Love my TB Live rock!

[Trandall]

Sorry I haven't posted more but I've been busy. Will try to catch up.
First my rock arrived Wed. afternoon in perfect shape. Very much alive and full of stuff.

I shook out a few gorillas and pistol shrimp before adding my rock to the tank. I didn't get them all but it was a start.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the one and likely at least 2 Mantis shrimp. one of them, about 2.5 inches long came out and looked me right in the eye as if to say. "nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah" and took off before I could get him.

These Mantis have been driving me to distraction trying to catch them! And they seem to be decimating my LR, beating the barnacles to a pulp, etc. I also found a couple little crabs half eaten and belly up.

I've tried the bottle traps two nights in a row and I'll I've caught are snails. I did some fresh water spritzing in holes that I was *sure* the Mantis were in but no luck there either.

Today, I was observing my tank, listening to the clicks and saw a mantis run into a hole in a small rock. I immediately grabbed the rock and put it in an empty salt bucket. I *know* he went in that rock! I decided I might have to sacrifice that one small piece of rick to get rid of the mantis. I squirted and squirted and nothing! I used a skewer to prod the holes, still nothing. Finally in desperation, I ran hot fresh water in the bucket and left the rock submerged in it. I felt bad about any other possible life on that little rock but wanted to get the bugger out of my tank before he was the only critter left!
Still no sign of him! lost a couple small worms and whatever else was on the rock that I can't see but no sign of the Mantis.

Do you think it's possible he simply isn't coming out of the rock no matter what? The only other possibility is that somehow, he slipped out of the rock as I was grabbing it from the tank but I was quick and sure didn't see him crawl out.

Some of the cool stuff that came on my rock were...
Sponges of all kinds and colors
Tons of barnacles that the Mantis are destroying!
Various assorted feather dusters
Limpets
Several cup corals
Red sea squirt
Tube corals
a very nice sized beaded anenome plus a small one.
a couple little lewel box clams
Turkey wing
Assorted crabs , caught another good sized gorilla today and fed him to my trigger in my big tank:eek1:
* ACK I can hear the clicking now! *
A little black urchin
little bristle worms
a good sized mystery worm
And various little tuffs of macro algae, a tiny bit of red kelp, etc

I never get tired of looking at it and discover new things all the time. I have not aqua-scaped the new tank at all yet and likely won't until I get rid of the mantis and get part two of the package. All the rock is just sitting in there doing it's thing, cooking, etc.
No amm. spike at all the first two days. Stayed at 0.3 and maxed at 0.6
But today it spiked to 1.0 and so I did a good-sized water change, at least 30%.
So I'm going to try the bottle trap again tonight. What does everyone like best for bait? I've tried shrimp and a mussel.

I think there's so many barnacles, little crabs, etc that the mantis eats that live food instead of going for my offerings.

And what is this *claw* thing I heard someone here mention as a removeal tool? I've not noticed the mantis burrowing in the sand or making tunnels? Just darting from rock to rock.

Except for the one appearance, they are very secretive and don't let me see them. I sure hear them and see their handiwork on my rock and critters though.
Still no pictures. I did take a few the first day to post here but they turned out horrible and blurry. Not sure what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks for listening!

 

[benny2554]

The 'claw' tool is a tool that is usually used to grasp screws that have fallen in hard to read places, or to grab a screw and start screwing it in a hard to reach area. Typically, you can push on one end of the tool and the other end four small wires spring out like a claw or four fingered hand to grab something when you release the other end.

 

[divemonster]

Hey Terri, sorry to hear the mantis is driving you crazy I chose to leave my mantis shrimps in my tank until a year later. They cleaned existing holes of debris and they mined a few new ones giving beneficial bacteria more surface area in which to colonize. They also stirred the sandbed under the rocks. I enjoyed their antics for awhile especially when they would stand their ground against the greedy marauding blenny. They even spawned twice which was really cool...the reef had a fresh gourmet meal prepared for them by Chef Mantis and her assistant.

