Getting rid of Mantis...circa 1996

[Shekki]

My neighbor recently got out of the hobby and gave me a few books. In "The Marine Problem Solver" by Nick Dakin, here's the method for ridding your tank of a Mantis:

"Ridding a tank of mantis shrimps is not an easy matter. They are intelligent and can avoid traps set for them. If a shrimp settles in a favourite cave, you will have to remove the whole rock taking care that any back entrance is covered and that the creature does not slip out as the rock is lifted out of the water. If no other solution can be found then, as a last resort, you may have to push scissors, skewers, or a sharp stick into the cave to kill the shrimp by impaling of decapitating it."

Robb

 

[jbleacher]

Or you can introduce extra food for the mantis so that it may live in perfect harmony with its tank mates.

 

[luscien]

f.y.i. his ia a place for people who like to keep mantis, not get rid of them. unless you have one you would like to give away.

 

[mistermikev]

mantis: "why is everybody always picking on me?"
humans are so silly - always want to kill what they are afraid of or don't understand. Don't have a mantis yet... need a cheap acrylic tank. Have read about them and they are so cool. Would love a peacock... then I could finally play that flash gordon game where everyone has to extend their arm into a rock with the mantis...

 

[Shekki]

I'm pro Mantis. I just thought it was funny. I would never stab anything.

 

[Pea-brain]

I'd proly stab a human before I'd stab a stomatopod (unless it was trying to kill me)

 

[mistermikev]

shekki: that's the spirit. I didn't neccessarily mean you in particular... just people in general. I often read of people trying to get rid of problematic mantis hitchikers with coldwater showers, spears, etc. Guess I may understand if I ever get one as a hitchiker.

 

[dcombs44]

I had one as a hitchiker and still couldn't kill it. Catch and release, or in my instance, catch and sell

 

[boomsticks]

I have had bam-bam my mantis living in perfect harmony with my picasso trigger, maroon clown, and lawnmower blenny for many many months now. He will kill the occasional hermit or snail which is no problem with me. He loves his silversides and if I keep a good feeding regimen he is very peaceful. I just don't understand why they are labeled as monsters of the reef.

Mike

 

[mistermikev]

I am guessing but I would suspect the whole 'busting a thumb or your glass' thing is what gives them a bad rap... then again they all keep lions, zoos and leafs - go figure.

 

[Msby12]

i'm pro mantis, but if i was a reefer and SOMEHOW a tiny 1 inch hitchhiker mantis managed to kill expensive fish about 7 times his size, i'd actually be embarrassed to tell people! lol

btw, i have 5 of them, and i think they are better than any fish could ever be!

 

[mattyice]

yeah mantids are so much cooler then fish, the only other things i would consider purchasing over a mantis are a pair of japanese or hawaiian dragon eels, or sharks

 

[mistermikev]

so can all mantis break glass or just peacock? what about banana mantis?

 

[beelzebob]

mantis shrimp are what got me into the hobby...

i have the tendancy to see something on the discovery channel, and then find it in my lfs a couple months later.

then hundred$ later im 4 days from putting my first mantis into my first tank yea!

 

[Shekki]

I haven't seen a mantis in my tank, but I do have a strange number of snails commiting suicide. I'm definately going to dedicate my 24 gallon Aquapod to a mantis as soon as I move the fish into their new 50 gallon. I don't have kids. I can afford to feed a mantis.

Pea Brain: I'm with you. I'd much rather stab a human than a shrimp. Unless of course it was a barbeque and it was a skewer full of prawns....