extracting a mantis

[siren]

HOW?!?!?!?

I've tryed to trap it, I've tryed to poke the hole it's in till it pops out, I've freshwater dipped the rock for minutes at a time, and he still hasn't come out. It's like his beady little eyes are taunting me!

Help?

 

[Pea-brain]

You already posted about one you caught....or did you have more than one? Tampa bay live rock, huh? Did you try the bottle trap?

 

[siren]

yep, tampa bay all right. I've found 4, caught 3, but this last one is stuborn as hell!

I haven't moved too the bottle trick yet. Didn't figure he'd come far enough out of his hole for that. Should I try it at night, or during the day? From what I've seen, their more active during the day.

 

[Pea-brain]

You should leave the bottle trap in almost all the time until you catch it. It could take a while. Just change the bait once in a while so they don't rot. What are you doin with them anyways?

edit: BTW they are territorial, so I hope you aren't housing them in the same container, and that they have a small piece of LR to burrow in.

 

[siren]

well, one got sucked into a pump, because he found a way out of my refugium, I gave one away, then I modded my fuge walls, and I have one living in a peice of rock down in my fuge. The one I'm trying to catch already has a home, just need to catch him. I'm keeping the one in the fuge.

 

[siren]

Well I managed to catch him. The bottle meathod didn't work. I didn't figure it would. I've seen people catch everything under the sun with it, and all I've EVER gotten with it in any of my tanks is my scooter blenny (who was rightfully flippin out). I actually watched this mantis swim into the bottle, started to celebrate, and watched him grab a piece of shimp and go straight back out...I wasn't happy. This morning I noticed that he had switched rocks to one all the way across the tank (I hope it was the same mantis anyway), and it was all easy from there. Fresh water dipped the rock, wahla, I have another N. wennerae that I'm gonna kick out of this house faster than you can say mantis shrimp.

Tampa Bay Saltwater LR is the coolest stuff ever, but I'm plain tired of chasin stuff around!

 

[Python73]

So now that you caught all the mantis shrimp... did you start dealing with all the hitchhiking whelks? If you don't know what I'm talking about, there are a ton of brown snails (pretty shells) on that Tampa rock. They are snail and clam eaters.

Just an fyi.

S !

 

[siren]

ahhh, uncool

 

[OrangeKoi]

I have to ask you, What happens to the LR when you do the fresh water dip? How long do you dip? How do you acclimate it after the dip?

 

[siren]

I pull it out of the tank, dip it for about 5-10 seconds, then put it back. Anything I want out usually pops out.