I lost some nassarius and cerith snails I cared about, but the hermit crabs were to blame in many cases.

Remember this is your base rock you have gotten. The part 2 rock will be the decorator rock and will have tons more barnacles and life on it. Relax for now and let those mantis shrimps get accustomed to their new environment. They'll be much easier to catch then

As for the blurry photos...well...I don't know what camera you are using but I am going to assume it is a digital "point and shoot." You want to select Macro Mode. Macro mode is usually symbolized with a little flower and when selected it will tell your camera that you want to focus on a subject closer to your lens than normal (the minimum distance allowed varies from camera to camera.)

Focusing - sometimes my camera will focus on something that is on the glass instead of the subject beyond it. You can see in the photo below the particles on the glass (and the scratches, too)

If your camera is focusing on the glass of the tank you will have to keep trying different angles until you get the subject inside the tank focused. Here is a tunicate that's a little over 1/4" across.

You should be pressing the shutter release button halfway down to allow the camera to focus. Mine has a "window" on the back of the camera where I can see the subject I am trying to photograph. Inside that window is a square that goes from red to green when my subject is in focus.

Keeping trying with the camera. It may take several shots before you get a good one. I don't care what anyone says, as long as you have the basics down the rest is luck.

 

[Trandall]

Thanks so much for your response Teri. You know... I think you're right. I'ver been obsessing over the mantis and thinking I absolutely needed to get rid of them before adding part two to my tank. Perhaps I just need to relax a bit and go with the flow for now and enjoy my little eco-system and let nature take it's course.

I guess after reading some of the horror stories on the internet about how predacious they are and how destructive they can be, I was worried. Overly it seems.

As for my photos... yes, it's a point and shoot digital. I do have a macro mode too. will work on getting some better shots and then get a photobucket account.
Thanks again~

 

[Yogre]

I'm with Divemonster concerning your mantis. With our rock coming from the Gulf, the species we almost certainly have in our tanks is N. wennerae. From what I've read, they will munch up your clean-up crew, and barnacles as well. My impression is that they aren't all that dangerous to fish that you'd want to keep, certainly not as bad as some of the big mantis like peacocks, or any of the spearers. If you want to "Know thy enemy", so to speak, there are a lot of really knowledgeable people on the Mantis Shrimp forum here on RC.

For the time being, I've kinda given up on getting my mantis out, and I've got at least 3, including one that's at least 2" long. Hopefully they won't make a liar out of me, and start eating my fish...:lol:

One way I've found to keep them busy is to hand 'em a chunk of shrimp with my grippy tool while I'm feeding the rest of the little monsters, it does seem to keep them occupied for a while.

 

[divemonster]

Well said Yogre! N. wennerae get blamed for many reef deaths when in fact it is probably a sly, stupid brute of a xanthid crab or even a mithrax crab. I saw my green mithrax crab that came as a hitchhiker hunt down and catch my last peppermint shrimp :mad2:

The thing I noticed about the N. wennerae was that they began to prefer "easy" meals like raw shrimp handed to them on a skewer or uneaten food on the sandbed or bolting across an anemone to snatch that piece of shrimp out of their mouth. Also, they would only bash the remaining bannacles when there was no small clean up crew left to pick off or I had not fed the tank in 2-3 days.

I did not find that much info about this Gulf species in the Mantis shrimp forums on RC (at least there wasn't when I was looking around, maybe that has changed).

 

[Yogre]

N. wennerae

N. wennerae

Divemonster (and anyone else curious about our little googly-eyed friends):

Here's a little blurb written by Dr. Roy Caldwell, a leading expert on stomatopods (he even has a species of mantis named after him!)...


http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthro...costraca/royslist/species.php?name=n_wennerae

Dr. Roy in another thread mentioned that he has studied wennerae extensively both in the lab and in the field. He indicates the animal is diurnal, so if anyone is losing fish at night I'd be more likely to suspect a crab.

