Help! Mantis shrimp discovered!!
 

So I decided that it was time to redo my rock structure and frag some of my overgrown corals this long weekend. Started Monday morning, and worked into the afternoon to rearrange stuff. All done, I was feeling pretty good.

A little later though, I walked by my tank and I saw what appeared like a goby pop out of some rock and grab a shell. I knew I had no gobies, so I had to investigate. I stuck some krill in front of the cave where this creature appeared, and lo and behold, out comes Mr. Mantis to grab dinner. I have no idea how long he's been in my tank, but I suspect that my major shuffling of rock must have disrupted his home. I stare into the cave, and see two beady eyes staring right back...

I don't know how to tackle this problem... I'm thinking that I've got to remove him, but don't know how to do it. Any thoughts/advice/wisdom on how to tackle this? To further complicate the situation, the rock he's settled into is the rock my anemone and clownfish call home.

Take the rock out, make it accessible first for a quick removal if needed making sure the shrimp is still in it. You can remove the anemone once you get the rock out and clown fish will get it over it.

You can do one of three things in my opinion:

1) Use the bait idea again, but this time, have something ready to catch him with.

2) Remove the rock from the aquarium with him in it. This might mean breaking apart the rock to save your anemone.

3) Create a spear inside a pen tube and something sharpened with an elastic. Kind of like a spear gun, and take the little guy out. (this would be my first option... because it would be awesome to see).

haha, found this link. Exactly like I imagined, only with a pen tube, so it's more water resistant.

http://www.instructables.com/id/mini...-up-and-shoot/

What would be the best way to remove the Anemone from the rock? I thought its near impossible to get them off unless they're on glass...


Haha the spear gun would be pretty awesome. I've been reading online, it seems like these little critters are quite smart - if you try to kill them and fail, they will relocate within your tank. They're also good at getting out of traps. Given this, removing the rock is looking like a good plan. I've never taken an anemone off rock along, so I will likely have to break it apart...

How big is the thing? If it's the typical tiny little green or brown one, and there's nothing tiny like those little half inch fish, you could probably leave him. If it's a 6" beast, that could potentially kill things you'd prefer it didn't.

I've kept the little guys before, they eventually seem to vanish.

+1 on this I have kept little green mantis in my display it did not harm anything what colour is it? How big?

You can try placing a powerhead near the anemone so that the discharge is aimed at it's base, they will often move away from the strong current.

If you catch him there's almost certainly someone on the board who will take him if he's one of the cool looking ones.

When I moved mine (I didn't have time to wait for it to move on its own), it was attached to one rock that was small enough for me to pull out of the tank. Just had to make sure that none of its foot was attached to neighbouring rocks so I didn't tear it. I put it in a container of tank water and massaged its foot with my finger until it let go. Took about 20 minutes.

Great "fingering" technique. Did it look happy when it "let go"?

Lol.

Other than getting a bit slimey, it seemed perfectly fine. (In seriousness, I did have to refresh the water).

It probably wasn't too happy that I dropped the rock and ran screaming when an amphipod ran out of the rock onto my hand.

It is a dark greenish-yellow, kinda like a watchman goby

If there's someone in the Greater Vancouver area who's interested, PM me.

HAHAHAHA.