Holy cow ! Mantis shrimp!!

[Dctrojan]

So after I finally decided to attempt to feed my open brain coral for the first time. Needless did I know that I would almost have a heart attack. Shortly after feeding the coral I noticed a apastasia, so I decided to go tackle it with the apastasia X. As I brought the syringe near the apastasia I almost knocked the hole tank over as I was scared by a red bug that just showed up somehow in my tank.

After the incident I remember reading that the mantis shrimo was a predator, so I decide to try and give it some shrimp with a syringe and some airline tube. The mantis shrimp cane running up and quickly whacked the tubing and grabbed the shrimo and returned to the fresh new baserock I added when I set up the tank 2 weeks ago.

I wasnt able to grab a shot of the mantis , but the shrimp was a bright red and almost looked like a big cockroach with huge eyes and front arms.

My questions are what should I do to care for it ? I dont have any fish yet . I plan on keeping both lps and sps corals

 

[Spork3245]

I would get rid of it - Possibly call around to some LFS to see if one will take it (or perhaps even buy it - They can go for a decent amount) or head to the selling/trading forums to see if someone wants it. It is predatory and will likely kill any fish you add to the tank. Also, Mantis Shrimp are capable of breaking glass as their "punch" has the same power/impact rating of a .22 caliber bullet. You really need an acrylic tank for one AFAIK and they are best kept in single-species set-ups.

Anyway, did it look like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/OdontodactylusScyllarus2.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5001/5246638410_ecd47d75cf.jpg

Again, AFAIK (and I could be wrong), Mantis Shrimp are best kept in a single-species tank, as well an acrylic tank.

 

[thegrun]

+1 and don't get your hand close to it! They aren't nicknamed "Thumb Busters" without a reason!

 

[Spork3245]

I do want to add that they are fairly amazing, intelligent, animals and the last thing you should do is kill it... Just don't keep it as a pet unless you are prepared for all the dangers associated with keeping a mantis (mostly the glass-breaking).

 

[Dctrojan]

Thanks everyone for the help and advice. Yes the picture is very similar to what I saw. I only got a brief looks as it returned back to it burrow. Well looks like I somehow need to get rid of this thing? Any idea how to catch it? The one in my tank is approximately a inch long?

I would really like to keep this bad boy but I can't afford to risk a flooded living room due to the tank busting and I would like to keep fish in here eventually?

I'll try to get a picture soon . It's almost like sitting in a deer stand waiting for this guy to show his face.

)

 

[thegrun]

They are amazing animals. Our local reef club had a professor from UC Riverside give a talk on the research he is doing with them. They are modeling new body armor for our troops on the mantis shrimp armor. When they snap their club to stun or kill prey the speed is so high it actually boils the water around it.

 

[danimallaminad]

check out the mantis shrimp forum on here. The chance of him breaking a tank are slim to none. Especially one only an inch rite now. I believe they have a sticky for how to catch mantis shrimp on the forum also.

 

[Dctrojan]

Finally got a pic.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Nice! You should trap it and set up a small 10g tank for it.

 

[Spork3245]

check out the mantis shrimp forum on here. The chance of him breaking a tank are slim to none. Especially one only an inch rite now. I believe they have a sticky for how to catch mantis shrimp on the forum also.

Any chance of an animal breaking your tank makes that animal not worth keeping, IMO, of course there are others who will disagree. The main danger, to my understanding, is when/if they are "digging" a home for themselves if they dig to the bottom of your sand bed, as they'll assume what's under your sand bed is rock, so they try to break it by "punching" it. Yes, a small one of only about 1" isn't going to break glass, however it will eventually grow up

BTW - I believe amazon sells a 5 gallon acrylic tank for about $30 shipped if you wanted to give him a temporary home, alternatively look for a 10-20gallon acrylic tank.

