Can someone ID this hitch hiker?
 

Is this crab good? bad? Do I need to practice some spearing in my tank? :mrgreen:

Sorry about the iphone pics. Its as close as I can get

cant really see that well from the pics, but chances are if you didnt add it, you dont want it:wink:

All crab except the filter feeders like the porcelain crab are opportunistic omnivorous and will eat whatever is available and convenient.

Do crabs usually make clicking sounds? If they dont, it looks like I have a mantis somewhere in the tank :cry:

Or a pistol shrimp.

I guess my only option is to set some bottle traps and see what happens over night

Hey that looks EXACTLY like the one I had in mine.
Just a simple gorilla crab.

I tied a little string on mine and kept him as a pet for a few days. :biggrin:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...9_674449_n.jpg
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...e&id=517857079

i have a crab trap you can borrow if your willing to come to bowness to get it.

So its confirmed, I saw a small brown mantis shrimp today when I was feeding the fish. Im hoping he will stay in the rock he is in, and I will try using high salinity dip to force him out. Still debating if I should put it down.. or maybe someone here wants him?

I saw a post on the board for someone asking for a mantis, try them!:mrgreen:

hey i was trying to look for a matis i you dont wont him i will take him

Sure.. Im going camping this weekend, but I will try the salinity dip next week. He looks really cool, I was really hoping for my porcupine to hunt it down for me.

So I attempted to extract the mantis using the methods listed in this link

http://www.mantisshrimps.co.uk/articles/removal.php

I didnt try the freshwater dip, however I tried the "shake violently" method. This guy will not come out! I also tried the carbonated water method since I have a sodastream unit at my house. I was able to force out alot of amphipods but NO mantis :(

Oh, and my little brother ended up smashing the LR into 4 pieces, and NOTHING!

I just fed the tank, and saw the little mantis peek his head out, so I snagged that LR out of the tank. I set another bottle trap over night (nothing this AM)

Guess I have to wait it out and see if I hear anymore clicking

ya i hope you get it out of there i got a nive nano tank ready for a matis shrimp so i hope you can get it for me and did you try just putting to rock i a buket and leave it in there over night and in the morning he would probily be out when it is dark and then grab him :lol::lol:

No, he loves the rock hes in. I am just leaving the bottle trap. There is a forum member that is offering to lend me his shrimp trap. Just need to find time to meet him.

When I get home tonight, I will have to chill in the office and see if there is any clicking.

Did you speak to tinman? he has a lime green mantis in his sump that hes giving away

no i didnt try him i will here thanks man

thanks

No problem, this mantis is yours.. once i catch him... whenever that may be :(

i hope soon befor it kills eny thing in your tank

Or I need to catch the mantis before he is a snack to my porcupine and dogface puffer (when they are big enough) :)

Saturday night, I can hear the clicking sounds from the mantis. So I decided to check out the tank after lights out.

I ended up seeing a black crab, a brown crab (gorilla I think) and 2 small blue crabs.. upon a closer look, I think they have fans on them. Are most fan crabs blue?

Ouch
 

Watch your fingers!!!!

I know.. tell me about it :twised:

I will have to slowly take the rocks out, and catch as many as I can.

Hopefully, I can catch these SOB's when I move everything to the 200g in a couple months

Ok, so I have seperated 2 pieces of LR where I saw the crabs. It looks like the fan crabs have moved to another rock. I for sure caught the black and mantis ( i heard it ) but im not sure about the borwn gorilla crab. Those crabs are a PITA. I caught the black one with chopsticks and moved him into a plastic container used to seperate betas (its clear and hangs on the side of tanks) I guess the plastic wasnt smooth enought, because it crawled straight up and opened the top door to the container and escaped!

What is the best way to catch the mantis? I have the X-Terminator mantis trap in that rubbermaid as well.

I have read this, and it wasnt successful

http://www.mantisshrimps.co.uk/articles/removal.php

thanks all

Are these fan crabs not just Porcealin crabs?? Mines blue speckled on the shell and just hides in my zoas all day long. They are good to have.

As for the mantis, all I can guess is dont load the trap till its been dark for awhile so its a little more comfortable and the food is fresher.