Possible pistol or mantis shrimp.

[Tathamet]

Hey everyone,

So I’ve been hearing lots of clicking from my tank, sometimes quiet sometimes loud. Kind of resembles marbles clacking together. I’ve been trying to determine which I could have but have nothing visual to go by other than piles of sand in the rocks. The clicking seems to happen randomly throughout the day but starts picking up more and gets louder when my lights ramp down in the evening and throughout the night (leads me to think pistol shrimp).

I’ve also been trying to determine the difference from their clicking intervals. I’ve read pistols click once or twice with a bit of a time delay between each click and a mantis can make consecutive clicks fairly quickly.
Mine throughout the day will click once or twice with a 1-2 second delay between clicks, but in the evening/night I seem to hear 2-6 clicks with maybe a half second delay between each click.

I’m leaning more towards the possibility of having a pistol but what do you guys think?
Plus I feel like I’d probably have seen mantis eyes poking out somewhere at some point by now if it was indeed a mantis.

Here’s an image of the sand piling up in the rocks. (Bottom left of the image) snail shells seem to end up in this corner as well. I think mostly from the flow but I have also noticed some of the shells pulled right into the rubble crevasses.

 

[W1ngz]

Sounds like a pistol to me. Buy it a goby, maybe they'll pair off. They're awesome to watch.
You will have to replace some snails and crabs periodically though, the snapping/clicking is the sound of death.

 

[Tathamet]

Sounds like a pistol to me. Buy it a goby, maybe they'll pair off. They're awesome to watch.
You will have to replace some snails and crabs periodically though, the snapping/clicking is the sound of death.

Cool thanks! Pretty sure I’ve lost a small hermit to it already. Possibly 2 now since the second of 3 has been mia for a couple weeks.

I’ve been trying to find a place near Toronto that sells gobies but haven’t had much luck yet. I’m pretty sure there’s a bunch stores around me but I just haven’t found many places online.

Is there a specific type of goby I should be getting? I’ve heard a lot of people say yellow watchman but haven’t found any for sale around me yet. Any other type of goby that might work as well?

 

[W1ngz]

I've got a Wheeler's myself, he hangs out with my tiger pistol, and they move house together every day to a different cave.

 

[Tathamet]

I've got a Wheeler's myself, he hangs out with my tiger pistol, and they move house together every day to a different cave.

Thanks W1ngz. I’ll look around some more and see what I can find around me.

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

Its possible its a type of rock pistol shrimp which wont pair up with gobies sadly, especially if its a hitchhiker, unless you can identify it as a goby pairing pistol shrimp it probably will ignore the goby you add

 

[AC1211]

Hey everyone,

So I’ve been hearing lots of clicking from my tank, sometimes quiet sometimes loud. Kind of resembles marbles clacking together. I’ve been trying to determine which I could have but have nothing visual to go by other than piles of sand in the rocks. The clicking seems to happen randomly throughout the day but starts picking up more and gets louder when my lights ramp down in the evening and throughout the night (leads me to think pistol shrimp).

I’ve also been trying to determine the difference from their clicking intervals. I’ve read pistols click once or twice with a bit of a time delay between each click and a mantis can make consecutive clicks fairly quickly.
Mine throughout the day will click once or twice with a 1-2 second delay between clicks, but in the evening/night I seem to hear 2-6 clicks with maybe a half second delay between each click.

I’m leaning more towards the possibility of having a pistol but what do you guys think?
Plus I feel like I’d probably have seen mantis eyes poking out somewhere at some point by now if it was indeed a mantis.

Here’s an image of the sand piling up in the rocks. (Bottom left of the image) snail shells seem to end up in this corner as well. I think mostly from the flow but I have also noticed some of the shells pulled right into the rubble crevasses.

I would really try to get a visual of it.

 

[Tathamet]

Its possible its a type of rock pistol shrimp which wont pair up with gobies sadly, especially if its a hitchhiker, unless you can identify it as a goby pairing pistol shrimp it probably will ignore the goby you add

Thanks Good to know. I’ve been watching into the tank usually at least an hour a day and haven’t seen anything. But thinking about it now I did see a fully clear shrimp (I was thinking I accidentally netted a baby crayfish over from one of my other tanks) in the live rock when I was trying to scape it. Didn’t notice if it had a big claw though as it hid immediately. It was probably a quarter inch to maybe half an inch long and clear at the time.

 

[TriggerFinger]

I think I have one too. I’ve got my Liverock in a barebottom tank for 7 months now and the clicking has picked up significantly in the last 2-3 months. Never have seen it. I have lost 1 or 2 hermits and I also noticed shells are gathered under the same rock now that you mention it. I’ve moved the shells a few times during water changes and they end up back in the same place. Good luck finding yours!

 

[TriggerFinger]

Where did you get your rock?

 

[jrill]

Do you have any trochus or astrea snails. Mine do this twisting shell thing on the glass that sounds like what you describe.

 

[Tathamet]

I think I have one too. I’ve got my Liverock in a barebottom tank for 7 months now and the clicking has picked up significantly in the last 2-3 months. Never have seen it. I have lost 1 or 2 hermits and I also noticed shells are gathered under the same rock now that you mention it. I’ve moved the shells a few times during water changes and they end up back in the same place. Good luck finding yours!

Thanks and good luck to you as well. They seem to be evasive little buggers. Must be watching me too because every time I turn my head when i hear it click it seems to suddenly stop lol.

Where did you get your rock?

Lfs called Big Als. If you mean the origin of the live rock I’m not too sure.

 

[Tathamet]

Do you have any trochus or astrea snails. Mine do this twisting shell thing on the glass that sounds like what you describe.

I do have a Trochus and did wonder if that’s what the sound was at first as I’ve seen the twist thing you’re referring to. But I did manage to hear the clicking multiple times while watching the Trochus and it never made noticeable movements while the sounds were happening.