Uhh, I think maybe I've got a mantis

[Barry_Cuda]

It's after lights out in the tank, and I'm hearing a suspicious clicking noise. I started the tank with aquacultured rock, so I knew all kinds of hitchhikers were a possibility, but this seems ominous. Any suggestions for how to draw whatever's doing the clicking out into the open for an ID?

 

[GBRsouth]

Clicking could be a pistol shrimp. But if it's a mantis, I bet it can't resist crab!

 

[Janci]

Can be a mantis or even a pistol shrimp.
I think mantis will come out at night so you can set up a trap with some food to see if the guy is willing enough to bite.

You will have to be very lucky to spot it if it is a pistol shrimp.
I have one in my tank and during the past one and a half year, I have not seen him. But he makes noise at night.

 

[Super Fly]

sounds like pistol shrimp, the popping noise at lights out. It'll eat crabs if u have them. If u can, remove the rock that has pistol shrimp hiding in and squirt the holes with fresh water using a turkey baster. This will get them out. However if rock has many hiding places, then it may be impossible to get rid of all.

 

[mta_morrow]

Pistol shrimp and gobies are one of the best symbiotic relationships you can have in your tank.

 

[emilios_reeftank]

Sounds like a pistol shrimp to me. Like others have said you will usually hear them at night. Look and see where sand is piled up in your tank or where there are holes in the sand under rocks. They like to use shells, frag plugs, corals, etc. as their entrance to their caves. I say if the cavern is small its a pistol shrimp and if its bigger probably a mantis.

 

[Janci]

If it is a pistol shrimp, I would not remove it. They hardly do any harm.
Not all look as @fabutahoun gorgeous pair as many are just grey.
Maybe get a goby for it...

 

[fabutahoun]

If it is a pistol shrimp, I would not remove it. They hardly do any harm.
Not all look as @fabutahoun gorgeous pair as many are just grey.
Maybe get a goby for it...

which pair are you talking about? do I have goby - shrimp pair that I don't know about yet? lol

 

[Janci]

which pair are you talking about? do I have goby - shrimp pair that I don't know about yet? lol

Oops, I believed the picture was from your tank. Sorry, my mistake.
Credits go to @mta_morrow

 

[Joshua2598]

Can all pistol shrimp pair with gobys? (Besides the obvious ones that cant like the ones that live like ants)

 

[Barry_Cuda]

Leaning more and more toward it being a pistol. I haven't seen a mantis out and about like I might expect, and everything I've put into the tank that might be food for a mantis (3 trochus and 2 hermits) is still alive and well. If it's a mantis, it hasn't had a real meal in the 6 weeks the tank has been filled. The mantis I kept for a while a few years ago was NOT shy or slow about coming out for a meal any time I fed it, so I think the continued survival of my CUC is a pretty clear sign it's not a mantis.