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Ok, i was woundering do hermet crabs click during the night or do they even click at all, because i think mine has been clicking.

Are you talking about the little hermits? I have never heard mine click.



Dan

You've probably got either a mantis or a pistol shrimp--both make very distinctive clacks or pops, especially during the night. If you notice the disappearance of any creatures, that would support this theory--mantis shrimp are predators. Conventional traps are sold--I'm not quite sure which ones are most effective. If it becomes a problem, I would suggest buying one.

i was talking to a knowledgeable guy a an LFS today and he told me i do have a mantis shrimp and he told me a couple of ways to get it out of the LR
1) get the peice of LR and dunk it in fresh water
2) dunk it in boiling FW and it shoots out of its hole
3) try pick it out with a tooth pick
4) grab a hammer and smash the LR and find it like that.

the only problem i have, is to find it.



anthony.

1) get the peice of LR and dunk it in fresh water
Good choice, try to adjust PH before dipping, this will help prevent unnecessary killing of other inhabitants of the live rock.

2) dunk it in boiling FW and it shoots out of its hole
Bad choice, as it will kill off beneficial live on that rock also.

3) try pick it out with a tooth pick
Could work I guess, but would baiting and trapping first. See these links for some other ideas.
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pest/catch.htm
http://www.aqualink.com/columns/k-strng1.html
http://ozreef.org/content/view/7/2/

4) grab a hammer and smash the LR and find it like that.
Could result in you destroying the live rock looking
for the little bugger.

Just remember that these guys can break the glass of an aquarium, so imagine what it could do to your finger. Caution is the key word when trying to handle a Mantis Shrimp.

John

im going to try and find it tonight once the lights are off.

Hermits CAN click. They will sometimes lift and hit their shells against rock, or the glass. It could also be a pistol shrimp, gorilla crab, etc.......I think its funny that everyone jumps to Mantis shrimp if there is a click in the tank.

Look for the signs of a mantis, small rock piles, new holes in rock, dead snails/hermits, hermit/snail shells with holes in them, etc.

Holy crap these Mantis shrimp sound like trouble
How big are they?
Are there any pics of them?

well, i think ive caught them, when theyre small do they have colour or are they a tan colour? because i found 2 and if thats not them, then what could they be.

DRO, i bought the LR off mangor34, so i dont know if it made any new holes, i did find a little "collection" of rocks on top of the large peice of LR.

Mantis can range in color from brown, green, to ones like the peacock mantis that is red, green, blue, yellow, and every color in the rainbow.

My LFS carries them....They feed them small dogs....quite interesting to watch!
]
They really do sell them though.about $10.There really are some pretty ones out there.They also seem to be misunderstood.Do a search on them and you will find some really great stuff.

small dogs

Well the one I caught yesterday was small and black and looked like an armored cochroach.

big shrimp

peacock mantis

diagram

personally i like these little guys, aggresive and tough as nails, perfect (remember that a full-grown mantis has a strike equivalent to that of a .22 caliber bullet)

Daka