Best way to catch a Mantis?

[Fuzznutz]

Okay, the Manitis shrimp is cool and all; but, I want him/her out of my 90g before I put anymore snails/small fish in there. I bought a "Mantis trap" and he/she seems to be laughing in my face. What would be the best food (I tried frozen shrimp) to put in the trap?

[Pea-brain]

I haven't heard great things about mantis traps, but have heard better things about the bottle trap. Shrimp usually works fine. Also silversides, krill, clam, any meaty SW food pretty much. How long are you leaving it in there? I've heard the idea of putting it in and going for a nice long drive and it'll come out and do w/e. When you get it give it away or setup a small 5-10 gallon with some sand, a few pounds of live rock to burropw in and maybe a light if you want. Have you actually seen this mantis BTW?

Dan

[Fuzznutz]

Oh yeah, I've seen it many times over...it's mocking me ;) I put the trap in at night and leave it all night long...I will search on the bottle trap and see what I come up with.

[Pea-brain]

A good picture of the bottle trap can be found on Seahorse.org in the articles/library section. It offers a good picture. I suggest putting holes in the bottom of thebottle to allow the smell to flowthrough. BTW make sure you use a water bottle. Soda bottles can kill the mantis and mess with your tank.

Dan

[Fuzznutz]

Great, thanks!

[justinl]

mantids are for the most part diurnal. so put the trap in and then yes get out of the house. I am absolutely serious when i say leave the tank completely alone. if you know where the mantis' burrow is, put the trap right in front of the burrow... so the food is right in its face and it cant miss it. worked within 6 hours for me... i was out of the house.

i used krill, but like pea-brain said, they aren't picky.

[Pea-brain]

^ He's the one that I got the leave the house from thing :D

Dan

[Thrillman]

I've got one that's been knocking off my snails....I'll give this a try. Does in also work for Eunicid worms...I've got one of those as well!

[justinl]

about the worm, i dont know. how big is the worm? the problem i see arising is that the worm might go haflway into the bottle but still have enough of its body sticking out of the trap to be able to escape. if the thing is small then yeah sure the bottle trap should work fine. For bigger worms, im not so sure.

dan, i just figured it worked best that way. otherwise we tend to always check the trap every five minutes... which will make a mantis wary enough to not fall for the thing. lol, we're all guilty of this in different situations. acclimation is another one. just leave the thing ALONE! :D

[Thrillman]

Thanks justinl...I'm planning on leaving it in over night...I'll let you know.

[Pea-brain]

Like he said, almost all mantises (at least the ones that hitch hike) are diurnal. Leavin git overnight MIGHT work, but I know from my mantises that when they close up for the night they don't come out for anything.

Dan

[Thrillman]

Aaaahhh....got it...didn't catch that. Guess I will drop it in before I leave for work tomorrow. Thanks, Dan.

[Thurge]

I would doubt that it would work for a Eunicid worm. As someone said it would only put part of its body in the bottle and would just back out. That is one critter you will probably have to tear down the tank to remove.

[Fuzznutz]

Good stuff, thanks again guys/gals---BTW if anyone wants this free Mantis when I catch it I'm in Maryland.

[Lehman]

Where you at in MD? Whats the mantis's size and have you seen it enough to ID it?

[Fuzznutz]

I'm in "The Peoples Republic of" Glen Burnie (just under Baltimore)...he/she is about 2 1/2-3" in length...a greenish yellow in body color with blue claws--I will snap a pic if I can catch it. It came on some TBS rock; but, I'm not quite sure what kind it is.

[Thurge]

Check out http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/
Specifically the Neogonodactylus species. I am curious if by blue you mean like the N.wennera or blue like the N. curacaoensis. I missed my opportunity to get one of the latter.

[Lehman]

If you catch him I might ride down and pick him up. Im about 90 minutes away from you.

[Fuzznutz]

I will let you know...as it stand right now, he is still laughing at me---was looking at the bottle trap like "Yeah right buddy, you better do better than that!". Bastard! I moved it to the back of the tank to see if that will work.

[gorgasb]

OK, I have had my mantis for about 6 yrs. I have only seen him one time. I took all my rocks out and attempted to fish him out with squid, didnt work but thats when I saw him swim from one rock to another. I believe he might be a "Haptosquilla hamifera" he is jet black and fast! I tried the bottle trap thing but I used a 2 liter with human shrimp over night insted of a regular water bottle which is my next step with some different bait. About every six months I will put a cleaner pack in the tank; crabs, snails etc and then they slowly start to disappear. My rubble has little holes in all the shells. Really all that is left in my tank are my two naso tangs which are about 7 yrs old, blue tang about 4 yrs old and a maroon clown fish. He doesnt seem to be as active as he did in years past, I really only hear him during the day at times. I have my lights on from about 5p-11p. Someone throw me a bone here please.........

[Fuzznutz]

I don't know what to tell you Gorgasb...I can't catch this one to save my life.