Be Vewy Vewy Quiet...

[Radioheed]

Click Click CLACK

I'm hunting mantis...HA HA


So I'm building a home made trap and putting some mysis shrimp in there...I just noticed today that I have a serpent star and have many other hitchikers from my LR that may also be interested in this bait.

I'm worried that I will look in the trap tomorrow and nothing will be there or there will be 2 gorilla crabs and a mantis chowing on my star, or one of my porcelain crabs (don't know if they could be eaten, but you get the point)

Is there anything else I can try or anyway to increase my chances of a safe catch?

[Jakaru]

Only way to get him for sure would be to pull the rock out that he's hiding in. Even then you may have to crack the rock apart to get him. Other than that the longer he's in there the hungrier he'll get. He might not be killing something everytime you hear the crack they are also known to "carve" your rock apart to build borrows in them. you can lay a trap and wait or get agressive. When he gets hungry he WILL eat something.

[Radioheed]

thanks for the advice...I'm trying the passive move first since the rock he is in has a lot of life on it


anyone else? PUHleeze?!?!

[meco65]

If that don’t work get a spear gun lol.

[Randall_James]

where did you get your rock from? (*just curious)

[Radioheed]

TBS...indeed it has it's share of "bad hitchikers", but wow it's well worth it!!!

Anyone???


Bueller?

[AquaReeferMan]

Yeah I found a Mantis in my 55. I couldnt trap him so I had to remove the rock he was in. He now has his own tank and is getting a bigger one soon. He has the LR all carved up with new holes now. I love my mantis shrimp now ONLY because I caught him.

[saltwatersucker]

TBS...indeed it has it's share of "bad hitchikers", but wow it's well worth it!!!


What is tbs
Sorry i'm a newbie

[SuperNerd]

Freshwater dip the rock, let the mantis come scurrying out and then quickly put the rock, and all the other critters that came scurrying out, back into the main tank.

[techreef]

if you can, i agree that pulling the rock out is your best bet. you'll drive yourself nuts trying to trap the mantis. they are devilishly smart, and learn from mistakes. pull the rock, and pour seltzer water into the mantis' hole. it'll come firing out of there with a quickness. the seltzer method minimizes the damage you may do to all the other life on the mantis rock because you pour the seltzer only where you want to, instead of dipping the entire shebang in freshwater. be aware of air exposure times for your sponges while you're doing this though. keep it under 5 minutes and you should be okay, with less time being better.

[MrSpiffy]

saltwatersucker, it stands for Tampa Bay Saltwater. They sell sweet live rock that's aquacultured instead of taken from reefs, so it's also environmentally friendly!

[Radioheed]

night 2 and the trap didn't work again, i hear him clicking A LOT more, almost mocking me, hahah

I really don't want to take out/dip the rock cause of all the life that's on my rock...maybe I'll try the seltzer thing

thanks for the help!

[SuperNerd]

Radioheed: Are you sure it's a mantis shrimp and not a pistol shrimp?

[650-IS350]

TBS rock come with a bunch of Pistols aswell. The 100gal package I got came with several pistols. And at times it seems like a war is raging in the tank... Just look for excavations being made under your rock work, and check for burroughs.. usually at night place a flashlight towards the actuall burrough and youll see them moving around under the rockwork. Typically a pistol would only let out a couple of pops 2-3 pops.. but I have heard of pistols making multiple pops in event of aggression or defense. To truly see them in action.. get a flashlight with red filament or regular flashight and cover it with some time of red film... the don't get frightened by the red color ( or can't see red? ).

[Radioheed]

I've only seen the little guy once, but I know it's a mantis...no claws on him. Also the clicking has become almost constant, really hope its not on the glass...I'm telling you he's laughing at me in there!

[Liquid Hobby]

I saw someone post a link of a pic to the below device that they successfully employed to extract a Mantis Shrimp. You just got to know where the little bugger is hiding!

Grabber (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4439363955)

Sorry, I could only find a UK url...

[techreef]

Sears sells these. I nabbed one of my bigger mantis with this tool, and had another one in it but he tore himself out, which in and of itself is pretty awesome, as this tool squeezes HARD.

[Red_Six]

I got two mantis with my TBS part one order. I tried to trap for a couple of weeks without luck. Before part two came I pulled the rocks where the mantis lived and poured seltzer water in the holes until they came out. My part two has two more mantises; one is very small. I have yet to remove them because I cannot easily remove the rocks now that I have aquascaped. I actually got struck in the thumbnail by the larger mantis. It hurt. I don't put my had in the tank any more.:mixed: I recommend you use rubber gloves when removing the rocks.

I think one of the mantises attacked my blue tang. The fish lost a fin and got all scratched up. The tang is very healthy thanks to the beautiful TBS Macro and it only took about a week for him to recover and look normal again. Since that happened the tang and another fish seem to taunt the mantis. They swim at it and bat their tails really close to him. I had about 10 -15 gorilla and rock crabs in my tank, but I am pretty sure the mantis took care of them. I don’t see crabs any more. Now that the crabs are gone I have to decide if I will feed the mantis or rip my tank apart. For now they will stay.

[SuperNerd]

I had about six or seven mantis shrimp come in on a bunch of fiji LR. Eventually I THINK they killed each other off (with my help of course) down to (what I think is just) one. Now I occasionally hear clicking in the tank but I honestly think it could also be a pistol shrimp...and one that does not host with gobies because I added a small high fin and the next day it was dead.

I haven't had anything else showing up dead...

If the mantis is one that stays small it most likely won't be too much of a threat to anything. I have little neon gobies and sexy shrimp in the tank too and they are not only living...but obese. :lmao: