found mantis

[lobstergrabber]

I was looking at my tank today and something caught my eye. I initially thought it was my neon goby because it was under a rock he likes to sit under but on close inspection it was a mantis. Of course I could find my turkey baster no where to atleast try and suck him up. By the time I found it I could not find him. Not sure which rock he went into either. I would take them out one by one and dip them to make him jump off but I have a large purple frilly gargonian that is attached to every rock on the side of the tank that the mantis was on. What is the best way to catch this thing. It was approximately 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 inches long. I tried to cut top 1/3 off 20 oz soda bottle and invert it with bait and all I managed to do was catch a peppermint shrimp in the first 2 minutes. Please help. Thank you.
Rich

 

[fshhub]

dipping all the rocks is a bit over kill, and normally does not work anyhow. Keep an eye out and try to find out where his den is FIRST. Then remove that rock and shoot club soda inot his den. This is a much more assured method of ousting the lil bugger.
HTH
ps, trps normally do not work with them(only about 10% of the time), so do not be upset about not catching him that way.

 

[laudluvr]

Good luck Rich!! I have no idea what to say except....
How long has he been in there?

 

[jrein40806]

I read on this board once that you can take pantyhose and catch the Mantis. Cut one leg off and put a piece of store bought shrimp in it. Tie the end in a knot.Put the hose in the tank and use a rock to keep the end with the knot down. The mantis will try to get at the store bought shrimp but will get tangled in the hose. Just be careful when removing him. I don't know if it will work but it is worth a try.If you don't get it out you will lose all of your livestock. I had one once and he ate 3 fish very quickly One of my lfs owners cut his head off with a pick though Good luck!

 

[lobstergrabber]

the thing has been in there over a month. He was in there before I ever added my first fish. I thought it was one of the 2 pistol shrimp I put in there makng all the noise. Now every time I hear that snap I cringe. Going to LFS today and see what they have and may try pantyhose also.
Rich

 

[fshhub]

a mantis would shred pantyhose!!
the pantyhose trap is for bristle worms.
works good too, but a mantis would shred it in no time. they are extremety strong and fast

 

[laudluvr]

Too bad. I have plenty of pantyhose that my wife won't let me wear anymore. LMAO
It would be cool if there were a mantis mercenary to handle the "cleanup" like Harvey Keitel. LOL

 

[jrein40806]

I know for a fact that the trap I read about on this board was for Mantis shrimp. The reason why is because I had one.I was going to use my wife's hose to try to get it out.Then I made a few calls and one lfs owner told me to bring in my rock.I did and he chopped its head off with a pick
I'll try to find the original post.Sorry if I gave bad info-just trying to help Check below this post for the original post. I did find it.

 

[jrein40806]

Mantis trap!
The guy at my LFS suggested a way to catch a mantis or pistol shrimp that i had never heard of. He said he uses it all the time and it works great..and its very simple to make.
One pair of panty hose
a rock
some food
and the ability to tie a knot.
food and rock go inside the hose...i hope you can gues where the knot goes..and the trap goes on the sand bed. The mantis should start trying to get at the food and get his feet tangled in the material. BINGO! instant fly paper for a mantis. Im gonna try it this week. Ill let ya know if it works. If anyone else decides to try it please let us know how it works.
Squishy>>
Here is the original message. Go to search and type in pnatyhose,then go to Mantis trap. I would never forget the advice I was given to catch that mean critter

 

[lobstergrabber]

you guys are great? has anyone tried the pantyhose with any luck? I will try tonight and see if I can get him.
Rich

 

[lobstergrabber]

4 hours with lights out and pantyhose housing shrimp and rock in the tank with no visitors. I think all my shrimp have been over there trying to figure it out but no mantis. I am going to bed. Hopefully in the morning he will be stuck but not holding my breath.
Rich

 

[jrein40806]

Keep us posted. I want to see if the pantyhose trap works. Those Mantis shrimps just make me
Good thing the positives outweigh the negatives in this hobby

 

[hattrick58]

Might want to try this if you haven't caught him yet. http://saltaquarium.about.com/c/ht/00/07/How_Simple_Aquarium_Pet0962933581.htm

 

[lobstergrabber]

no luck with the pantyhose. Kind of tought when everytime I look in the tank one of my other shrimp is sitting on top of it.
Hattrick I will look at your link. thank you.
I will keep everyone posted and if and whe I get him I will let everyone know the winning method
Rich

 

[sooner97]

This is the trap I made to catch my mantis shrimp. He wouldn't go for it on the first day, but he ran in and got stuck on the 2nd night, so you might want to give it a try. I got this from someone else's posting on another forum. Good luck to you.
The one I made is as follows--apologies to the inventor, I hope he'll post and claim it!
1. Get a piece of 1" dia PVC, 12" or so long. Leave a bit of a burr on the inside edges on one end. Any other tube will probably also do.
2. Get a plastic soda bottle. Cut a rectangular piece out of it's side. The dimensions should be 3.25" (parallel to the bottle's axis) x 1.5" (along the bottle's circumference). The plastic rectangle will be curved; the long sides will be straight, the short sides curved.
3. Make a series of cuts starting on the straight side. The cuts should be about 1" deep and about 1/16" apart. What you will end up with is something that looks like a 3" long hair comb with 1" long teeth.
4. Cut every other tooth off.
5. Cut every other tooth that is left to about half it's length. Of every 4 teeth you started with, you now have one full length tooth and one half length tooth left.
6. Bend the spine of the comb into a circle so that all the teeth curve toward the middle. Insert this, teeth first, into the end of the PVC pipe. This makes a one-way door--the mantis can push his way through the teeth to get in, but he can't get out. The burr you left on the inside edge of the PVC will prevent the comb from being pushed back out the end of the pipe. You may want to do some further trimming on the comb to get an exact fit.
7. Cap the other end of the pipe. I jammed a left over bulkhead strainer into the end like a cork--easy to remove but allows water to flow.
8. Put a piece of bait (raw shrimp, clam, whatever) in the trap. It is probably best to orient the trap with the comb end on the downstream side, as you want the mantis to follow the scent into this end.
9. Check it daily. The bait will stink after a day, so change it daily. I think it also helps to chum the water a bit, get the mantis used to eating the bait.

 

[hattrick58]

I had never heard of a mantis until I read this post. They are little devils and it really must be a nightmare if you get one. I guess there is no real way to see if you have one until it's too late? I mean, how can you tell if you get one with your LR?

 

[jrein40806]

Some people say you can hear them clicking for food. I never heard mine though. They are strong enough to break through the glass on aquariums One of the lfs owners told me that he had a mantis that struck the heater light when it came on-needless to say it electrocuted the entire tank

 

[lobstergrabber]

I am actually familiar with them because I caught one on a hook and line(snagged him) down in Ft pierce a few years back. It was almost 7 inches in my estimation. Anyway long story short inquired as to what it was and heard horror stories of people walking the flats and have thier foot almost taken off by the things. Like I said earlier I thought the noises were my pistol shrimps but in hindsight I am not sure a pistol could snap that loudly. It sounds like a cap gun going off sometimes and now that I know it is in there every time I hear it I cringe. I think I am going to try and make Sooner's trap as I can size it down where mantis can in but peppermint cannot. I hope to get him soon because I am constantly worried he is going to start popping fish.
Rich

 

[laudluvr]

How do they do cause so much damage? What part of them has all the strength? I am perplexed. LOL

 

[lobstergrabber]

Thier arms do the damage. They hold them similar to praying mantis thus the name. How they can generate such force is beyond me but I don't want to get hit by one that much I know.
Rich