Is this a mantis shrimp?

zappbrannigan

zappbrannigan

Member
hi i just got a piece of live rock from a LFS owner who seemed almost suspiciously recomending it to me.
theres a hole in the rock and i heard some clicking sounds
and i saw a thing in the hole, have a look and tell me what that is,,, it moves like something with legs... thats all i can say.

when i compared it to this pic of a mantis shrimp i found on the net...

strangely similar...
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
Well, hello there little mantis. Dip the rock in hyper, grab him up, and see if someone wants him.
 
zappbrannigan

zappbrannigan

Member
how am i supposed to remove this thing, and i dont want to put my hands in the tank if possible, especially not near the rock. is there any possibility its not a mantis shrimp? and any possibility it will just be a good boy and not eat anything. what if i put food infront of his hole every day... i really dont want to mess with the thing if at all possible, unless its 100% sure a mantis shrimp advice please...?
 
casper1875

casper1875

Member
Like Cranberry said. Mix a batch of saltwater, but add more salt to it. If your tank is set at 1.025 make the batch with more salt added. Take the rock and put it in the bucket with the really salty water. The little guy should come out and then you net him. I always wear gloves, not just to protect me, but to protect my tank also.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
I have 4 different species of mantis... they all look like that staring back at me. I am 100% sure it's a mantis.
Feeding it won't keep it "good".... we can't change who they are. Dipping the rock it is in in hyper will make it run unharmed. Just be ready to scoop it up and put it in normal saline water.
Your gonna have to get your hands a little wet here, I'm afraid. But he should be relatively easy to get a hold of.
 
zappbrannigan

zappbrannigan

Member
ok, im filling up the super salty water now, the same rock also has a clam thing and some other nice stuff, it wont be killed will it? and how long should this thing take to come out once i put it in the water?
 
zappbrannigan

zappbrannigan

Member
help! i put the rock in salty water, but nothings happening, its in a big plastic washbin filled with water and salted passed where my hydrometer can read, but nothings happening, im afraid to touch the rock now incase it comes out when i pick it up. please somebody advice...
 
zappbrannigan

zappbrannigan

Member
after a long wait, the mantis shrimp didnt come out,
i turned the rock so the hole was facing up and tried squirting fresh water into it.
it still didnt come out, when i looked closely in the hole
i could see the thing but it was deep, finally i used a paper clip to pull it out,

not much of a mantis shrimp...
i wasted all that time for what was actually just a sea bean thingie. when it opened its shell the edges looked like the arms of a mantis shrimp. that was a really lame way to waste an afternoon.
 
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