mantis shrimp

[the marine apprentice]

i helped out a fellow canreefer tonight by trading my extra 90g tank for hers that had a leak 3 inchs from the top. so she brought it over along with a few extra large coffe from timmies, and it still had a bit of water and some rubble and such in the bottom. while my girlfriend and i were cleaning it out we found a little crab in the water and also a shrimp about half an inch long. so i put both of them in a glass cup with some tank water from my tank and they both can right to life bouncin around the glass. so i set the cup down on my pool table and continued cleaning the tank. every few minutes i would hear this loud ding liek someone hitting a cup with the point of a knife. i thought it was just my gfs bearded dragon hittin stuff. then i went to check on the crab and the lil shrimp and i wated the shrimp smash its claw on the cup and it made that noise. i have never seen a mantis before but this is friggin cool.

main question is... what do i do with it??

[karazy]

if it's only half inch, i say throw it in a 5.5 gallon and grow it up. mantises make really cool pets.

[Navigator]

I heard that clicking noise and I never thought it would be a mantis - I thought it was my thermometer!

UNBELIVEABLE. I apologize, but I'm glad it never got in either of our tanks... Must have hid out in that rock - I thought I had the hermit crab out though! Must have grabbed his wrong shell. Congrats - you're now the proud owner of my free red legged hermit from the place downtown!

[burrows14]

I think they are super cool! but i just got rid of one in my reef i think...lol he ate 4 gobies about 20-30 hermits and a few peppermint shrimp I had to pull out all of my rock to try to find him and i think his home is in my sump now lol

cheers
Ray

[the marine apprentice]

will they hurt anything to be down in my sump?
or will it wreck my sump

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by the marine apprentice

will they hurt anything to be down in my sump?
or will it wreck my sump

I have a small 2-3 inch g. smithi mantis that lives in a rock in my sump. He rarely comes out of his rock but when he does he will grab mysis, krill and silversides from aqua tongs. I've had him for 2 and a half years and he's never caused any problems.