mantis shrimp NO!!

[dixie2oscar]

hi, about a month ago i set up a 5 gallon nano. in it i have bubble coral, zoas and polyps. i have been hearing this clicking sound for about a week now (after i added in my new coral) well i was looking at my tank after lights out and i see this thing. went to bed thinking nothing of it and got up this morning and went on one of my nano sites and low and behold i see a pic of my thing. it is a mantis shrimp. mine is a red striped color. i tried to download the pic of this guys he cought but this site won't let me ( pic is to big and i don't know how to make it smaller).

well i wanted to know a few things.
1. will mantis live nicely with my corals?

2. can i still get the gobie i planned on down the road?

3. if this thing starts killing everything how do i get rid of it!!


Please help. i don't want my coral to be eaten.
thanks

 

[Giga]

1) I have a N Wennerae and has not touched any of my coral, What they do is simple build there home and if coral is there they might move it(house keeping) but once thats done, that's it they just sit in their cave.

2) keeping fish can be done I have seen people keep clowns with mantis(plural?), but make sure you have other thing for your mantis to eat like hermits, snail, crabs and the like. If your mantis is well fed it will most likely leave the fish alone. I leave on the beach and simply just go catch some sand crabs and throw them in and watch VERY COOL

3) If it does go to town your can use a net to simply catch the mantis, or you can use your hand(i don't recommend this as getting smacked by them really really hurts) or you can drill small holes in the bottom of a water bottle and then invert the drinking end into the watter bottle and put some bait in it and the mantis should go inside it.

PS mantis don't eat coral

Hope this helps

 

[DanInSD]

I agree, you'll be fine with the corals, if you don't mind a little redecorating. Mantis have an annoying tendency to find the most valuable frag in your tank and use it to decorate their holes

You describe it as a "red striped color". Does this mean it is red with some stripes of a different color, or is it dark with red stripes? If the latter, it may well be a Gonodactylus ternatensis, a very sought-after, active mantis. The only downside is that it will outgrow your tank.

The goby will be hit-or-miss. As with all marine critters, there is variance within a species with regards to compatibility. Some mantis tolerate fish. Some kill anything that moves.

You can post a link here, if you can host the pictures elsewhere (photobucket, etc). We'd all love to help you identify your new "pet".

Enjoy the journey!
Dan

 

[dixie2oscar]

the color looks more like a peperment shrimp. i don't know how to post the photo i fund. i will post the link i was looking at.
http://www.reefbuilders.com/forums/nano-tanks/3591-joes-12-gal-aquapod.html
this was the site i was looking at and realizes i had the same thing in my tank.
i was going to go out and buy an emeral crab this weekend to take care of the bubble algae i have. hope it will last long enough to clean the algae off

is there anything else that they eat? and if this mantis going to be a small one or a big one??

 

[DanInSD]

Where is your live rock from? If it's from Tampa Bay Saltwater or some other Florida/Caribbean site, it's probably Neogonodacylus wennerae, which stays small (a few inches). *If* that is the same mantis as yours, it's not one of the "big ones". Check Roy's List (a sticky on this forum, up at the top) and see if anything there looks familiar.

You may find that a Mithrax crab is as least as big a risk to fish as a small mantis. They get pretty darned nasty. I've never had one that I didn't eventually have to remove because of the damage it caused. For nuisance algae (including bubble algae), I prefer manual removal and ensuring low nutrient levels in the water.


Mantis in general eat meaty foods, like many marine predators (they take shrimp, silversides, squid, scallop, etc).

If you want to catch it (please don't kill it, someone here will buy it from you...) there are a few ways. If you can isolate the rock it lives in, doing a quick dip of that rock in hyposaline water (like 1.010) will usually cause the mantis to leave right-quick (I've heard good things about club soda, too, for this). Just have some full-strength saltwater handy to transfer the mantis into, so it doesn't die. Use a net to transfer the mantis! If the mantis is "roaming around", try a bottle trap. Take a small plastic water bottle (not soft drink, just water!), cut the top third of the bottle off, and invert that top into the rest of the bottle. This should form an "inward funnel" shape. Put some meaty food in there and leave it in the tank. Sometimes catches a mantis.

Dan

 

[justinl]

like a peppermint... are you sure it wasnt just a pistol shrimp? how big is it? got a pic?

 

[Lehman]

I have never heard of any striped peppermint type mantis shrimp but then again I am not as knowledgable on stomatopods as most here.

My guess is its a candy-striped pistol.

 

[dixie2oscar]

well got back from work tonight and went right upi to my tank with a flash light and there he sits in all his MANTIS

 

[dixie2oscar]

ok posted to soon.......this is a mantis. he looks jsut like the picture in that site i gave you. he is a big chicken though. the minute he knows you are looking at him he runs back into his hiding hole. what is that all about?

I went to a LFS to pick up coral and on this peice i got the mantis with it. just my luck lol. it is a really small piece with a lot of hiding holes ( note to self next time get the peice with out the holes). well so far my clean up crew of 2 snails and 2 hermit crabs are still accounted for. i guess time will tell. will this thing eat frozen food. i really don't want to go out and buy snails all the time?

looked on ROy;s list and have not found a picture that looks like this guy. if any one can id him from the site that would be great.

 

[Lehman]

You need to post a picture on here if you want an ID. Also, yes they will eat frozens such as krill, silversides, squid etc. If you keep him well fed he will not attack any of your livestock more than likely.

 

[dixie2oscar]

is it noraml that he only comes out when lights are off. i never see him during the day. is he just getting use to the tank or will i always have to sneak up when lights are out to see him?

 

[Lehman]

Mantis shrimp are primarily diurnal meaning they sleep at night and play during the day. It is normal however that they stay hidden and retreat to their hole when they here you or something else in the backround. For the first month or so after I got my mantis I seen him out of his hole maybe once and the only way I seen him during that period is because I knew where he was shacked up and could peer down into his hole by opening the tank. Now he peers out of his hole and out from under his rock alot more often but everytime I catch him fully out of his burrow and rock he darts right back in.

 

[dixie2oscar]

well thanks for all your help...sense he won't be eating my coral i think i will keep him. i just hope my 5 gallon is big enough for him. i don't plan on getting a bigger tank (he hitchhicked in he is going to have to get use to a small tank ;o), at least it is not the 3 gallon i was looking at first. lol) i keep up on the water changes and everthing so it should be ok. know i just have to go out and buy food. man never had this much excitment on any of my freashwater tanks....lol.

guess i will be veiwing the mantis form a little more know..... go to love hitchhickers