abrian
03/08/2009, 10:51 AM
About two weeks ago my Royal Gramma disappeared overnight, which didnt concern me for a couple of days as I figured he had just gone into the rock work and would eventually make a reappearance. Then about four or five days later my blue reef chromis wasn't to be found in the morning when the lights came on. At this point I am starting to get suspicious as he was always an active swimmer. I thought maybe he had jumped, so I searched all around the tank, under the stand, etc and could not find him anywhere. At the end of last week my maroon clown disappeared overnight as well.
I have researched online and in addition to the sally lightfoot crab I have in my tank the next likely suspect is a mantis shrimp who may have hitchhiked on some liverock. I have had a "trap" in my tank for a couple of nights now trying to catch the sally lightfoot or any potential mantis. The trap is a small tupperware type container with a silver dollar sized hole in the lid and a peice of shrimp in it. I have had marvelous luck catching snails so far, but not the sally or anything else.
I am skeptical on the mantis, as my sally lightfoot, emerald crab, fire shrimp, peppermint shrimp and snails are all doing fine and none have gone MIA. My understanding is that a mantis would take them out as food as readily as my fish. I also havent heard any popping or clicking noises that my reading suggests mantis tend to make.
I am going to remove the sally lightfoot if I can catch him, since some people have reported them eating fish and I dont like him well enough to risk him being the culprit. His leg spread would cover the palm of my hand for size reference.
There have been no bony skeletons of the missing fish, though I have not torn down my rockwork to search and dont intend to if I can help it.
I would like any advice anyone might have about how else I can try to find out who the culprit is and how to get them out of my tank. I am now down to a lawnmower blenny and red sea sailfin and I dont want to lose either of them.
If I catch the sally lightfoot he is going, guilty or not unless I catch a mantis first.
Thanks for any help anyone might be able to offer. I have tested ammonia, nitrate, nitrite to check for a spike that might indicate a dead / decaying fish and they are all steady at 0. There were no signs of illness, everyone was pretty, active, and eating well. - Alan
I have researched online and in addition to the sally lightfoot crab I have in my tank the next likely suspect is a mantis shrimp who may have hitchhiked on some liverock. I have had a "trap" in my tank for a couple of nights now trying to catch the sally lightfoot or any potential mantis. The trap is a small tupperware type container with a silver dollar sized hole in the lid and a peice of shrimp in it. I have had marvelous luck catching snails so far, but not the sally or anything else.
I am skeptical on the mantis, as my sally lightfoot, emerald crab, fire shrimp, peppermint shrimp and snails are all doing fine and none have gone MIA. My understanding is that a mantis would take them out as food as readily as my fish. I also havent heard any popping or clicking noises that my reading suggests mantis tend to make.
I am going to remove the sally lightfoot if I can catch him, since some people have reported them eating fish and I dont like him well enough to risk him being the culprit. His leg spread would cover the palm of my hand for size reference.
There have been no bony skeletons of the missing fish, though I have not torn down my rockwork to search and dont intend to if I can help it.
I would like any advice anyone might have about how else I can try to find out who the culprit is and how to get them out of my tank. I am now down to a lawnmower blenny and red sea sailfin and I dont want to lose either of them.
If I catch the sally lightfoot he is going, guilty or not unless I catch a mantis first.
Thanks for any help anyone might be able to offer. I have tested ammonia, nitrate, nitrite to check for a spike that might indicate a dead / decaying fish and they are all steady at 0. There were no signs of illness, everyone was pretty, active, and eating well. - Alan