Got To Get This Thing Out!!!!!!

[digitalaquatics.com]

I have one in my personal tank and I've lost a number of prize fish I saw it once and after that I pulled all 150lbs of live rock and did a fresh water dip trying to flush it out. No luck... I tried a trap and ended killing a nice hawk fish,

I hear clicking at night I'm fairly sure it's a mantis and not a pistol shrimp. I NOW have all my rocks free standing and can pull any one at any time if I hear it at night. I have an isolation tank set up ready to put the suspect rock in. I'm just not sure it's going to work. ANY help would be welcome and successful catches and how they did it would be very nice.

Thanks,

Scott

[kar93]

if its rapid tapping then its probably a mantis , but if its just 1 or 2 taps every now and again then its just a pistol shrimp

[justinl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11250761#post11250761 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kaneryles
if its rapid tapping then its probably a mantis , but if its just 1 or 2 taps every now and again then its just a pistol shrimp

from what ive seen, you cant really tell like that. some people can distinguish the clicks of a mantis vs pistol by the tone but not frequency.

when you say at night, how late and how long has it been doing this? most mantids are diurnal.

IME the best way to remove a mantis is the bottle trap. There are some tricks to this method. Mantids will make a burrow in the rock so if you can find the burrow, place the trap so the opening is close to and facing the borrow entrance. The second trick is patience: this might take a while, so remove and replace uneaten bait with fresh bait every day. Third trick is go away. I am serious, get in the car and take a trip to the lfs, walk the dog, just don’t let anyone near the tank for at least eight hours. And lastly, don’t feed the tank for a while. The point is the make the mantis hungry enough to go get the food in the trap.

[digitalaquatics.com]

Thanks guys! I really want to get this taken care of. I want to add some small fish and replenish my male and female Mandarin Gobies (both victims.)

Thanks!

[amazd]

Fresh water dips only worked for me in the sense of slowing it down so I could pull it out with tweezers.

[Radioheadx14]

If the Mantis needs a new home, i would be happy to take him off your hands :)

[digitalaquatics.com]

We'll just came home and found I'm down two more fish... A nice little six line that I've had for a long time now.

I think it's time to get a bit drastic! ALL the rock is coming out and going into the sump and holding tank.

Can't keep losing fish like this!

[Angel7989]

ive never really heard of a mantis that has killed so many fish without eating them.
have you actually seen the mantis?
could it be something else?

[kar93]

How bigs the tank if its above 80gal you might be able to find an LFS that will loan you a Lunar wrasse or you can buy one and sell once the mantis has gone, although i have heard of stories where the mantis has eaten the lunar

[kar93]

also a good trap to try is the X- Terminator, ive only used it once but its worked quite good

http://cgi.ebay.com/X-Terminator-Mantis-Shrimp-Crab-Trap-by-Ultralife_W0QQitemZ300176162601QQihZ020QQcategoryZ3212QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem