Mantis infested LR, help!

O

Onte

New member
I was actually originally going to post to give a Mantis away that hitched a ride in on our rock but now we're realizing we have a bit of a problem.

Long story short - purchase LR from a LFS this weekend. Rock came from Florida, according to fish store guy. We found 1 mantis last night and put him + his rock into the refugium. Came home from work tonight and we found him + a buddy over the baffle and on the sponge which separates the refugium and sump. One is now in a pitcher of salt water, the other slid back into the refugium.

Over the last 2 hours, we've found 2 more. I have homes for 2 of them but what concerns me at this point is that if we've found 4...well, there are bound to be more in there, I would think.

What's our move now? Do we wait this out and pick them out one by one? Do we pull all the rock out of the tank and toss it in hot water in the bath tub? I don't want to harm or kill these animals (or our rock) so I'm not fancy on the idea of freezing or running hot water over 75lb of live rock.

Any advice is welcome and pretty darn desperately needed.
 
Is the rock they came in on isolated? If not chances are they have chosen new domains in the rest of your rock structure. But you can pour carbonated water over the rock you think they are in. This usually works fairly well or give the rock a dip in fresh Ro/Di water for 5 minutes or so. If not there are a variety of DIY traps and commercial traps that seem to work with mixed results. Hope that helps a little happy hunting. You should keep one around they make fascinating little pets.
 
We were stoked when we found the first one but I'm a little freaked out by the situation now, lol! If it wasn't coming up on tax time, we'd keep one of the little buggers - glad we can home 2 of them.

The rock that I'm certain brought these in (13lb) has been mixed in with the rest of the rock for about a week, so I'd bet a nickel they're everywhere now. I should have taken it as a sign when we revisited the same store 3 days after we bought this batch and saw a rather large, freshly caught fire-engine red mantis in a container by the LR vat. Hey, who knows, we might have found all of them. /crossfingers

My husband wants to try a trap - I'm imagining waking up at 6am, checking the tank and finding 400 of them in the trap staring at me with their little eyes. One was cute! But 3, 4, 5....
 
Lol I can understand..

The traps seem to work 50% of the time but it needs to be near a burrow entrance usually to be effective. This means you might have to place it in multiple places over multiple nights to catch your fill. And possibly try to locate burrow entrances for all your new found friends. Make sure the bait is enticing.......:)
 
Would you use some bait that's got a more...chummy consistency or would a whole piece of shrimp/snail/something work better?
 
I think they will pretty much go after anything they can see. There is an LFS in my area with a mantis tank. I was pointing at something in the tank and the mantis was almost fully out, ready to strike so I backed away from the tank.
 
The larger of the two that we've gotten out of the refugium was actually striking the thick plastic spoon we were using to coax him out. After we put him in his brand new (temporary) ice tea pitcher home, he was trying to leap from the water! He wants to eat me in my sleep, I'm sure of it. (Pretty sure he is a Peacock; his buddy is solid grey and about 1" long.)

Thank you for the note on our parameters - I hadn't thought of that yet!

Here's Schempy, assuming this is a peacock:

IMG_0220.jpg
 
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Peacock mantises come from the indo-pacific region and rarely hitchhike in l/r. Considering that you have florida l/r chances are that they are the species Neogonodactylus Wennerae.......these guys are common hitch hikers on rock. are you still trying to get rid of any of them?
this species is small and would most likely not bother any fish....unless they are small bottom dwelling fish like some gobies. they would actually probably not do a whole lot of damage in your tank, but they would most likely kill most of your clean up crew.
 
That made me feel better - thanks much for the info, I'm googling it now!!

Yes, still trying to get them out and give them away. The one in the picture should be leaving for his new home tonight.

We intend to keep a clean up crew so I'm really not sure we should leave them in there.
 
they really are cool little critters. i had one.....for about 2 days....it died of unkown causes. im gonna get another one soon and then in the spring im probably gonna get an O. havanensis for my 12 gallon. i highly recomend keeping one of the little guys for yourself...they are very interesting.
 
I just caught a Neogonodactylus Wennerae yesterday off a piece of Florida LR too. I quick made a 2.5g tank and he is now in my son's room having the time of his life in his own tank. I heard him clicking in my tank yesterday and decided to trap him. I used the water bottle method, inverting the cut off top into the bottle and loading the bottle with fresh, raw shrimp. He took the bait within 20 minutes! Worked like a charm.
 
If and when we can get the remaining little guys out, I'll start distributing them to whoever wants them. I left the tank alone last night because I'm just kind of creeped out by the whole thing (I know, I know, wussy) but I might have some to give away by the end of the weekend if all goes as planned.

We really do wish we could keep one - we've been fascinated by them since we initially decided to get into the hobby. But like I said in another post, it's coming up on tax time and Uncle Sam won't be interested in the mantis shrimp excuse.

Maybe Uncle Sam would like his own shrimp in lieu of tax money! That's an idea!! :D
 
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