Mantis or Pistol

[Suprised]

Ive got a clicking coming out of a 90 gal with a lot of LR. I was wondering if there is any way to tell the difference between mantis and pistol shrimp just by the way they sound. Ive never seen the noisemaker. If it is a pistol thats fine because the noise doesnt metter but if its a mantis id like to get him out of there.

[cookiemn]

Suprised,
have you noticed any of you livestock missing? I had a 2 mantis shrimp and they devastated my livestock. You can also wrap some red celopane on a flash light and try to identify the little bugger at night.

[louis]

I am not vouching for this info, just passing it along. check out
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pest/tell.htm
"A lot of people seem to be confused about this. Pistol shrimps, which are "generally" viewed as non-harmful to most inhabitants of the tank, can and do make these clicking noises using one of their enlarged, specialized claws. Mantis shrimps cannot by themselves produce such noises. However, they can and do produce clicking noises whenever they use their raptorial appendages to hammer something hard, whether it be the armored shell of some luckless crab or mollusk, or the walls of their cavities. I have read somewheres that one way to tell from the clicking noises is that pistol shrimps tend to snap in ones and twos, whereas mantis shrimps make rapid multiple hits.
The point here is that clicking noises don't prove anything. However, in conjunction with the continued loss of inhabitants, and the lack of any other viable culprit, you can probably assume that you do have a mantis problem. "

If you got the LR from Liverocks.com you more than likely got a pistol Shrimp.. Blue Legged to be exact.. From personal experience the mantis shrimps that usually hitchhike in are fairly small and the clicking is not really heard.. They can be but not usually.. Now if it sounds like something just broke near your aquarium it is probably a pistol shrimp..

FWIW I have personally had a mantis as a pet and it never really hurt any of the crabs I had in that tank.. I was the one skewing the crabs and he would go up and finish them.. IMO the mantis seemed pretty docile although it was only 1/2" to an 1".. the only thing I honestly think that It killed was the other mantis I was trying to get him to pair with.. Munched that thing to pieces quick..

HTH,
James