cant get mantis out of its hole!

N

nanoman123

New member
i found a mantis shrimp in my tank (very small about 1 1/2 inches)
and he lives in a hole in my rock. he doesnt seem to want to come out. the most he ever comes out is just his head. i put some bait out for him, but hes too fast. just grabs it and gets back in his hole before i can catch it. any ideas? im getting a 10g to keep him in after i catch it
 
If you have a fairly complex live rock set-up and don't want to remove the rock he is in, you are in for a rough go. We find that if you can ge the rock out, a little carbonated water dripped into the hole works fairly well for some species. Others will literally die before they will come out.

However, with the rock in place, even if you drive the animal out of the cavity, they are pretty good at diving for cover in another one.

Roy
 
i dont mind taking out the rock. as a matter of fact, i already tried that. only prob is, the rock he lives in, is full of tunnels on the inside. also, i dont want to hurt him. im planning on keeping him in a 10g acrylic tank after i catch it (if i ever do)
 
Take the rock out, hold it over a container warm saltwater, and pour cool freshwater in it's hole. It will leave the hole to escape the inhospitable water, and fall right into the container of seawater.

I used a variation of this (using tubes of freshwater over the holes) to capture the three mantis in my tank without removing the rock. All did fine afterwards.
 
I would setup a five gallon bucket as a temporary home for him and just place the rock in the bucket with him in it until you get the 10 gallon setup.
The freshwater drip in his home may get him to come out, it worked for me on 2 of 4 mantis that came in a some TBS rock but it almost killed the other two because they just stayed wedged in the hole and would not buge, I ended up leaving them in the rock and placed them rock and all in the sump.
 
Smoke him out. Just kidding, really, just felt like saying that.

They already gave you the good advice, so I thought I'd toss in some poor advice.

Hire a fakir to charm him out?

JJ.
 
got mantis problem too, need help

got mantis problem too, need help

I've got a mantis in my reef tank, and have been trying to get him out, i did find the rock he was in the first time but i didn't dip it in fresh water, i used a bucket with high salinity to try to flush him out, it didn't work, plus when i was getting the rock out i think he might of went out the back as well.

I've got a chevron tang and his fins are all sliced up, i'm wondering if that mantis is the one doing it. Also lost a coral beauty. Had him almost a year, and then just one day he was gone, never did find him.

what do ya'll think........also here is a pic of the tank if i attached it right
 
i left the rock in the FW for an hour and he never same out so i threw the rock out, then the next day, i found him under another rock......... he must have snuck out the back of the other one .......

my LFS is special ordering me a high-quality mantis trap... hope it works:)
 
I am having the same issue as the rest of you, the only problem I have with most of the remedies is take the live rock out of the tank. I have a bunch of corals attahced to the rock so that is just not possible. I am going to try the plastic bottle routine, Put some seafood in there and see if he bags it. I hope it works because this little bastard has killed at least 6 snails, hermit crab and my flaming scallop!

I will let you all know how it works, maybe snap a few photos.
 
lucky me!!! i found the rock it was in and gave the rock to my friend that works at the LFS he traded me a royal gramma for the mantis :)
 
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