Hitchhikers I got

[amonhen]

I bought 100# of TBSW rock which arrived in early March. Just thought I'd post an update as to the 'extras' I got.

4 porcelin crabs--really cool!

2 pistol shrimp--just got gobies for them. Also very cool.

2 mantis shrimp--they killed some of my fish, but I got them out now. (not tough to catch, I found homes for them posting here.)

5 hairy crabs got all but 2.

brittle stars--at least 10, beautiful, mostly striped, one is solid bright orange-red. They stay in the rock, extending their arms, but my guess is they are about 4-6" tip-to-tip.

sponges and tunicates--many (at least 20), many colors (orange, red, yellow, grey), shapes.

macroalgae--at least two species, but my tangs have eaten it all.

corals--two species of hard corals, one with transparent polyps

clams--two species, seven clams total ranging from 2-4". Not colorful tridacna clams, but it's cool having them.

worms, pods, etc, too numerous to count.

--Jeff

 

[zafirablanca]

How on earth did you catch the mantis??? I have given up on catching the three that I got. BTW, they have yet to cause serious trouble, but then again, I dont have any fish yet.
-Christine

 

[amonhen]

Christine,

I trapped one and, well, fished out one.

I can't find the link for the trap I made. Here are some others:

http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/DIY/diyMantisTrap.shtml

http://saltaquarium.about.com/c/ht/00/07/How_Simple_Aquarium_Pet0962933581.htm

The one I made is as follows--apologies to the inventor, I hope he'll post and claim it!

1. Get a piece of 1" dia PVC, 12" or so long. Leave a bit of a burr on the inside edges on one end. Any other tube will probably also do.

2. Get a plastic soda bottle. Cut a rectangular piece out of it's side. The dimensions should be 3.25" (parallel to the bottle's axis) x 1.5" (along the bottle's circumference). The plastic rectangle will be curved; the long sides will be straight, the short sides curved.

3. Make a series of cuts starting on the straight side. The cuts should be about 1" deep and about 1/16" apart. What you will end up with is something that looks like a 3" long hair comb with 1" long teeth.

4. Cut every other tooth off.

5. Cut every other tooth that is left to about half it's length. Of every 4 teeth you started with, you now have one full length tooth and one half length tooth left.

6. Bend the spine of the comb into a circle so that all the teeth curve toward the middle. Insert this, teeth first, into the end of the PVC pipe. This makes a one-way door--the mantis can push his way through the teeth to get in, but he can't get out. The burr you left on the inside edge of the PVC will prevent the comb from being pushed back out the end of the pipe. You may want to do some further trimming on the comb to get an exact fit.

7. Cap the other end of the pipe. I jammed a left over bulkhead strainer into the end like a cork--easy to remove but allows water to flow.

8. Put a piece of bait (raw shrimp, clam, whatever) in the trap. It is probably best to orient the trap with the comb end on the downstream side, as you want the mantis to follow the scent into this end.

9. Check it daily. The bait will stink after a day, so change it daily. I think it also helps to chum the water a bit, get the mantis used to eating the bait.

The second mantis was an interesting story. My wife put a piece of scallop on the end of a string, thinking she would be able to catch it that way. Apparantly you can pull crabs out of the ocean like this if you pull slowly (they won't let go). Anyway, she played with the pistol shrimp for a while, and then out came the mantis. I was able to net him in a couple of attempts. I was skeptical of this method, but I would certainly try it again.

--Jeff

 

[zafirablanca]

Thank you. Those are very creative ideas, both of which I have yet to try. Mine will come out in the open to grab bits of food from a pair of tongs, maybe the string idea would work for me. Mine seem very tame.
I bought the X-teminator mantis trap. It makes a nice pistol shrimp den.
I have an especially beautiful and charismatic one that I can put into a spare eclipse tank if I catch him.
-Christine

 

[SPC]

2 pistol shrimp--just got gobies for them. Also very cool.

Jeff, what species of goby did you get to pair up with these shrimp?
Steve

 

[amonhen]

Christine,

FYI--my wife and I caught another mantis shrimp on Friday with the fishline method. Took about 15 minutes. I really think this is the way to go.

Steve,

I got Wheeler's gobies. You can read about them on liveaquaria.com, but I tagged them on an order I was getting from The Marine Center. I'm not sure if they have paired up yet, but it has only been 2 days. PM me for updates.

--Jeff