 

[Yogre]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14942947#post14942947 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by divemonster

The thing I noticed about the N. wennerae was that they began to prefer "easy" meals like raw shrimp handed to them on a skewer or uneaten food on the sandbed or bolting across an anemone to snatch that piece of shrimp out of their mouth. Also, they would only bash the remaining bannacles when there was no small clean up crew left to pick off or I had not fed the tank in 2-3 days.

P.S. I'm not surprised your mantis preferred easy meals... for crustaceans they're smart and adaptable. Why go out under the hot metal halides and pound rocks for a living when a nice lady will hand you dinner on a stick? :lol:

My mantis are a little more suspicious of me, I guess it's because the Yogre has tried to spear them once or twice while baiting with shrimp. :rollface:

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14943287#post14943287 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Yogre
My mantis are a little more suspicious of me, I guess it's because the Yogre has tried to spear them once or twice while baiting with shrimp. :rollface:

HAHAHAHAHA! The Yogre, indeed! :blown:

I agree...if anyone is losing fish at night I'd be more likely to suspect a crab. If anyone is losing fish during the day I'd be more likely to suspect an anemone or a greedy blenny.

 

[noahm]

I have slowly but surely caught 5 of 7 known mantis shrimp in my 125. I agree that they are generally harmless and find it more of a mutual respect/long term battle that I wage against them. The barnacles are really the only thing I hate losing. However, eventually I want them gone, but it is more of a 'when you slip up, I will catch you' . I plan on keeping one in the sump as a 'pet' , but have given the rest away.

Perfect for a nano.

 

[Trandall]

Test

 

[Trandall]

Well.... I failed. I did in fact upload pics to photobucket but I don't seem able to be able to get them here. Tried pasting code but it's just not working.

 

[Trandall]

Trying again with the pics...
http://s597.photobucket.com/albums/tt57/trandall55/?evt=user_comment

 

[divemonster]

WOW! I see LOTS of coral reef and fish. You must be very proud of your tanks! Gosh they are really beautiful
Here is a a pic from your album:

All I did was drag the mouse over the photo and when the box appeared under the "hand," i positioned the cursor to the IMG code in the box and posted the photo above.

That is DEFINITELY a personality photo of a fish...head on, making eye contact with the photographer...WOOOT! Great photo!

 

[divemonster]

Terri, your tanks are amazing!! How did you discover TBS? Looking for a reef to keep? Will you have a specific biotope in the Solana?

By the way, bravo on feeding the bad crab to your triggerfish

 

[Trandall]

Thank you Teri! I really appreicate it. I love my big tank too but there are many things I can't put in there due to the stocking. I started out just wanting a FOWLR but very quickly decided on the corals. And my Regal pops zoas like candy and nips at others as well. Besides it's hard to keep a clean up crew in there with my trigger and puffer. They love me and are well fed but clean up crews are very short lived.

I decided I wanted another tank because I wanted to do other corals, perhaps a couple clams and a couple smaller fish. things not possible in my other tanks. I briefly considered a NANO but decided I wanted a bit more room. when I heard about the Solana 67 I really liked the look and size. Not too big, not too small. then I went looking for the absolute best LR I could get and came here for advice. when I heard about Richard and TB LR, I knew that's what I wanted. then, after visiting the TB web site and viewing Richards videos, I knew he was the guy I wanted to do business with!
Turns out I was right on all counts! the rock is fabulous and Richard is wonderful to do business with. I'll never go anywhere else. I can't wait to get cycled completely and get part two of my package.
As for feeding the crab to my trigger....yeah, at first I felt bad < they are pretty cute when they're little> but I figured why just squish it when it could die the natural route. My tigger loves me!

 

[Trandall]

O.k.! that pic with my reply above was a test to see if i knew what you were talking about Teri and I did it! Yes! that's a pic of one of my very interesting pieces of TB LR!