Bin-Laden and Sadam !!

[parvin]

I have counted at least 2 mantis shrimp in my 75 ga tank ..

On feb 1 I added 75 lbs of live rock from Tampabaysaltwater.com

( very good people ) .. they seem to be living in caves like ..well
let's just say I named them Sadam and Bin-Laden !!

How do I rid them ... luckally they have only trashed a few Turbo snails ..but I thin one did get my Maroon clown .. but all I have now is a Yellow Headed sleeper Gobie .. which is probably next on the menu for these guys ... I have found which rock and cave where one of them ( Bin - Laden ) hides and lives .. tonight, I am going to remove that rock and submerge it in freshwater ??

or should I go with traps ?? This rock did come from Florida.

 

[febtober]

if he doesn't hop out while you are pulling the rock out i would just do a quick dip, he will surely jump out then. If you cant find the other one i'd go with the trap although i've never tried one.

 

[silent_assassin_e99]

whatcha gonna do with the little guys when ya catch em?

 

[cjm033]

imite be able to take one off your hands when you catch them,Chris

 

[parvin]

shure ... they are bright blue and Royal and are very fast and smart ...luckally I am still in the process of cycling so I do not have that much live stock in the tank ...

but if they eat my Bumble bee snails .. i will be Bar B Q ing them !!

I'll let you know if i catch em ..

 

[cjm033]

how big are they? ill take the smallest of em,Chris

 

[parvin]

almost an inch .. both of them

 

[cjm033]

awsome thats perfect size i need,Chris

 

[silent_assassin_e99]

is the 2nd one spoken for yet? i'll pay shipping

 

[lllosingit]

Don't dip it in water, You will kill the rock! trust me I did it to one rock and most everything on it died.
To get them out just squirt cold water in the hole he is hiding in and he will pop right out.
If you don't know where he is try leaving the rock out of the water for 15 minutes and he should just crawl out.
I just got a second shipment last week and I'm picking up another 40lbs tomorrow.
I have 2 mantis now that I plan on keeping but if I get any out of the new batch I'll give them to who ever wants them.
John

 

[KORE(67)]

If you have a quarintine tank you could isolate the rock in it, and see if the lil bugger comes out with the lack of things to eat, but lllosingit idea is a good one, but make usre it doesnt just run to another hole in the rock....

 

[Python73]

For the record, as a rule these mantis don't bother fish. But they WILL eat your bumblebee snails. Only a matter of time.

Some background - you most likely have Neogonodactylus Wennerae, a small smasher that lives in live rock in the Atlantic and Carribean. They stay small, with a 3" or so max. They can change color drastically when they molt, to match their surroundings. Mine went from blue with markings to solid lime green. I've had him for almost a year now. In the wild they hunt snails, crabs, and shellfish. In your tank, they will lunch on anything that they recognize as food, which includes any snails smaller than a quarter.

I'm not saying that they won't ever eat fish. But they generally don't. It is much more likely that your fish died on its own from other circumstances.

I removed mine using the freshwater squirt method. A dip will harm the rock, but a targeted squirt wont.

And for the folks wanting one, you can buy them from TBS for $9 plus shipping.

HTH.

S !

 

[parvin]

you are correct .. i think the clown died from a Nitrite spike ..

it is curently at .3 and am waiting patiently for that to go down till i found these critters ..would you recomend traps ??

I really do not want to kill this rock .. the rock I purchased through TBS is absalutly gorgeous !!!

what about Triggers ?? I heard they will prey on these guys ??


Pat

 

[cjm033]

dont get a trigger to rid em i finally ofund someone with someone small enough lol. id say go with the trap just put a smal piece of food in there and it may take a little time but youll catch him hopefully sooner but i did a low sg dip like .10 dip to my one rock because i thought i had a mantis in it and i wanted to separate it and give it its own tank but it ended up just bein me thinking there was one but the rock was fine and nothing really happened to my params you could try the low sg dip so you dont kill anything on the rock or you could try the traps or both like try the dip first then the trap good luck,Chris

 

[cjm033]

sorry i just found a mantis a few thread up that i like so the one isnt spoken for anymore,Chris

 

[crgeltn]

DO NOT DIP!

DO NOT DIP!

You do not have to do a FW dip! It is very harmful to the rock and all the organisms on or in it! Pull the rock out if he doesnt jump use a turkey baster or something similar to squirt a small amount of cold FW in each of the holes wait a minute and he'll come out. I used my daughter's water pistol and it works great. Good Luck Hunting!