free mantis shrimp
- Thread starter gregvabch
- Start date
polarpooch
Active Member
Try the bottle trick. It worked for my purple lobster.
Use a 20 oz pop bottle, cut off the top, turn the top upside down, and put it back in the bottle (you need to secure it somehow, I used string). Poke some holes in the bottle.
Put a piece of shrimp or something inside, attach a string to it, so that the string hangs over the top edge of your tank--and so you can pull it out without sticking your hands in the tank, place the bottle near the rock....and just wait. See if the mantis comes out and goes into the bottle.
I don't know if these directions made sense. Basically , it looks like a pop bottle with holes in it---the upside down top makes a wider opening to catch the shrimp, but makes it harder for the shrimp to get out.
Or, you can take out the rock he's in, and squirt seltzer water into the cracks--I have never tried it, but hear this usually makes the mantis go scurrying out of the rock. Do it in a bucket, so you can catch the shrimp.
Anyone else have ideas?
Use a 20 oz pop bottle, cut off the top, turn the top upside down, and put it back in the bottle (you need to secure it somehow, I used string). Poke some holes in the bottle.
Put a piece of shrimp or something inside, attach a string to it, so that the string hangs over the top edge of your tank--and so you can pull it out without sticking your hands in the tank, place the bottle near the rock....and just wait. See if the mantis comes out and goes into the bottle.
I don't know if these directions made sense. Basically , it looks like a pop bottle with holes in it---the upside down top makes a wider opening to catch the shrimp, but makes it harder for the shrimp to get out.
Or, you can take out the rock he's in, and squirt seltzer water into the cracks--I have never tried it, but hear this usually makes the mantis go scurrying out of the rock. Do it in a bucket, so you can catch the shrimp.
Anyone else have ideas?
S
shouse
Guest
it's also been said to kill anything life on the rock...even though i dont believe it
S
shouse
Guest
LEts put it this way. I ended up dipping one of very nice peices of rock i paid more for to get a mantis shrimp out. (got em, yaaaayyy
) and than like a day later i went to the site where i bought my rock from and they said absolutely never do a FW dip cuz it could kill all growth on the liverock, it may take a few weeks for it to happen they said.
Well i was scared at first but saw no changes to the rock. Since than i have these brown hard coral shoots coming off of the top everywhere,...so it didnt seem to affect anything.
So i support the FW dip but be carefu. HTH
P.S. i've heard a lot of success stories using the bottle trap as well.
Well i was scared at first but saw no changes to the rock. Since than i have these brown hard coral shoots coming off of the top everywhere,...so it didnt seem to affect anything.
So i support the FW dip but be carefu. HTH
P.S. i've heard a lot of success stories using the bottle trap as well.
jawfishray
Member
Originally posted by gregvabch
if you can help me locate and remove him
i hear him clicking at night and i know the general area that he's in but i'm not sure which rock. i've tried the flashlight with a red lens in the middle of the night but no luck spotting him. I want him/her.
Seriously
To secure your trap use a hole punch if you have one or a sharp knife, being very careful, make small holes 5 at least through each side with lined up holes. Thread a length of fishing line, saltwater safe string etc through the holes like a wide shoe...leaving a 2' length on the end to hole onto.
Fill with water some sand/small rocks etc. and introduce a live if possilbe shrimp/small crap.
Place in tank during day to allow for settling and exposure to be comfortable for dusk or night when the beastie comes out.
Once the lights are out, fairly soon you should have your answer.
It can get itself out if left int here too long or if hassled so be careful and have a reserve tank ready for isolation...and then shipping to me!
LOL
PS
Clean the container very well, without anything harsh or product named...just some spare salt water would be best with a little sand to knock the crud off the insides.
Good luck
Ray Boemler
www.peanutbutterjellyfish.com
drkdweller
Member
Ill take it. Im in Roanoke Va
gregvabch
Active Member
thanks everyone for the responses, but my main problem is that i have several pepermint shrimp in the tank as well as 2 skunk cleaner shrimp. it's hard to get an accurate head count on the peppermints since they hide during the day, but it doesn't appear that their numbers are dwindling. wish there was a way i could figure out which rock he's in for sure, it would be easier than trying to catch him since there are other things in the tank who would could also be caught by the trap.
rbmount
Active Member
Originally posted by Innsmouth
If you can locate the rock, a freshwater dip is supposed to be almost failsafe.
I tried the bottle trap thing with no sucess(brittle stars kept reaching in and stealing the bait), so I dipped my rock in fw and that sucker came FLYING out! Luckily,It was in the second rock i dipped. It now resides in it's own 20 gal tank and eating like a pig. I only dipped for 15 sec max,and haven't noticed any changes on my rock.
gregvabch
Active Member
rbmount- thanks a lot that really helps. so you limited yourself to 15 seconds submerged in freshwater? i was talking to the guy who runs my lfs and he said that if it is a mantis it's still small, otherwise more things would be missing by now. i don't really know much about their eating habits but i do know that i've got a herd of pepermint shrimp in there that he said would definetly be thinning out if it was a decent size mantis shrimp. so either it's a little guy or it's some sort of pistol shrimp. either way i'd like to get it out of there just for piece of mind, so i think i'll try the freshwater dip thing. can anyone else attest to a time limit for leaving your liverock submerged in freshwater before putting it back in the tank???