DaveC
12/12/2002, 06:35 AM
Hello,
Been coming to reefcentral for awhile now and just now saw this section on mantis shrimp...so here goes..my tank has been setup for approx 8 months, all the stuff except 25 lbs or so of LR came from my 72G bow tank (125 now)...later I have been seeing these small piles of sand about 2 inches high and maybe 3 inches around..if I flatten it out it will re-appear in about a day or so and continue to get a little larger each night...the piles are out is the open and sometimes next to the base of the LR...only recently in the past 3 weeks I have been missing a couple of small fishes...1 2 inch chromis, and now a 2 - 3 inch bi-color goby...the bi-color was only 2 weeks in my tank so I was thinking maybe he just did not make it, but the chromis has been there since my last tank..my water parm. are all okay so that is not was did the fish in..and I still have fishes left that are very healthy..so I have to think that maybe I may have introduced something with the last 25 lbs or so of LR that I have just recently put in my tank or these little piles are some other type of little digging creature..I have looked at night and never see anything around these little piles, I have never heard any clicking coming from my tank day or night..what other tell tale signs do mantis shrimp leave for us..I maybe don't have a mantis shrimp and just lost those fish because it just happened, but usually if not alway my fishes are alway healthy and eat well, and have never seen any problems..any idea what it digging these holes...what ever it is looks like it is under the sand pushing it upward, you can tell by looking at the small piles and the way there are make as if the sand gets pushed up the center of the pile and then rolls down the sides making the pile a little larger each night...a very slow process by the way, not like this big pile appears over night...it may grow slowly over three of four nights..and if I flatten it re-appears in the exact same place...dug down but do not see anything there...
Thanks
Dave C
Newport, RI
Been coming to reefcentral for awhile now and just now saw this section on mantis shrimp...so here goes..my tank has been setup for approx 8 months, all the stuff except 25 lbs or so of LR came from my 72G bow tank (125 now)...later I have been seeing these small piles of sand about 2 inches high and maybe 3 inches around..if I flatten it out it will re-appear in about a day or so and continue to get a little larger each night...the piles are out is the open and sometimes next to the base of the LR...only recently in the past 3 weeks I have been missing a couple of small fishes...1 2 inch chromis, and now a 2 - 3 inch bi-color goby...the bi-color was only 2 weeks in my tank so I was thinking maybe he just did not make it, but the chromis has been there since my last tank..my water parm. are all okay so that is not was did the fish in..and I still have fishes left that are very healthy..so I have to think that maybe I may have introduced something with the last 25 lbs or so of LR that I have just recently put in my tank or these little piles are some other type of little digging creature..I have looked at night and never see anything around these little piles, I have never heard any clicking coming from my tank day or night..what other tell tale signs do mantis shrimp leave for us..I maybe don't have a mantis shrimp and just lost those fish because it just happened, but usually if not alway my fishes are alway healthy and eat well, and have never seen any problems..any idea what it digging these holes...what ever it is looks like it is under the sand pushing it upward, you can tell by looking at the small piles and the way there are make as if the sand gets pushed up the center of the pile and then rolls down the sides making the pile a little larger each night...a very slow process by the way, not like this big pile appears over night...it may grow slowly over three of four nights..and if I flatten it re-appears in the exact same place...dug down but do not see anything there...
Thanks
Dave C
Newport, RI