Mantis ID - and help getting rid of it

[harday]

Can anyone tell me which Mantis this is? It's the best pics I could get. It's really quite beautiful, I just don't want it. Came as a hitchhiker, and so far he could care a less about the bottle trap. It's in a huge rock on the bottom, so I'm really trying to figure out what to do before my cleanup crew arrives in a week. Thanks

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/5137920070218_0006_1_2_1.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/5137920070218_0002_1_2_1.JPG

[mattyice]

judging by the spots on the carapace it looks like a G. Ternatensis

i recommend removing it considering it gets about 6" fully grown, if you dont want it i will take it off of your hands when you catch it just send me a PM

[harday]

mattyice - I don't want it, but I don't know how to catch it. I can't take the rock out, and he has not fallen for the bottle trap. Any other ideas?

[mattyice]

i would say get something attractive for him that he would want, put either a live shrimp, crab or hermit crab inside of the bottle trap and place it close to his home, and watch it closely and as soon as he goes in all the way and is trying to kill it pull the bottle trap out

[Hutton]

Looks like either a N. wennerae or G. ternatensis. Use the soda bottle trap and put raw shrimp in there, she should go right for it.

[SkiFletch]

If it turns out to be a wennerae, I'd be happy to buy it from you ;)

[doryarlin955]

If it turns out to be a wennerae, I'd be happy to buy it from you
Darn!!!! You beat me to it!!!:eek: Well if you dont get it, could I have it?? Plleeaase!!:lol:

[harday]

yea, from the pics, I would say it's a wennerae. It's not the other one. Now, if I could just get it out.

[mattyice]

either way i already called that i want it when he gets it out lol

[Skipper2]

We found a Stone crab in our tank and tried everything to get him out and then we tried salmon as bait...needless to say the mantis went right in to the bottle trap. He loves it! (Got the stone crab with a chopstick):D

[mattyice]

harday any luck with getting him out?

[harday]

Not yet. Actually, it's quite amusing. I set the bottle trap outside of his cave for a few nights, and I guess he was getting tired of looking at it. Some time today while I was at work, he switched rocks, and I currently have no idea where he is. Wherever he is, he is still giving the finger to the bottle trap which is in there right now.

[andromedia226]

It sounds like you ordered Tampabaysaltwater's "The Package"!

If so, that's definately a Neogonodactylus wennerae because they're notorious for having these mantises in their live rock.

Wennerae only get about 2" and only like smallish inverts. So if you like her well enough, and have large clean up crew members, it might be easier to keep her. But don't listen to me, I'm addicted.

[mattyice]

yes deff. a wennerae then

[wooglin]

If its a hitchiker that came on TBS rock, I will give you my experience. I have a 75 with about 150-200lbs of TBS rock and have somewhere between 3-10 in my tank. THey have been there for three years.

They dont bother anything save for an occasional blue leg. I have never lost a fish(to a mantis that is), they dont even bother my Pistol Shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp, or Pepermint Shrimps. I just make sure that I drop some frozen shrimp to the bottom of the tank once a week, and they get that.

The reality is that the small smashers that come from the Florida region dont really care for fish or corals. They just mind their own business and take care of eating leftover food.

[justinl]

Wow feeding once a week and still no mortalities on the shrimp or hermits (more often)? sounds like a mantis on a diet.

[wooglin]

Thats just raw shrimp specifically for the mantis. The rest of the tank gets fed daily and I am sure they feed off the scraps like the rest of the critters on the sandbottom and around the rock.

It sounds like an orchestra in my house at night. Between my 24 Gallon mantis tank, and my 75 reef, the popping is non stop some nights. Then every once in a while you hear the percussion (the pistol).