I think i have a killer.

[celtics464]

ym brother bought m dad a shark unfortunatley the shark died out of nowhere. next day i find a mantis shrimp living in the tank. the shark had recently been putting its nose under the rocks, where the mantis lives, so i assume it was murdered! I am not too pleased with this, although I a have more respect for these little guys. What else can these mantis shrimp do to my tank? will it kill my rock? they clik at it all the time im guessing that will kill the rocks eventually.

 

[Hutton]

no it will not kill a rock, rocks cant be killed, if a rock can be killed then i am super man. what size tank is it? what size is the mantis shrimp? how big was the shark?

 

[celtics464]

ummmm. the tank was small 29 gallons the shark was maybe like 8 inches long the mantis is proabbly like 1.5 - 2 inches. i also have a 55 gallon tank and all my LR is losing its color. i dont know why this is since my water seems to be fine when i test it. both the 29 gallon and the 55 gallon have a mantis in them.

 

[Hutton]

not enough light maybe? sharks would need a much larger tank! a 1.5 inch mantis could barely hurt a hermit crab. it may have been space issues instead of the mantis. i have a mantis and all my rock has color( he pounds the rock all the time)

 

[celtics464]

from what ive been told the mantis when it hits somehting is like a .22 bullet. thats pretty strong and if it hit a shark in the head which is likely w/ the shark sticking its nose i nthe mantis' space i figure it could kill him. i know the tank is small but it died so suddenly i cant imagine it would be the tank. either way no more exspensive fish will be going into that little tank anyways.

 

[Hutton]

that is not entirely true, i recently got hit by my mantis which is 3 inches and my nuckle didnt burst open. the mantis shrimp that can do that are 6 to 8 inches. remember, there are hundreds almost a thousand species of mantis shrimp, most hitch hickers only get to 2 inches. i dont think your little 2 inch guy would sl;ice a finger in half let alown kill a shark. a 2 inch mantis couldnt even break glass( maybe the thinest glass (2.5 aga).

 

[Opcn]

yeah that .22 bullet facrtoid is in reference to the big mantids. I'd say that its an issue of space and water chem, it sounds like the tanks were set up relatively recently, its common for coraline to lose color when its put into a tank or when you change lights, give it time and most should return,

 

[Wee Man]

the shark probably died from being stuffed into a 29 gallon tank.

 

[FalsePerc]

If I were the shark, I'd pick the mantis over the tank, but that's just me.

In any case, I doubt the mantis was responsible. Did you find any large wounds indicative of a mantis attack, or is this all just conjecture to explain away the shark's death?

I'm sorry, it just doesn't seem plausible to me.

 

[Hutton]

finaly some others see my point!

 

[New2This]

I have seen my mantis smash the face in on a fiddler crab........ BUT NO WAY do I think it could kill a shark. LOL thats some good stuff If you were going to keep a shark I would think nothing less that a 300g with the best skimmer money can buy. I think the small ones top out around a few feet.

Keep your mantis and take care of it. Lots of fun

 

[ReefGeekster]

I have to agree with everyone, shark didn't get killed by the mantis. 29g is right for a mantis but never a shark of any size.
Shark was doomed as soon as your brother brought it home.