I killed the Mantis!!!

mr. tang

mr. tang

Member
YES!!! Over the last few months, I have noticed a steady decline in my livestock. They would just dissapear and my shrimps would be shredded. Today I noticed a little brown thing hiding in the shadows of my LR. When I shined a flashlight on it, it scurried away. I immediately started taking out all my LR and doing a freshwater dip. I only have a 10 gallon and he has already killed most of my livestock so this wasn't difficult. I then caught him with a net at the bottom of my empty tank. I put him in a glass of Freshwater. 20 minutes later he is still thrashing around. I hope he dies slooooooowly! :D
 
hermit enthusiast

hermit enthusiast

Member
I had one in my 37-gallon tank. Boy was it a pain to get out. I have 50-pounds of live rock in the tank and it was in the biggest one. Of course this had to be the one that all my other live rock was piled on. I did a freashwater dip and shot it out with a turkey baster. I killed mine fast 'cause I was pissed off at him. He tried to kill my blue-legged hermit. The hermit's shell has white patches on it where the mantis hit him and broke away the outside. :mad:
I just so relieved i got him out of my tank. :D
 
mr. tang

mr. tang

Member
Congradulations! They are fast buggers. This one took about an hour to finally die in the Freshwater. I feel like putting a pin through him and putting him on the wall above the tank to serve as a warning... LOL
 
bluewater

bluewater

Member
Ummm... my very fist fish in my tank was a
blue Damsel... 2 days later... it vanished.
No trace. Not on the floor... not in the
sand. Not in the live rock... just.. POOF!
So someone told me it could be something
that hitchhiked into my live rock.
According to alot of you, it could be a mantis.
So... I've been noticing alot of my crabs
getting obliterated when I wake up some
mornings. Legs here.. shell there.
Also.. some snails just "dead" and cut up.
Decided to grab one of my rocks and put it
in fresh water... So... I found this.

Is this a baby mantis? Or... just some poor
sea creature I killed? I know what the
adults look like, but this one is pretty
small to tell..
 
bluewater

bluewater

Member
Yup... that's the one in the store I saw.
The Mantis at the fish store was the same
color as the creature I found in my rock.
(which is why I thought it might be it)
I just turned off the lights 2 hours ago...
and another crab has been ripped to shreds
already saw it with the flashlight(the crab) :(
Awesome, thnx Knight.
This website has great footage on how the
Mantis Hunts... geez those are fast. That
Cray Fish was sliced in half like it was
butter.
[ August 23, 2001: Message edited by: BlueWater ]
 
playtime

playtime

Member
So, If you saw a mantis when you shut your lights off, then what the heck did you kill. Looks kind of interesting. Does anyone have a clue?
Playtime
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
You can greatly reduce the bad luck of introducing a mantis into your system if you will clean up your LR before it goes into the tank.
Simply lay your LR on a tarp or plastic sheet. Have a spray bottle ready with sea salt water. Do this for a few hrs before introducing the LR to tank [or cycling tank], Keeping the LR moist at all times by spraying. Creatures, such as mantis, should then come out of hiding due to lack of water.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top