Mantis 25+ years ago

[KarenH]

I sure wish the Internet had existed 25 years ago when I was in college and kept a 55 gallon fish only salt tank. There weren't too many saltwater hobbyists back then because the salt mixes, etc. weren't as good and it was hard to keep the parameters in line. I had nevertheless been successful until the day I bought a rock (fairly cavernous) for my tank. One by one my fish disappeared--a $50 fish every couple of days. Couldn't figure it out...would look on the floor to see if they had jumped, and could never find them. One day we saw a funny looking creature peering out of the rock and decided to simply get rid of the rock. The killings of course stopped. It was only 20 years later that I realized it had been a "spearer" mantis in my tank, but there was no local intelligence back then (it was in the midwest) to help me identify the problem.

 

[majestic sea life]

now that sucks sorry to hear that

 

[swegyptian]

Years ago I had a similar yet less nasty situation. Every once in a while, when I would clean my 10 gallon salt tank, I would see what I would describe only as "small, grey, fast, and scary" run around the bottom of the aquarium. I have no idea what happened to it, but it never ate my single fish, so I assume that it was a smasher. This was poor for him as there was nothing in the tank for him to eat, and I assume he starved to death. Now I know what it was, and I feel bit guilty.

What always confused me was how something so big, for the size of the tank, never seemed to appear save for two occassions.