Mysterious Clownfish Disapearances

[Lynden]

Most Halichoeres won't do it but Thalassoma, Novaculichthys (dragon wrasse) and Coris probably will. These creatures are powerful and intelligent predators and will make quick work of a mantis. Benthic triggers such as the Titan (Balistoides viridescens) could as well but they aren't as specialized, never mind the fact they they are huge and expensive.

 

[1entra]

Are any of the above wrasses reef safe and wont attack my corals? What bout my hermit crabs or snails?

I will have to ring up a few marine shops in the area and see which stack any of the above. Which ones do you think will be most common?

 

[Lynden]

Thalassoma and dragon wrasses are fairly common, but any large enough to eat a mantis will probably take out your other inverts. Maybe you could remove them for a while.

 

[suzygti]

i know the orange spot goby pairs up with pistol shrimps and are recommended for quieting them down and bringing them out. we had a pistol shrimp at one point. made a sound like the glass on the tank was splitting!!! after doing some research we found out that the pistol shrimp makes the clicking sound which stuns the fish (think it produces a sound wave or something) and then kills it. your CUC in this case would prob be helpsing getting rid of the excess evidence. we had a cleaner wrasse dissapear when the pistol shrimp was in the tank and i mean dissapear, we ripped the tank apart and never ever found it. as for getting rid of one, i think we actually just decided to change the rock formation in the tank and took out some ocean rock and never heard it again. even tho i was pleased i never got my orange spot goby as the problem was gone.

good luck with it all

 

[chrissaysyes]

I still say swap the LR

 

[Lynden]

Just make sure to NOT tell them why you are switching it...

 

[SkiFletch]

I make you a bet coris wrasses are the most common (at least they are in the States among those Lynden listed). To answer your question, they will go after your hermits and snails, and if the wrasse is big enough will probably eat them all if you don't QT them. They don't harm corals that are secured to rocks though. They will however go pokin their beaks everywhere and even throw small rock bits and frags across the tank lookin for inverts, so any small frags not secured to the rockwork could find themselves elsewhere

 

[Lynden]

Yep, and under one of those rocks will be a mantis if it actually exists. Then, a final crunch.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yep, and under one of those rocks will be a mantis if it actually exists. Then, a final crunch.

lol yeah. I love watchin dragon wrasses hunt for food. Things are really cunning predators

 

[Lynden]

I found a pair in Hawai'i, easily the coolest two fish I saw. One lifted rocks, the other slayed whatever was under them.

 

[chrissaysyes]

I so want footage of this

 

[fishstick]

Most Halichoeres won't do it but Thalassoma, Novaculichthys (dragon wrasse) and Coris probably will. These creatures are powerful and intelligent predators and will make quick work of a mantis. Benthic triggers such as the Titan (Balistoides viridescens) could as well but they aren't as specialized, never mind the fact they they are huge and expensive.

Dont give up, 1entra, if the worst comes to the worst you could chuck everything away and start again. This should be interesting and fun, not the nightmare it is being for you.
Sorry to butt in on your amazing and really heart-rending thread but can anyone say if these 'powerful and intelligent creatures' rid the tank of crabs as well? If so I will rent one , the crabs in my nano give me the horrors, they are so out of proportion.

 

[chrissaysyes]

The only reason Im against you adding a fish to kill the mantis is in the event that something is wrong with the chemistry in your tank...also you may not even know if the fish kills anything. If it's in the middle of the night, your CUC and the fish could make quick work of a mantis...if you do this you're going to have to keep your eyes peeled for any signs of the death of a big crustacean...i.e. legs, antennae, fleshy bits...

 

[1entra]

I read up somewhere that to observe the life in your tank at night, it is best to do so using a red light by applying some sort of transparant red pastic in front of a flashlight/torch as they can not see it or something along them lines..? well anyways I went and bought myself a red lightblulb today and attached it to my bedlamp which I have attached to the top of my tank so the red light is shining directly into the aquarim in the hope my "predator" will emerge and I will see it for the first time ever!

I really would like to see what I am dealing with in the tank, as still dont know if it is a crab/pistol/mantis and so have been sat here beside my tank for about 2hours so far with my eyes fixed on my tank and I have seen no small/night life at all let alone a mantis/crab, not even a single bristleworm! Do you think this may be due to the dips as they may have killed off all my small life in/on the rocks?

HOWEVER... I have been hearing quite a bit of clicking although I have not yet seen the one resposible for it! The loudest was 3 simultaneos clicks about half hour ago which I responded to by tapping on the front glass with the backend of my ballpoint pen (sounded very similar)! AND IT RESPONDED A FEW SECS LATER WITH 2 CLICKS OF ITS OWN!! I think we are communicating!

When I re-tapped twice I heard nothing back until about 2mins later when another 3clicks were heard!

Just a few minutes ago I turned my back on the tank to get something off my desk when I heard a loud fast scurrying sound like something hurriedly rushing/running through the tank and brushing against the rocks as it did so. I immediately turned around to find... NOTHING! "It" had already disapeared somewhere!

Since turning my computer screen back on (all lights other than red bulb have been off whilst I've been sat watching the tank) about 10mins ago, I have not heard no further clicking from the tank!

I plan on going to the kitchen in a few minutes and boiling a prawn in some salted water and placing it near the LR on the far side of the tank where the clicking seems to be coming from and then sitting here for few more hourse waiting to see what comes out to eat it! (some may think it is a waste of time but I really do want to get to the bottom of this and see if I have got a predator in the tank or not!)

By the way thanks to all of you that have been posting advice/comments on this thead, it really is appreciated! I will go out to my LFS this coming weekend to see what they have in the form of predatory wrasses as mentioned above!

 

[n3ont3tra]

The loudest was 3 simultaneos clicks about half hour ago which I responded to by tapping on the front glass with the backend of my ballpoint pen (sounded very similar)! AND IT RESPONDED A FEW SECS LATER WITH 2 CLICKS OF ITS OWN!! I think we are communicating! laugh.gif

roflmao!!!!! or is that not allowed now?