Super unlucky...

cjworkman

cjworkman

Member
Just wanted to vent a bit...
I've had my tank up for 6 months... i knew i had a mantis.. and was actively trying to catch him... but he decimated my hermit and snail population... Then i caught him....
Added more snails and hermits.... a week later.. still hearing clicking and my hermit and snail population is again being decimated....
so a month ago... caught the second mantis... added more hermits and snails.... well ... last week.. heard clicking again and my hermits and snails are yet again disappearing.. but much more slowly.
Somehow in 90 lbs of LR.... i got 3 mantis shrimp as hitchhikers.....
I loathe them right now.... they are so freakin hard to capture. I'm going to have a celebration for my tank when i catch this last little b#$tard.
 
rs1831

rs1831

Active Member
:scared: I've never heard of anything like that before. Hopefully that's the last of them.
 
cjworkman

cjworkman

Member
tell me about it....
I couldn't believe it when i heard the clicking again.... it better be the last of them.
luckily.. none of them ever messed with my fish. But they've cost me 150$ in hermits and snails.
 
cjworkman

cjworkman

Member
The first one i gave away. The second one I had no home for.. so i felt bad, even though he was eating all his tank mates, but had to send him down the whirlpool. (keep in mind i was pretty angry at them at this point)
not sure what to do with the last one. Guess i'll try to find a home for him... but that's hard to do.
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
Get a small tank and make a species tank. Be easy and cheap to do. Throw in some LR rubble etc. some sand. I find them pretty darn neat, and you reallay can not be mad at them for doing what they do naturally........so you may as well enjoy them. lfs here has them for like $35 each. A nano sized filter is dirt cheap as is a AC mini-20 hob filter, and yu can use yur water change water as a source of water. I use my wc water in my undersireables tank and it does wonderfull.
 
nick76

nick76

Active Member
How Long after u added your LR did u start hearing clicking? Just curious so i know what to expect if i ever get one. GL man i hope u get him.
 
dan87

dan87

Member
Originally Posted by chipmaker
lfs here has them for like $35 each. .
Depending on the species, I've seen them from 6$ to 100$. The liverock hitchhikers mostly found are Neogonodactylus Wennerae, a small purple/green or even sometimes red mantis shrimp. The worse they'll do is eat your cleanup crew, small chance of them actually going after fish because of their size, and that they are the smasher type mantis. Please don't kill the mantis, I've seen alot of that lately. I went to my LFS a while ago and asked them tog et me in a mantis and they replied " REALLY?! damn! We just took out about 6 mantis shrimps from a customers tank and flushed them all.... why would you want a mantis?" which is the question I'm always asked when I ask for one.
Seems that when people dont want a mantis they get one, and when someone wants a mantis its hard as $%#! to get one! Goodluck!
 
nightstalk

nightstalk

Member
what are mantis shrimp good for, idk yet my tank isnt established but all ive heard is bad news about them, what are the good things about them?
 
phoenixofthepyre

phoenixofthepyre

Member
Well.... they're really cool. It's best to keep them in a species only tank, or a refugium off of your main tank if it's large enough. They're really smart, are known to "recognize" the person who feeds them, they have, i think, the most complex eye system being able to see ultraviolet light.
The "good" things... not too sure
 
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