mantis in my tank?? help

[beeguiles]

I have been hearing this popping or knocking sound in my tank. It happens maybe once every couple weeks so I didnt think anything of it at first. Well tonight it was going crazy! It's coming from behind a very large rock I have and there is Deff something back there bc my heater is behind the rock and the heater was moving! So..afraid that this thing will break my heater I moved it out of there. The popping has stopped for now. Right before my jawfish looked pretty mangled and died he was hiding out in a burrow under/behind that same rock..if its a mantis, it would have eaten the jawfish right? I only I hear a every so often. Never see anything strange and still have my two clowns and six line. If it is a mantis, can I just leave it? I really want take my rocks out without ruining all my rock work. It's all epoxyed and connected together.

 

[Marines_Wife]

I have been hearing this popping or knocking sound in my tank. It happens maybe once every couple weeks so I didnt think anything of it at first. Well tonight it was going crazy! It's coming from behind a very large rock I have and there is Deff something back there bc my heater is behind the rock and the heater was moving! So..afraid that this thing will break my heater I moved it out of there. The popping has stopped for now. Right before my jawfish looked pretty mangled and died he was hiding out in a burrow under/behind that same rock..if its a mantis, it would have eaten the jawfish right? I only I hear a every so often. Never see anything strange and still have my two clowns and six line. If it is a mantis, can I just leave it? I really want take my rocks out without ruining all my rock work. It's all epoxyed and connected together.

From the little reading I have done, a mantis has to be in its own tank, but Dana would be the one to ask for sure on this since he has one and is pretty educated about it. Are you sure its a Mantis and not a pistol shrimp? Their popping can be pretty loud and they do use it for defense and for hunting....

 

[Mandarin66]

From the little reading I have done, a mantis has to be in its own tank, but Dana would be the one to ask for sure on this since he has one and is pretty educated about it. Are you sure its a Mantis and not a pistol shrimp? Their popping can be pretty loud and they do use it for defense and for hunting....

+1 :mrgreen:

 

[little_fish]

Its more likely you have a pistol shrimp in there

 

[beeguiles]

I really have no idea what it is. I thought it was my lobster at first but I could see him in plain sight and he wasn't the one moving the heater around. Should I just not worry about it? I mean theres not much I can do anyways since I'm not going to rip my tank apart. I just won't get any burrowing fish.

 

[Marines_Wife]

Im with Little Fish, I think you have a pistol shrimp in there. Its not impossible that you have a mantis, I know someone else here had a mantis hitch hike into their tank however from what you are describing I would say pistol shrimp honestly. Here is an interesting article on the pistol shrimp that may help you out a bit: The Pistol Shrimp | Aquarists Online | Aquarium Fish Resources And Information
I believe that they are reef safe and certain kinds actually form a symbiotic relationship with gobys in the wild. I am not sure if this is the same in our tanks however I think its more irritating to you then harmful to your tank

 

[beeguiles]

Thanks marine. It's not too irritating to me. It's interesting. I just want tobmake sure its not gonna start snatching my fish or something lol

 

[AmberSunrise]

I thought I had a mantis also but it was a multitude of pistol shrimps. I freakin hate those things.

 

[little_fish]

It not very likely that you got one that will form a symbiotic relationsship with a goby, but unless he grows into a monsterous size he should leave your fish alone

 

[AmberSunrise]

Thats true LF I have had mine for months and still never seen it once. I only saw the ones that I did flush out and they were tiny.

I dont know how they are that loud but it sounds just like someone clipping their nails which grosses me out.

 

[Dana42078]

Its more likely you have a pistol shrimp in there

What she said....from your decription it sounds like a pistol shimp. I know because i own both pistol and mantis so its easy for me to know the differenance. That being said...my pistol shrimp can "shoot" just like a gun....bang bang,bang,bang ect over and over....my mantis however doesnt "shoot" off like that. Its more calucualted and about 100 times louder than a pistol. My mantis hits are more like bang....wait 30 seconds bang....ect so on and so forth. Best thing you could do is get some audio the next time it starts going crazy and i could tell you for sure. but IMO sounds like a pistol. They are pretty harmless i think until they are HUGE then i think they may start taking out cleaner shrimps ect. Mine is small and when things piss him off i hear alot of clicking but nothing ever dies.

 

[beeguiles]

Mine sound like a knocking noise. Like of someone were to knock on the glass. It only does it for a couple mins and then stops. I must only have one in there. But the sand is piled up behind the rock from it. I thought it was from my jawfish digging but the shrimp prlly dug it out and the jawfish spent his last days in there. Oh well I guess ill leave it be.

 

[beeguiles]

Yea Dana mine sounds like a gun going off. Last night he did it very fast. I was surprised. Something must have mad him mad lol

 

[Dana42078]

Yea. See if you watch my mantis vids you can get an idea of how the mantis strikes. The pistol shrimp can let off one right on top of the other...really hard to describe...kinda like turning on the stove top and you hear that clicking...idk mine does it once ina great while but everytime I grab my phone he stops.