click click click

[Willow]

so i was pretty sure i was hearing things over the last few months, now im sure. im hearing a lot of clicks, they seem pretty loud. is there any way to tell from the sound if its a mantis or a pistol? ive seen a few dead snail, hermit shells around. also ive found a few dead hairy crabs so im leaning towards a mantis.

if it is a mantis, what do i do? can it just stay in there or should i try an get it out? just outa curiosity how bad can these things hurt you? and will it bring down the rock if he keeps banging away?

[Aquattro]

A mantis will actually crack open a snail or hermit, so if the shells are broken, it might point towards a mantis. Dangling bait in the tank will often get them to poke their head out of a rock...

[Willow]

whats the chances of using a vase type kinda trap? how for out do these guys venture?

[Willow]

im loosing my mind, now it sounds like a snapping.

[Aquattro]

I'd make up the pop bottle trap. My shrimps used to travel around the tank freely, and would come right out of their holes to grab some fresh food.

[Azilla]

It was the same for me! I caught mine well one of mine. Started slow. then months later got mor rapid. When i got clost to the tank it would stop. Until one morning i was liek F(@# i snuck up to the tank and sat there. hear the click looked where i hear it and stared. Saw somethin come out then go in real quick so i watched saw his eyes the he came out bent over the rock and clicked like 10x. I sat up it saw me then just watched. I got my girl to watch while i snuck my hand to the rear of my tank. Put my hand in and grabbed the rock. Pulled it out and the mantis Jumped out of the rock twards my girl then landed on the floor. LOL i put it in another tank. I was like FINALLY!!!!!!! All is quiet. LOL that night i was watchin tv all proud and happy then it happened again! CLICK CLICK CLICK!! I Was liek F@(#!! the bottle trap didnt work at all for me. might for u.

[G1GY]

My pistol shrimp kills hairy crabs every now and again. I alway's find their shell peices outside his favorite hole all the time. Kind of like his garbage spot.

If your finding crab peices in the same area most of the time, you'll find the shrimp not too far away from there after lights out. Also might be a good spot to place your trap.

[danny zubot]

just outa curiosity how bad can these things hurt you?

Not sure about the little ones but a while back they had a lobster sized one at BA's that could take your hand off!

[Rikko]

What kind of interval is there between the popping? My pistols both have a snap that sounds like a marble hitting a piece of empty glass, and rarely repeat it more than once every five seconds or so. Mantis can often do a tink-tink-tink-tink when they're tunneling or hunting.

My girlfriend has a (presumably dead now) mantis in her tank that had been killing all her crustaceans for well on a year and the only way she was able to locate him was to remove most of the rock to a tub and listen to where the snapping was coming from. By process of elimination she narrowed it down to a rock with a coral on it (damn it!) that was very porous. He showed no reaction to anything until club soda was squirted into the larger holes of the rock. POP-POP-POP... But still didn't emerge. Then he got drowned in it and still didn't pop out. The rock finally went back in the tank and we have to assume it died inside the rock.

(I should add that the dead crustaceans always left intact shells)

Good luck, buddy. If it's a pistol, watch for thievery (should have seen my face the day I found an acro frag holding up his tunnel door). If it's a mantis, you've got some work ahead of you.

She also tried various baited traps for the mantis. It managed to catch her mandarin and cleaner shrimp many a time.

[cpenner]

What are you going to do with it when you catch it?