I am afraid of Mantis Shrimp

[kingkipper]

I have made it 40 lbs of live rock with still no mantis, for me this is good because I am afraid of getting one because I have an existing reef tank. I want to get just a few more lbs, is there any way to make sure I don't end up with a Mantis terrorizing my tank?

 

[ogre1231]

get some live rock then completely dry it out and let it bake for weeks. No mantis shrimps that way.

 

[kingkipper]

But my problem is that I really don't want to kill the poor thing

 

[twintrades]

You could mix up some salt water thats double the normal SG. Every thing thats on the rock would come flying off including a mantis. Then you could net the little guy and dump it in a small holding tank. (icecream pail with salt water) ANd send me a PM. :lol2:

Later

 

[teddyzaper]

your affraid of it, but dont want to kill it? hmmm well you can buy rock that is already dry, like marcos rocks...... marcosrocks.com

 

[Fibinotchi]

Don't be afraid of it, you probably won't get one. just qt the rock in a 10 gallon for a few weeks and check it in the middle of the night with a flashlight often. Throw a mithrax crab in there with it and see if it disappears.

 

[ogre1231]

the super strength salt water worked for me.

 

[Thurge]

You could mix up some salt water thats double the normal SG. Every thing thats on the rock would come flying off including a mantis. Then you could net the little guy and dump it in a small holding tank. (icecream pail with salt water) ANd send me a PM. :lol2:

Later

Ummm, not quite. Doesn't always work. Many species of mantis shrimp have evolved to cope with rapidly changing, extreme environments. A mantis that is found in the shallows, could easily get trapped in a tidal pool and have the salinity and temprature go through the roof as the water in the pool evaoprates. On the other hand it could get trapped in the same pool and have the salinity crash as a thunder storm dumps a couple of inches of rain into the pool diluting the salinity. And just for giggles said mantis could have both events happen in the same day.
No mantis has evolved to handle the gill tickeling effects of seltzer water, though. :wildone:

To the OP: your best bets are Marcorock, or QT the rock and watch for mantis. But Tampabayliverock not withstanding, your chances of getting a hitchhiker mantis aren't that great, and even if you do the effects of a mantis are blown WAY out of porportion. Mainstream media couldn't make a mantis a bigger villan if they tried.

 

[jolson10450]

take a 5 gallon bucket of just RO/DI water no salt and leave it in there for 10-30 minutes and he will come out if its in there. then you can scoop it out and put it in some saltwater and take it to a LFS for some store credit hopefully.

 

[scolley]

I have zero knowledge of mantis', but today I was dipping a new coral attached to some live rock before putting it in my tank. I use a series of dips, and two went without incident. But when I put the rock in a dip with of Kent's Lugol's Solution, a juvenile mantis came flying out of the rock like it was shot from a cannon.

Eventually it returned to it's hole. I moved the rock to a regular bucket of tank water for 5 minutes, then moved it back to the Lugol's dip. Once again the mantis FIRED out of the rock.

Looks like they don't like dips of Kent's Lugol's Solution, used as directed on the bottle.