Mantis Shrimp

[jeasko]

Suddenly realised that I have a mantis shrimp in my tank saw him a few weeks ago and didnt realise till now what it was, so far its had one of my clowns and a blood shrimp and im not overly keen on leaving it in the tank.

Has anyone got a good way to catch these things? if so please tell as i havent seen it lately and am keen to get rid of it!

 

[poopsydrew]

Suddenly realised that I have a mantis shrimp in my tank saw him a few weeks ago and didnt realise till now what it was, so far its had one of my clowns and a blood shrimp and im not overly keen on leaving it in the tank.

Has anyone got a good way to catch these things? if so please tell as i havent seen it lately and am keen to get rid of it!

You could make a DIY trap out of PVC, or if your tank allows introduce a fish that feeds on shrimp and other invertabraes.

Drew

 

[jeasko]

I think this is going to turn into a game of cat and mouse! i really dont want to dismanlte my tank and dip all my LR as I dont think it will do the LR any good and seeing as the tank is set up I cant afford any cycling, by the sounds of it there is no good way to catch this predator, and before anyone says it its definately a mantis as I saw it a few weeks back (maybe a few months back) when it was only about 10mm long it obviously caused no harm at that size but has obviously now grown as its taken a clown and a blood shrimp! although I have heard no clicking I really could do with some good advice to catching this thing! please please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont want to go to bed I want to stop up all night watching for this thing and make sure the rest of the live stock doesnt get killed tonight!!!!!!! not realistic i know but dont know what to do!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[chrissaysyes]

Just relax for one thing You'll get him. Try the trap first, then if that doesnt work you're going to have to dip him. If you're game for sitting up, it would be a good idea to find out where he lives. Then you'll know which rock to dip.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, try the soda bottle trap, works well on inverts

 

[jeasko]

thanks guys Im just getting paranoid as really dont want to start loosing loads of live stock in my tank, sounds a bit over the top I know but was really just starting to enjoy the tank and everything was starting to settle then WHAM this happens, think the worst thing is there is only a limited amount of things i can do to resolve this and it leaves you feeling helpless, so can really sympathise with anyone who has faced this in the past!

Ski seems you always about when things go wrong and would be lost without you guys who have a lot of experience and chrissaysyes thanks for that i was really getting paniced about it all to much and think i needed to be told to calm down lol

Do either of you know how often this thing will appear? is it likely to be most nights or are they the sort that when they have fed they take to hiding for a few nights? just so I know when to keep looking for him, also is there any real big give aways as to where its made its home?

 

[chrissaysyes]

I think Ski may be your man as far as mantis behavior goes, seeing as how he plans on keeping one as a pet

 

[jeasko]

chrissaysyes
Thought i read that somewhere but for some reason I wasnt sure, will have to ask ski for more info on the behaviour, but thanks for all your previous replies they were very much appreciated and will let you know what the outcome is

 

[chrissaysyes]

Best of luck

 

[SkiFletch]

Hehe, thanks for the compliments. If I could ever get over my coral and wrasse addiction, I would have a mantis shrimp by now

Heres a great fish trap. For using it with a mantis shrimp though, instead of using the whole bottle, just use the top and bottom so it has a low profile. And place it in the tank vertically so the shrimp goes down in the hole after the food, and can't crawl back out the inverted ceiling.

 

[jeasko]

cheers for all the info my first course of action will be to try and locate is home then try the trap and if it doesnt work either ditch the LR its in or dip it.

Also Ski you may have heard this there seems to be some contoversy over weather a sally light foot crab is a mantis predator as I have one in my tank it could proove useful if this info is correct.

 

[chrissaysyes]

V.S.

I'd like to see that

 

[jeasko]

agree chrissaysyes however my Sally Lightfoot is much bigger than that but I still cant see it being able to take down a mantis! was just curious as there sems to be reports that various people think its possible

 

[chrissaysyes]

About how big do you think he is?

 

[jeasko]

estimate body of lightfoot crab 40-50mm then plus legs maybe 80-90mm in width in total