(dead of night).........."SNAP!!! SNAP!!!".....

[Anonymous]

Mantis terror alert code orange...

Some background - I have a 29g with a bunch of Florida rock, 2 small fishes, astrea snails, scarlet-legged hermits, corals, and attached to the rock are these funny mollusk thingies, along with other critters.

At some point (a couple of months after getting the rock) I started hearing the occasional clicking sound - usually one or two at a time, usually at night but also in the day. I try to closely inspect the tank whenever I hear it (even has happened while I'm sitting right in front of it). However, I have never witnessed a mantis shrimp, nor have there been any conspicuous deaths of any fishes, snails, crabs, or mollusks.

The other night at about 5 am I heard a couple of very loud "snaps" as described in the title.

Here are a few theories:

a) There is no mantis shrimp - is either a snail or hermit banging their shell against the glass, or maybe an equipment issue (I have two sea-swirls running - maybe some funny-business in their gear mechanisms?)

b) There is a mantis shrimp, but it got barricaded in the rock by original or recent rock additions, and is now trying to bust its way out.

c) There is a mantis shrimp, and has managed to isolate its activities to the very limited space in the rockwork that I can't observe (it's a pretty small tank)

Any ideas?

 

[Will C1]

do you have a wave maker? if you do it could be one of the pumps starting up.

 

[Anonymous]

do you have a wave maker? if you do it could be one of the pumps starting up.

No wavemaker - just the two sea-swirls.

On idea I had was maybe a snail on the arm of one of the sea swirls blocked its rotation & caused a gear to skip a tooth or two (snails like the algea that grows on these).

 

[Anonymous]

The snapping sound is caused by either a pistol shrimp, they can make this sound all on thier own.

Or a mantis, the smasher type (Non fish killer) the snap sound is caused by the mantis when it pummles it's prey, in our case, hermit crabs are the likely dinner.

Have you noticed the hermit crab population getting smaller?


No mantis is going to "smash" it's way out of your rockwork, they use them to kill prey, not dig holes in rock

 

[Anonymous]

Have you noticed the hermit crab population getting smaller?

No - population has stayed relatively constant (around 4-5).

No shrimps of any kind have been spotted...

 

[Anonymous]

GOCS. I have several small (under 1") pistol shrimp in my nano and they make a lot of racket, usually right as the lights go off but often a few times during the night too. They burrow under or can live in cavities in the rock and are very hard to see - mine are small carribean species and make exactly the sound you are thinking of.

Also I have a 6" smasher mantis that makes some noise when rearranging her lair (she does this constantly when lights are on) but have never heard her make anything like the pistol sound, it's quite unique.

 

[Anonymous]

I definitely am starting to like the "pistol shrimp" theory - Technoshaman I do often hear clicks within an hour after lights go out, and occasionally during the day as well. The tank being so small I would think I'd have seen a mantis by now if there was one, yes?

BTW I like your sig! ("That was good, though I'm thinking it needs more cowbell...");

Thanks MegaDeth, Techno, & WillC.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd guess pistol shrimp because of how often you say you hear the snapping, etc. Although, I have a fairly large snail that occasionally twists it's shell quickly enough to make a snapping sound against the glass. It took me a while to figure that one out because I was looking for a shrimp, not a snail, making the noise.

 

[King Jason]

I have a bunch of snails that tap their shells on the glass also. I used to worry on my first tank I setup when I heard these noises. But now I will only worry if I notice something missing.

 

[beerbaron]

do you have a bangaii cardinal? they also make a clicking noise. it may also happen more at night due towards their noctournal behavior. mine freaked me out when i first heard it.
HTH
BB

 

[Anonymous]

do you have a bangaii cardinal? they also make a clicking noise. it may also happen more at night due towards their noctournal behavior. mine freaked me out when i first heard it.
HTH
BB

No bangaiis - just a royal gramma & a very stern-looking watchman goby named "Frank".

 

[Go Fish]

Do you have any timers on anything in your tank? I have a couple, and when they turn off and on they make a real loud click! :wink:

 

[aquarist=broke]

Why do you hate (dead of night).........."SNAP!!! SNAP!!!"..... so much? 8)

 

[dragon0121]

GOCS,
With my Florida Aquacultured live rock I received a bunch of pistol shrimp. Most of them were very small, 1/4" or so, and they made a ton of racket. Usually they were heard after lights out. Never really saw any of them until the tank was torn down, but, I was lucky enough to have one of the larger, build a burrow down along the side glass. Its tunnel would extend down 4" along the glass and then back into the sandbed, very cool!

 

[bigmac]

do you have a bangaii cardinal? they also make a clicking noise.


Bangaiis make noise 8O i have a bangaii and also have a pistol (I believe). snap snap all the time. also have lots hermit shells with holes in them. Never actually seem him though, 2yrs and I still cant find him. Found one of his caves, but hes nowhere to be seen, jsut heard