I have a green mantis

[jb61264]

Hello,

I have recently discovered a green mantis shrimp in my 40 gallon reef aquarium. It came as a hitchiker on live rock that I received from TBSW. I am very excited to have this amazing creature in my tank, but I don't want it to wreak havoc on my animals. Luckily I don't have a lot of fish and other animals in my tank as it is only two months old. I do have a lawnmower blenny and an arrow crab and a bunch of turbo snails.

In my stand below my tank I have a DIY sump/fuge that I built out of a 20 gallon aquarium...the "fuge" portion of it is probably a total of 8 gallons (measure 12"H x 10"W x 12"D)...I currently have about 3" of live sand with some live rock "rubble" pieces and some chaeto in the fuge. Will this make a good habitat for the mantis shrimp? (if I can catch him...which brings me to my next question).

How best can I catch and transfer this guy? The rocks he seems to frequent are on the bottom of my tank (of course) so I'd prefer to use a trap of some sort. I read somewhere (and have seen videos) that the personalities of mantis shrimp are quite varied (from aggressive ones that come out and take food from a stick...to shy reclusive ones)...I believe I have one of the shy reclusive ones.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

 

[eisaiasjr]

Not an expert... however

Not an expert... however

I am by no means an expert on Mantis Shrimps, in fact I dont even own one

However I have been doing alot of reading on these guys because I have been researching to buy one and I wanted to make sure I know what I am getting into...

Anyway, I found this DIY mantis shrimp trap from an online resource, seems very easy to make.

http://www.coralcorral.com/id19.html

I wish you the best of luck

Regards,

Estefano

 

[Pea-brain]

Most likely an N. wennerae. http://www.stomatopod.com/forum_v3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=71

It will probably become less reclusive once it is fed regularly and knows it has run of its home. The fuge will be fine, although it should have one rock large enough to burrow in.

Dan

 

[Gonodactylus]

One word of warning about the trap. DO NOT use a soda bottle. Use a bottle that only contained water. It is almost impossible to get a soda bottle clean even if boiled and some of the compounds that persist on the surface of the plastic can be lethal to stomatopods.

Roy

 

[mlbarry]

The Mantis can not swim I guess? I just thought he woud swim back out the bottle. I also have a couple green mantis in my TBS rock.

 

[justinl]

they can swim. this is why the trap is built with the top inverted. it is easy to find the funnel to get in, not so easy to find the opening on the way out. not to say it wont eventually figure it out, it's just harder to get out than in.

 

[tush]

I am currently trying to catch a hitchhiker mantis that has been in my 60 gal for over a year (he has been happy, but recently he smacked one of the shrimp - so he gets his own home). He is probably a n wennerae, and when i put the bottle trap in the tank this weekend (this is weekend # 3) i moved it under one of the holes he lives in and has been hangin out in recently.
It was interesting as heck watchin him try to figger out ways to get at the food without going in the hole...smart little buggers. he picked at the seam for quite awhile till he decided to just watch the hermits and snails fall in. I am not sure what to try next if this doesnt work this week....