it stopped... Although it would be much kore exciting if it was a shrimp! Lol

 

No its definitely a mantis. I have seen it during the day (he stays hidden in the dark areas of the tank). I have actually caught him making the loud clicking noise (since I started this thread). I witnessed the mantis chipping away at the bottom of an old clam/oyster that came (living) on my LR. I could see/hear each click as his chipped away at the bottom of this thing. I have since seen him two or three times. He is small so he is going to be tough to catch.

I already lost 3 of my 4 peppermint shrimp to this fella. Luckily he hasn't had any interest in my 4 turbo snails yet, because I hear that larger mantis shrimp love cracking the shells open and eating turbos. My snails are much larger than my mantis, but so were my peppermints.

I took one piece of LR out yesterday and flooded it with 3 liters of club soda. I killed a brittle star, a starfish, and a few amphipods but luckily my button polyps are recovering after being out of the tank for almost 45 minutes. I took my time looking at every crevice in this piece of LR, thinking this was the mantis's hiding spot....I was wrong. I replaced the rock and saw the mantis later that night.

Today after work I am going to pickup some raw shrimp to bait him with. I'm going to use the inverted water bottle method but I'm going to keep the cap on my water bottle and drill a small hole in the cap....I don't want it to be easy for this elusive critter to escape. He is almost faster than the refresh rate of my eyes, lol. When I see his beady little eyes popping out of a rock and then see him jump/run/swim into a crevice on another rock....I've never seen anything so fast. WISH ME LUCK!

 

Luckily I have no fish. I'm cycling without fish right now. Just have a little cleaning crew to clean up my LR.

 

This is how my mantis is but there will be more clicks in a row if he's going after something like chipping away at something on my LR. Pistols look different from mantis shrimp and luckily I have seen this guy to know that I MUST eradicate him if I want to ever have anymore livestock.

 

Exactly!

 

I got mine from my LFS. I was amazed with how active this LR is, but with the good, comes the bad.