what to do now?

[JJ1234567]

Well we now have confirmation. I do have at least one mantis shrimp that came in on my LR. It is only just barely a centimeter long yet so i want to get rid of it while it is small. what do i do?

 

[chkltcow]

Light a match and walk away!



Oh, wait... wrong advice

Make a trap for it and get it out quick. You can make a trap by cutting the top off a bottle, flipping it around to act as a funnel, and sticking it back in. Then toss some food in there as bait. No guarantees that will work though.

Alternately, if you know which piece of rock it's hiding in..... and there's nothing else on the rock that you'd mind losing (corals, featherdusters, etc)..... you can mix up some water in a 5g bucket to a higher than normal salinity, somewhere around 1.035 SG, and give it a quick dip. The hypersaline water hurts the shrimp and will make it run out. From there you can net it up and put it in a container to give to your LFS or any other brave soul that wants it.

Oh, and check this page:
http/www.blueboard.com/mantis/pest/catch.htm

 

[steelhealr]

Be careful...they can give a nasty cut to your finger...they sell traps if you don't want to futz with a lot of stuff. Get him now before your livestock starts disappearing. SH

 

[Great Lakes]

I would seriously consider taking him off your hands....

I Would even trade a frag of something for your him just for giggles...

GL

 

[JJ1234567]

Well after waging a seccessful battle, I have two dead mantis shrimp. I used the super salty water dunk method. It wored well. Thankgoodness that this was a small top peice of rock, not one of the larger ones. Now I just have to hope this was all of them.

New problem. Or maybe not. It is now warming up here and the room temp is about 84-85. After unplugging my small heater I can be sure that its not the heaters fault. The tank is sitting at the 80-81 range. Is this ok, or should I attempt to remove the fans in the hood and put more powerful ones in? anyone?

 

[chkltcow]

I keep my heater set on 81. I found that with my lights on, the temperature would sometimes climb up to almost 83 degrees on really hot days. Plus, my wife has this tendency to say "OMG, it's too cold" and go turn the AC off. I don't notice it, the house heats up to the mid 80s, and that's not good for the tank either.

So, it's better to have a steady temperature, than trying to aim for the magic 78 degrees and having it fluctuate due to lighting, outside temp, etc. Keep it a steady 80-82 degrees and you'll be just fine.