click click click!

[Azilla]

Ok over the last few days i have been hearing this god awful clicking sound coming out of my tank. I took a flash light at night a looked over the entire tank and found a crab well looked like a crab. I noticed where he hangs out there is a bunch of snail shells dunno if its him killin them or eating them cuz they died. Is there anyway to catch him??? drivin me mental what ever it is.

[trilinearmipmap]

I used an empty glass apple/orange juice container (single serving size) and baited it with shrimp meat, laid it near where the crabs hide out, if you angle it right the crab can not crawl back out.

[AJ_77]

I'm gonna have to try that method out, just cause I'm getting really curious as to what that thing clicking in there is. Even though it hasn't been killing stuff, I want to see it (and in a glass bottle would be fine).

[Azilla]

How do u angle it??

[Samw]

Here's my pistol shrimp trap. It also catches hermit crabs, emerald crabs, etc. In the first 2 pics, the pistol shrimp would be able to get the bait without entering the trap and then make the escape with the food. So, I made the ramp higher. The shrimp was not as lucky the 2nd time around and you can see him in the trap in the 3rd pic.

[Azilla]

thats kool im gonna make one

[trilinearmipmap]

Sorry I don't quite get it Sam.

It looks like you made the "top of the coke bottle inverted into the bottom" trap and then added and ?airlift tube into the side. Can you explain please?

[Samw]

Good question. Well, I first made an inverted coke bottle trap but it couldn't catch a thing. Then I added the ramp and the trap caught everything. I could have just gotten another bottle and built another trap that just had a ramp. But, I didn't have another bottle handy.

However, with this design, I think maybe the wider opening at the top allowed me to more easily control the water flow in and out of the trap. By placing the trap under the aquaclear, I can see small particles move out of the trap and down the ramp. That's when I see the inverts notice the bait and climb up the ramp. If there was no water flow through the trap, the inverts don't seem to notice/smell the bait.

So no real good reason for inverting the bottle other than I already had it that way and maybe it might help let the inverts smell the bait as the top acts as a funnel for waterflow.

By the way, the ramp was just the plastic tube that holds the coral epoxy sticks.

[sumpfinfishe]

I hope that clicking you hear is actually a pistol shrimp and not a mantis
I had a blue pistol shrimp years back, he was cool hung out with both the yellow watchmens but i had to get rid of him after hearing that clicking all night. It got so loud that sometimes I would wakeup and think that my tank was cracking

Goodluck and watch those fingers

[Azilla]

What did u use as bait?