mantis troubles... need advice.

E

elan

Guest
ok.. i am not 100%, but i have a mantis shrimp i cant get out of my tank.
I tried tried making a fish trap by cutting off the end of a plastic bottle, inverting the end and sticking in shrimp... no luck. all the shrimp are still there... but i did catch some pods :)
i tried quickly taking out rock to get to him, but this bugger is way to quick for me.
what are some other alternatives?
 
E

elan

Guest
i am planning on taking out a few rocks and leaving it in some water in a tub for a little while...put some rocks to one side and some food on the other end , and try and find him that way.
please help....
i feel so helpless...lol
 
phoenixrising

phoenixrising

Member
I have found that the best way is to make some middle of the night tank checks (you may find that it is not a mantis). Depending on how much live rock you have, this may take lots of middle of the night tank checks. Drop in a piece of something yummy and wait to see where he comes from and then watch closely to see where he returns to. Then remove that piece of rock to a seperate container of salt water and go back to bed. Next morning evict him from the live rock (without killing your expensive rock) and give him to your LFS or set up a species specific tank for him. They are super cool and beautiful additions to your system if you can find a way to house him safely. Mine live in the refugium. Some people on this board might be interested in providing him a new home as well.
There is no easy fool proof way to remove your mantis. They are fast and smart. How did you decide that you have a mantis? Do you have livestock disappearing?
 
E

elan

Guest
i have alot of live rock... and in order to get to the bottom ones, (where i think he is hanging out) i have to remove about 50-100 lbs of live rock from the top.
i have red scarlet crabs missing or i am finding torn pieces of them in my tank. And when i first saw him, i thought it was cool to have him, but when i started describing him to people, and they said either a pistol or mantis. Since i dont hear any clicking noices, i am assuming manits.
i am also contemplating doing the following.
i have a 135 gallon tank. and two 45 gallon rubbermades.
I was thinking of emptying some of the water to one rubbermade. taking out some live rock and putting them in the rubbermade with a powerhead to circulate the water.
Since my overflow will not be working, i will place another powerhead in the tank to keep that water flowing.
This will enable me to have just rocks that are sitting on the DSB to search though when i am looking for him.
the problem i am unaware of.. is since i have some corals, i dont want them to die, <BR> is if i take out half the water for several days, am i going to mess up my water paramaters to the point of seriously hurting the corals and fish? or is the DSB and rock that is left in the tank enough of a filter? </BR>
My other option is waiting till i do my first waterchange... take out about 35 gallons of the water and leave it in the rubbermade. replace the tank water with new water. and let that continue to circulate as it normally does. so i can then search for him.
for the overflow, the only other filter i have is a W/D with bioballs. i am planning on replaceing it with a refugium. so i dont care if any of the bacteria accululating on the bio balls will end up dead. but if that will screw up my tank, i will have to figure out another way to get this done. the thing with my bioballs, is that i usually put too much water in my sump and had most of them completely submerged in water, which from what i understand killed them anyway.
I am going to do a search on getting rid of bioballs to figure out the best way to do that.
 
clarkiiboi

clarkiiboi

Active Member
Since i dont hear any clicking noices, i am assuming manits.
Get this verified, but IMHO, I believe that mantis shrimp DO make the clicking noise.....so if you have no noise, you may not have a mantis, but something else.
 
katara

katara

Member
I agree w/Clarkiiboi..I hear clicking and have had a BIG Mandarin disappear..a pistol would not have killed my Mandarin and left no trace..I still can't figure out where the mantis is ...I feel for you.
 
dreeves

dreeves

Active Member
Submerging your bioballs will not kill them. The bacteria contained within consume O2 from either the air, or the water. A wet/dry system is designed to assist the bacteria to get their O2 from the air, thus leaving the O2 concentration in the water alone.
 
N

newreefers

Guest
before you tear apart your tank try this, feed it something meaty a few times and just let him take the food and go back to his hole. after a few times you will be able to see exacly where his hole is. while doing this hold the food farther away from his hole each time. then one time when he comes out for the food, place a net over his hole, he should run right into the net. if it is a mantis and anything like mine he will only eat in his cave, and after getting food he runs right back to his cave. if you can feed him with some tongs so you control at what point he gets the food.
just an idea, hope it help. :p
 
katara

katara

Member
Boner, Thnx for your sentiments..I really do miss my Mandarin..I bought a military flashlight & still can't find the #!@%.I guess I"ll have to wait till he gets older/bolder:mad:
 
E

elan

Guest
ok.. i think all my red scarlet crabs have been made into dinner. now atacking my teakwell snails.
I tried making the trap out of a plastic bottle, but saw my other shimp come in, get the food, and leave......
So i broke down and got the X-Terminator Mantis Shrimp Trap. 15 bucks at the LFS.
I will let you know how it works for me.
I have to give it a few days though because i am in the process of redoing my rocks.
 
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