Gotta trap My Mantis and Gorilla's

[Seehag]

I want my tank to end up being a peaceful collection of corals, clams and Clown fish, probably a tang or two and a few others. From what I have read Gorillas and Mantis shrimp will not coexist with this stuff. So I have made the decision to remove what I get. I have only added part 1 so far and expect to get part 2 next week. I also am thinking that setting the trap should wait till all rock is in then fight the battle.

At this point I have at least 2 mantis and maybe a 3rd. More than 5 gorilla crab's that I can see, in the nook's and crannies. I have seen some trap's but they all call for bait, wouldn't bait mess with your cycle? Also anybody have some input on trap's? I have mostly seen the bottle trap's, and read that if you dunk in freshwater they come out fast. The last method doesn't appeal to me because I would think that that might kill something I want to keep. If you have a link to another thread could you post it also.


Art

 

[dklaue]

I used Soda water to squirt holes before I added my rock and all the crabs scattered to the wind into a bucket pretty quick, and my rock seems no worse for wear.

Mantis are more stubborn. I dismantled my tank to get him. I tried squirting many times and he wasn't budging. I had to force him out with a hard air line tube. I would have loved the trap to work on him, but he was eating too well on my crabs and snails to care about it.

I do know I still have baby gorrilla crabs about the size of a pea to lima bean running around. Hopefully they will not cause trouble. Can't get them all.

Thanks,
David

 

[Untamed12]

Crabs are really easy to catch, and it is even fun! Take whatever size glass you can work with. (I've used a shot glass, or even a full sized table glass)

Put a piece of shrimp or food in the bottom of the glass and position the glass so that it is leaning against a rock. The crab slides down into the glass to get the bait and cannot crawl out because the glass is too slippery.

No risk to your rock life whatsoever. The bait would only influence your cycle if you left it in there for days to rot. In the past, I've caught them overnight and sometimes in less than 2 minutes.

Mantis...more tricky because they are good swimmers.

Honestly, I would leave them all in there until they provide you a reason to take them out. The mantis that typically come in TBS rock aren't fish hunters. They'll eat snails and crabs.

 

[Seehag]

As far as leaving them in there, I have been reading for a cuple of day's now and doesn't seem to be much of a consensus for taking the chance that they hurt your fish. I have noticed a drop off of snails since the rock first arrived so maybe they have eaten them or maybe they found new hiding places. I saw this article on a google search I like the idea of making your own soda water from saltwater and dry ice. I could make a tank of that and dip the rock when I get it from the bag. do you think the soda water would kill anything else? Or if say you dunked all the rock everything jumped out how long could it stay in that water?


Methods to Capture Mantis Shrimp Outside Tank:

If you can quickly remove the rock where the offending mantis shrimp is hiding, then you can isolate the animal using the following methods.

Replace rock in its own, isolated tank with saltwater. Do not provide sources of food for several days, then trap mantis using bait.
Dunk rock quickly in carbonated water. You may use club soda or make your own liquid by mixing dry ice and saltwater. The mantis shrimp will quickly scoot out of the rock when exposed to this.
Squirt boiling or hot water into the cavities where mantis shrimps may be hiding. This has been suggested to me by retailers of local fishing stores as well.
Dunk rock in freshwater. Some people say they have used this to good effect, but others note that it could severely damage the other inhabitants of the live rock.

 

[Seehag]

I am installing the first trap today. Funny thing do Mantis eat Gorilla crabs? I used to see them everywhere I looked in the tank now........ none. Maybe all I have left to trap is the mantis.

Art

 

[Seehag]

Funny thing happened..... I put the shot glass in with a frozen shrimp block for bait....the block floated out and now little shrimp everywhere....Doh Plan B... What wont float and mantis like?


That'll probably get the amonia to spike up a bit.... Or fill everything up so they wont want to go in the trap....Doh


Art

 

[Amyandlars]

Do not dip your rock!!! The point of getting TBS is for the life, the trade off of that is hitchhikers you may not want. The crabs have probably found holes to live in or dug under the rock. If you pick the rocks up or bait a stick with a peice of shrimp you'll start to see stuff come out it's hiding spot. Cool things is you'll probably see a ton of starfish legs sticking out! You might want to wait a day or two, to try baiting again. It works well when they are hungry, especially for the mantis, there a almost fearless and very curious.

 

[Seehag]

I got the shrimp to stay in the shot glass and it sat all night and today not a Crab in sight. Shrimp is still clicking.... there are a bunch of little tiny white bug's swimming all around the shrimp in the glass so I guess I did catch something. Still no amonia and nitrates are at 20...

Art


shot glass...

 

[dklaue]

Keep trying! The problem is that everyone says to make him hungry, but when he is hungry, he just goes and finds a crab or snail.

One possible option is to tempt him with a live treat. Put one of your hermits in the shot glass as bait.

After flushing him out, I kept my mantis in a large bucket for a few days, and last night moved everything from my 10g to my main tank, and rebuilt the 10g for him.

I have found that he always gets interested in raw squid, octopus, or shrimp, and I plan on using that to feed him. The local Grocery store sells a bag of this mix chopped raw in the seafood section of the meat isle.