Just great!!
 

So my tank has been setup now for about 15 months, and today I see a mantis shrimp chasing a little crab across the rocks. I have never had any indication of their being a mantis in the tank...sheesh. Glad he's left my cleaner shrimp alone (so far). Guess I have to go hunting now.....stupid mantis...

grrr... how big is the stupid thing?

Ugh what a nightmare.:neutral: I hope you can catch him.

For me I found the easiest method was to pull the rock it calls home. Good luck:smile:

Wow I know people in AB that would buy it from you

And a couple in Vancouver. Depending on the type.
Should be lots of DIY traps out there.

Try to do it when you move at the end of the month. Since the water's out then it should be easier.

that would involve taking the rock out.. not a good time hehe

Brad set up a trap.. maybe a noose and you can hide on the couch and see if you can get him :mrgreen:

Steve

Steve, I was thinking a little box propped up on a stick with a string tied to it. When it goes in after the bait, I pull the string, and wham!!, he's trapped. Well, ok, maybe that only works on birds!! :)
I'll drop a pop bottle trap in today and see what I catch, but I'm not pulling rock out (not that I think the rock could come out anyway).
I just find it strange that I've never noticed it before. There has never been any clicking, the liitle crabs I know about are still around, no lost hermits, my cleaner shrimp lives under the same rock. Just a fluke that I saw it crawling over a rock yesterday.

It's not too big. Maybe 2 inches during a morning stretch. Plain brown little guy, hopefully someone local wants him, if not, I might have to borrow a rock from Beverly...

Maybe he is vegetarian Brad and just trying to "play" Good luck getting him. I don't want him by the way, but if some coral frags break off while you are catching him, let me know! Rachel

pop bottle
 

hey brad
cut off and invert the top of 500ml plastic pop bottle or gatorade bottle always worked for me. put a small prawn or scallop in the bottle and leave it in the dark for a while. preattach fishing line to the bottle for easy retrieval if you want.
but you will probably also catch your other shrimps and inverts this way as well...... so good luck

Ya, that's the best I've used so far. I'm sure he'll go right in, because apparently he hasn't eaten in about 15 months!! hehe

Brad, I'm all out of rocks :lol: All you need to do is put it in a small plastic bag and go to it with a hammer :twised: :razz: :wink:

I can't even catch mantis I own with the inverted pop bottle trap.....

Find the rock and smash it. Fresh water dips don't usually work either.

Everybody stop telling Brad to take a rock out of his tank... I was there yesterday, and trust me... there ain't no taking any rock outta his tank without doing some serious damage to some of the most beautiful encrusting coral colonies I have ever laid my eyes on! Trapping or praying are Brad's ONLY 2 options...:mrgreen:

no chance its a pistol shrimp wanting to play tag? They can look like mantis and would be why you have not seen any death in the past 15 months.

No, I've kept many mantis, and this is a mantis. It isn't really big enough to do much damage to anything I have, but I imagine it will grow. I had one of these kind before that was about 3.5 inches, and it could crack hermits, so I'll try to trap it. It's still pretty small, so I'm not in any rush.

I can give you the rock back with the worm in it.. that might eat it:lol:

Steve

I would, really, but that worm loves sand and I just don't have any...sorry :)

Does anyone have a picture of a baby-Mantis? I have something crawling in my tank that must have come from the live rock and it looks like some sort of shrimp. sorry I "misplaced" my camera on Sat night so I can't show you guys. I rather kill it now if it is something that I don't like to have later.

If it's a mantis, you probably couldn't just kill it. They're very fast and usually stay close to their lair. Google mantis and you'll find some good pics of them.

Hey Brad.
Thanks for the advice. I googled mantis Shrimp and came across something really cool that I wanted to share with you: (chances are you already have seen this)

http://www.truenorthreef.com/mantis.wmv

If you want to read more about this and see some other cool videos about the setup look here:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...mersible+light

The baby shrimp that I was talking about is not more then 3mm big. right now is more curled up. Looks like it has pinchers. more like this: (sorry had to make space for some new pic) (by the way this is a mantis picture). But don't all baby shrimp look like this? What are the chances?

Kill it? :2gunfire: or not?

Ang

Is that in your tank? If so I will take it. That is definately a mantis and a spearer at that.

I have seen what I think is a baby mantis shrimp in my tank that hitchhiked in on some live rock. It's not very big, 1/2 an inch probably and is plain brown. I thought it might be a pistal shrimp but it has white eyes that are like little slits detached on the top of it's head that are able to move separately (in different directions). It's very strange. I did try to trap it once with the inverted water bottle but eventually gave up. So far it hasn't done any damage (that I know of) but it is something I will probably have to deal with later. I do have 2 cleaner shrimp and though there are lots of snail shells around, none have holes in them or anything like that. My tank is FOWLR with a hitchhiker BTA.