un#@%$&*believable

jennarienne

jennarienne

Member
i just found ANOTHER mantis shrimp in my tank, i am going to flip...do these things live in colonies?!? :mad: i thought maybe because they are so nasty, they might be territorial (does anyone know?), therefore my chances of having more than one would be slim - APPARENTLY NOT! but, happy to say i got that one too - he came right up to the glass to visit, so i scooped him out. this is terrible too, but he was not pretty, so i put him in some vodka. i heard this was a humane way to put a fish out of it's misery (hope that's true)...it seemed to work quickly. anyway, does anyone know the chances of me having a third in my tank??? btw, i will be dipping any lr i get from now on!:rolleyes:
 
buzz

buzz

Active Member
Looks like you stumbled upon a family!
So...you liqoured it up, huh? Drank itself to death.
 
jennarienne

jennarienne

Member
yikes, is that bad? (he looked like an alcoholic to me ;) lol)
before i forget...reefsoe, i shipped him with 2-day, so you should get him tomorrow - hope you like the packing :D
 
phoenixrising

phoenixrising

Member
Sorry if this is a redundant question, but did you pick up uncured live rock? If so, this is the source of the problem. Even if it is cured, no guarantee of it being free of Mantis. I found one not long ago in my reef tank that must have been in there for several months...about 8...and survived two breakdowns of the tank (had to move them and then move them back again after a flood) without being spotted. Had to have come in on my uncured liverock. Don't be surprised if another shows up. Just pop them into your sump or refugium or set up a species specific tank for them. They're pretty cool little critters when you give them a chance!
 
jennarienne

jennarienne

Member
yes, it was uncured, but i got a great deal on it:D (not funny) i seriously didn't think they were so common, since i have never had a problem in over 2 years, and many purchases of lr...i can honestly say i am just not interested in keeping one, although i can see where they'd be fascinating. i've been looking, but i can't find anything that says whether or not they scatter or hang out in a burrow once they hatch. what worries me is that this one was very young (i'm guessing). i did find a few ideas on how to catch them - here are my two favorites:
1 - set up a scissors outside their burrow, and when they come out, slice them in two (i'm not kidding, i read that).
2 - "borrow" an octopus from a lfs, because they will find any crustaceans...last time i checked, no one had an octopus to loan me!!! lol :D that is hilarious, although i would LOVE an octopus someday...
they did say that an australian dottyback may catch it, and i have a neon (same thing or no?) - he's pretty aggressive. he ate all my shrimp, so i wouldn't feel too bad putting him into a not-completely-cycled tank - i've been mad at him for awhile...yep, that's what i'll do!
 
ladyhawk

ladyhawk

New Member
Funny, I have read so much about mantis shrimp on this site, but figured for certain I didn't have any mantis shrimp. My LR is cured and has been in the tank for awhile (months).
But I couldn't keep anything alive!! My water tests were great and nothing that fragile in the tank.
Then, one day this thing comes out and starts eating my snail!! I had no idea what it was (funky looking little critter) and my brother tells me to reach in and grab it! Boy am I glad I read this forum on a regular basis...
Thumb splitters they are called, glad I didn't reach in. But, I grabbed a net and scooped him right up! Put him in my quarantine tank. I have heard they are real buggers to get out of a tank, so I feel fortunate. The LFS said to take him out and step on him (not what I did).
I hope there aren't more!! Just ordered from swf.com and don't really want the stuff to be dinner again!
 
buzz

buzz

Active Member
I think it probably is uncommon to get 2 of them. A lot of people don't ever get any mantis shrimp at all. I never did in the 60 lbs of LR that I have.
I'd say you're just special! :D
 
phoenixrising

phoenixrising

Member
So far, I have found 5. This comes from probably 400 pounds of uncured liverock picked up at different times but from the same source. They are cool dudes (I only have 2 left) and I enjoy watching them in my refugium!
 
jennarienne

jennarienne

Member
don't kid yourselves - if i find one more, i am going to eat the sucker, just to see what the fuss is about:D...and when yu guys are finished making fun of what i did;), will someone tell me if they have ever heard of doing that(for future reference)?
 
jugger

jugger

Member
how do they kill your fish...sorry to ask dumb quesstions....and what do they look like.....how big do they have to get to be dangerous
 
joez

joez

Member
If I were to keep a mantis shrimp in my refugium, would it kill everything thing else in there, or do they primarily go just for fish?
I'd want to keep other shirmp and snails inside it as well...
 
jonthefb

jonthefb

Active Member
ladyhawk, do you still have your runnin around? i need to get me one. i have a littel 5 gal tanks set up for him, and ill feed him all my nasty hermits from my 20! if anyone has a mantis layin areound that they dont want, let me know!
jonthan.garnett@attbi.com
good luck
p.s. the vodka mantis thing could be a new marketing ploy, kinda like the worm in the tequilla thing!
jon
 
wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member
Just remember a mantis in a vodka bottle is not the same as a worm in a tequila bottle:D If you do end up finishing the vodka and eating the mantis I can just imagine the hallucinations:eek:
 
bbreaux1

bbreaux1

Member
people really do the vodka and shrimp thing. a guy i know takes clients out fishing for his boss and he took this group of asian guys out but they didnt catch anythign and still had some live shrimp so the guys took some shrimp threw them in a pot poured in some greygoose covered it and waited till they stopped jumping took them out peeled and ate them. the guy said he tried them and it wasnt too bad these were brown gulf shrimp though not mantis
 
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