mantis problem?

[pdfb55]

I have a 92 corner tank with about 125 lbs fiji live rock that has been set up for about a year. As of know i have a yellow tang, o. clown, yellow watchman goby, and one green chromis. In the past couple of months i have noticed a few crabs (about 7 or 8) go missing along with 3 turbo snails. I thought this was just coincidence but then i had my longnose hawkfish and later ocellaris clown go missing also. With both of them i could not find and body and up until to the dissapearance they seems very healthy. When i first thought this could be a mantis i realized that both of those fish are not very good at swimming so they were an easy catch for a mantis. Right now i put in a bottle with the top cut off and inverted to trap it. My question is do you think this is a mantis? And if so for the trap i didn't have any shrimp so i used a formula one cube that has shrimp in it, do you think this will work?

Thanks

 

[DanInSD]

In my fish-only tank, I just had a healthy six-inch purple tang vanish without a trace. Not even a noticeable change in water parameters. No skeleton, no nothing. It's a closed tank, with completely sealed lids that are only opened for daily feeding and biweekly water changes.

Best bet is that the fish just died, and got consumed; or, it jumped during a water change and the cat got it.

As for your situation: you would notice a mantis big enough to take out these fish, and very few species will take both hard-shelled things and larger fish. The long-nosed hawk almost certainly killed the crabs and snails. I'd look for other causes for the fish's deaths.

Dan

 

[mattyice]

i have never had any hawks that i have owned go after crabs or snails but...a manti that killed turbo snails, crabs, and those fish would have to be about 4" long...you would deff. know he is there

 

[Thurge]

If you have a good clean-up crew I wouldn't be surprised by loosing a fish and not finding a trace. Snails and a starfish or two, and there would be nothing left in 12 hours. Unless your missing fish were on the small side I agree you probably would have noticed the mantis before now. Also you would have heard clicking comming from the tank, and found the snail shells in the same area of the tank as mantis like to bring there meal home and then discard the shells outside their home.

 

[justinl]

Thurge: not all mantises display that behaviour. I agree that the shell graveyard and clicking are signs of a mantis, but a spearer for example won't bother shelled things and won't click. Some smashers may not click for long periods of time.

That said, a mantis that takes out shelled stuff and fish would definitely be noticeable. Did you ever find the shells/exoskeletons? What kind of condition were they in?

If you don't see it in the day, try sitting by the tank at night and see if you can spot the culprit, whatever it might be.

 

[mattyice]

justin it would be a large noticeable mantis approaching 4" in length, it takes my female peacock about 10-15 minutes to get through the extremely thick shell of a turbo snail, turbo snails are like little tanks and their shells can only be broken by the most ****ed off mantis shrimp