 

[danimallaminad]

I know they naturally burrow and when they come to a rock they hit till it breaks but there has not been alot of cases of this. Its almost an urban legend. It would take a full grown peacock mantis to even crack glass

 

[pool guy]

Don't worry about the glass. Most species stay small. I have one (about 2 1/2 inches) that Is housed in a 10 gallon glass aquarium, and first thing he did is went under the rock, moved the sand and started pounding away... nothing happened. You could get a piece of plexiglass cut to cover the bottom of the tank under your sand.

I have a smasher, and I have 2 fish in with him (strawberry basslet and a damsel). He does not mess with them. Its an individual thing though, some might, some won't. I just keep him fed. He crushes small crabs, hermits, snails, and eats them.

They are absolutely amazing creatures. I'm actually in the process of setting up a permanent home for him, right next to my 125 dt. I plan on giving him a pair of clowns and a good number of coral frags to move around as he sees fit.

I couldn't live without one now that I have mine. But if you don't you can catch him and I'm sure your lfs will take him off your hands. (thats how I got mine) I believe there is a sticky on the mantis forum on how to catch them. If he is coming out to grab shrimp from you, you shouldn't have a problem.

GOOD LUCK !!!!!

 

[Dctrojan]

Im thinking of putting him in the sump/refugium? Its a 30 gallon glass tank with a 15 gallon fuge in it. Im thinking about putting him in there for the time being. Of I can catch him.

Tricky little guys . Ive made a makeshift trap from a water bottle. It acts just like any fish trap. It funnels down and inward so he can go in but has trouble getting out. Ive placed a few pieces of shimp in there. Now I wait )

 

[Dctrojan]

Has anyone ever heard of them doing ok in a refugium?

 

[danimallaminad]

I imagine it'd be fine but if you have any hermits or snails or clean up crew in there it mite kill them. Also beware of shell rot

 

[Dctrojan]

I imagine it'd be fine but if you have any hermits or snails or clean up crew in there it mite kill them. Also beware of shell rot

Excuse me for asking so many questions but, whats shell rot and is their alot of special needs that have to maintained? Besides just feeding and the normal maintenance ?

 

[danimallaminad]

Im also new to mantis shrimp. I just got my first one but i have been researching them so i will try and answer your questions as best i can. Shell rot is a disease mantis shrimp get and it has some correlation with bright lights. How strong are the lights on your fuge?

There are two types of mantis shrimp, Spearers and Smashers. From the picture you gave i would guess a smasher but that is just a guss. Do you hear any like clicking coming from the tank, if so its definately a smasher. For care its pretty simple. If its a smasher it will eat most things with a shell, crabs,snails,hermits,etc. If its a spearer than it would need fish in its diet mostly ( i think smashers also need a little fish in the diet).

I don't think they need much special care except if you would like you could build a pvc burrow for it. Also i suggest check out the mantis shrimp page here on RC, you will get tons of help from very experienced hobbyists. Hope i helped a little. If you have any other questions ill try to answer them my best.

 

[Dctrojan]

Thanks for all the help. After a afternoon of waging war with the mantis ,ive finally won. Pretty determined and territorial guys arent they. The shrimp had made a burrow in a piece if liverock I found and recently purchase. It actually mad a frint door and back door in the rock. After isolating the rock and quite sure the mantis was in his burrow . I quickly move it to the fuge where I waged war using a 60 cc syringe and just tank water to flush him out the back entrance . Took along time , and the bad boy was just popping the syringes tip the whole time...

But now he is safely in the fuge . The light is the absolutely bare minimum. Its a marineland petsmart sold me for my freshwater tank before I upgraded to new fixtures.

 

[danimallaminad]

Oh the light should be fine. Is there anyway you could get a profile pic of his whole body?
Also you might consider leaving the rock he made a home in in there unless you really want to remove it.

 

[Dctrojan]

Yes, I'll get a picture tomorrow if I can coax him out. I had to remove the rock from the fuge. It was a pretty big piece . I'll get some pictures up tomorrow. He's almost a maroon reddish color.