catching your mantis :-)

[portjeffski]

I used this method just a little while back and it worked just fine.
Cut the top off of a small poland spring plastic water bottle, then flip it around and insert it into the bottle,place some shrimp or krill in bottle.The mantis will go in and not be able to get out.

 

[landlord]

My trap is the one shown in portjeffskis reply.

Kudos to portjeffski for getting it to work.

I was never successful with it

 

[landlord]

My trap is the one shown in portjeffskis reply.

Kudos to portjeffski for getting it to work.

I was never successful with it

 

[jasonross]

this is the harpoon i made for my friend who just got his TBS he couldnt get a trap to work

 

[boyooso]

I am NOT proud of it, but after several weeks of trying to catch my mantis, using various traps and taking the single 30lb rock out of the tank several times and trying freshwater squirts, hot water squirts, I finally got him cornered into a hole and injected him with kalkwasser and then pulling him out.

I didn't want to, but he left me no choice. I had to make the rock safe for a dottyback nest.

Oh,well.

 

[docklink]

this is the harpoon i made for my friend who just got his TBS he couldnt get a trap to work

Ewwww........ nasty.:eek2: However, I'll keep it in mind if (or when) the need arises

 

[jasonross]

yes it is .how ever he tried to catch him for 2 weeks and he was destroying everything

 

[hdtran]

Caught the mantis!

Caught the mantis!

Caught the sucker! It's about 1.5" long (looks a lot longer when it's swimming free ).

Picture attached below.

I saw a cloud of dust coming out of my substrate, underneath one of my smaller pieces of LR rubble. Took a closer look, and sure enough, the mantis was having fun hunting something in the substrate. So, I promptly opened the canopy, & the mantis made the mistake of hiding under the rubble rock. I used a net to scoop up a ton of sand around the rubble, which included the mantis, and dumped everything into my coolwhip container.

Photo (slightly out of focus) of the sucker.

I'll see if he's willing to take a small piece of regular shrimp. If so, I'll toss him into the octopus tank. The octopus is getting pretty boring, and I fear will die of old age soon. (Won't come out of his hole to eat any more...).

 

[docklink]

Re: Caught the mantis!

Re: Caught the mantis!

Caught the sucker! It's about 1.5" long (looks a lot longer when it's swimming free ).

Congrats :dance: LOL

I'll see if he's willing to take a small piece of regular shrimp. If so, I'll toss him into the octopus tank. The octopus is getting pretty boring, and I fear will die of old age soon. (Won't come out of his hole to eat any more...).

Maybe he'll perk up with a playmate

 

[DCDeacon]

Congrats!

I now feel really stupid because I spotted something in my tank last night as I was doing a water change. It was at the back sticking out of the sand. It almost looked like a piece of dried silicon. I finished what I was doing and went back to pluck it out and it was gone. That was when I said to myself, "I think I just missed a golden opportunity."

Grrrrrr...............

 

[hdtran]

DCDeacon,

If it was exposed to lighting, and didn't move while you were disturbing the tank, it was unlikely to be a mantis shrimp. They are very smart, and hide from possible threats such as triggerfish or moving hands. It takes a while (weeks) for them to figure out that the shadow of the aquarist moving in front of the tank is not a predator, and they'll peek at you then.

Look for a fast moving shadow. A slow moving shadow is more likely a snail, limpet, worm, etc.

 

[biomekanic]

Re: Caught the mantis!

Re: Caught the mantis!

The octopus is getting pretty boring, and I fear will die of old age soon. (Won't come out of his hole to eat any more...).

Any possibilty that he is a she and laid eggs? I've heard of this happening to other people, if that's the case, she'll guard the eggs till she dies, watch out for the ammonia spike, from her and her unfertilized eggs. : (

 

[docklink]

Re: Re: Caught the mantis!

Re: Re: Caught the mantis!

Any possibilty that he is a she and laid eggs? I've heard of this happening to other people, if that's the case, she'll guard the eggs till she dies, watch out for the ammonia spike, from her and her unfertilized eggs. : (

Interesting thought.

 

[hdtran]

Umm (hemming and hawing). How do you tell what the gender of an octopus is?