Mantis shrimp

[Safir]

:mad2: I found the bugger - pulled the rock out of the tank and dropped it in a bucket of water i had just removed for a water change - we even saw him poke his head out of a hole once - problem is, this particular rock is semi-hollow on the inside with a dozen holes on the outside, all connected inside the rock. My question is, how do you entice the bugger out of the cave, or even to one of the holes, so i can attemt to nab it with a grabber or something. I doubt it's hungry, since there is a hermit-crab graveyard underneath where this rock was in the tank, so food likely won't work...

 

[tspfish]

A couple years ago when I got my 100g package I had the same thing happen. I called TBS and asked them the same thing and they told me to take the rock out and spray the hole with spritzer water ( tonic water ). Seems kind of radical I know but if you want rid of the pest you'll do whatever and I did not want a mantis in my tank and this piece of rock he was in was very big (25lbs) and tons of holes inside. It did work but I did lose my yellow chicken liver sponge. It really was not doing that good in the first place and I had thought several time that I should take it out, so it did not polute my tank. The mantis forced me to throw it away when I took the rock out. They also suggested leaving the rock on a tarp for a half hour too, your choice. Hope this helps.

Tom

 

[HowardW]

Yes, a 60 cc syringe filled with cool Club Soda quickly injected into the tunnels in the rock and they will literally come flying out of the rock within seconds, along with any other critters in the tunnels. You want to also try not to splash the soda water all over the rock though, and have the rock out of the water for the least amount of time possible.

Just make sure you use regular carbonated water or Club Soda water without corn syrup or sugar or any other flavor additives.

 

[Safir]

well.. the carbonated water flushed out a gorilla crab, bu no mantis shrimp.. and to top it off, before we identified it as a gorilla crab, i threw it back in the tank so it wouldn't die, flailing about in the soda water.

so now i'm worse off than i started.. a mantis AND a gorilla crab

 

[Safir]

1L of seltzer water later and two more crabs came out.. one on the right looks like a gorilla to me, one on the left, no clue:

 

[HowardW]

If the mantis is in that rock somewhere and you shoot cold Club soda/seltzer water into the holes fairly forcefully using a large 60 cc syringe, he will come out. It may take 3 or 4 times and trying a couple different holes in the rock, but he will come flying outa there.

 

[liverock]

good and bad!

good and bad!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7127552#post7127552 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Safir
1L of seltzer water later and two more crabs came out.. one on the right looks like a gorilla to me, one on the left, no clue:

Left, good crab...right..bad crab!

http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/thepackage/watchout.html

TBS

 

[Safir]

yup - good crab went back in the tank this morning, bad crab is still in holding in that container.

unfortunately, the gorilla crab that accidentally got thrown back in the tank is at least twice that size - the little one is about 1/4" without the legs.

after reading the adventures of "tim" the mantis (this month's thread of the month in reefkeeping magazine) I've decided if I can't get teh mantis out today (give it another shot with some more cold seltzer water) the rock is going back in - it was sort of a keystone of my aquascaping so i'm really missing it being in there, and the entire reason i bought from TBS was to get variety in life, and some interesting behavior, I guess a mantis shrimp is part of that variety and interest. who knows, maybe he'll take out the big gorilla crab

 

[flameangel88]

I know how you feel because TBS have great rocks but I went thru the trouble to get mine out was because I didn't want to lose anything in the tank and certainly didn't want to worry about my fingers each time I have to go in. After putting him in my 3gal untill I can find him a home I have watched him smash rocks to take out live organism from the rock and he hammers away pretty loud. I wouldn't have believe it if not seeing it with my own eyes.

 

[Safir]

one more

he is hairy, but lacks the black tipped claws that a gorilla is supposed to have

 

[Stormtrker]

Richard, you say the crab on the left in above pic is a good crab. Do you know what type it is? I have had my TBS rock since last August and have the same crab living in one of my rocks. He has always lived in the same hole and only comes out after lights out and will dart back into hole at the least sign of movement. I occasionally will hand feed him a piece of raw table shrimp using long tweezers he will grab the food and disappear quickly. His legs are red and white stripped like one in pic above. I have never noticed him bothering anything in tank.
Carla

 

[Stormtrker]

On subject of mantis shrimp--I have TBS rock since last August in both a 75 & a 45G tanks. Each tank has a mantis shrimp hitchhiker that I never bothered to catch/remove. They have grown slowly and are now about 2 1/2" each in length. One is black with red highlights and other is a drab grey. I occasionally hand feed them with pieces of raw table shrimp(using long feeding tweezers of course ). They have never bothered my fish and have made only small dent in snail & hermit population.
Carla

 

[Safir]

I was a little concerned of the growing hermit graveyard outside his hole, but in reality he likely won't make a real lasting dent in the population, and he doesn't go after my conchs (unlikely, his rock is pretty high in the tank, and there are plenty of cheap snails and crabs up there ) he can stay and add variety to the life in our tank.

no input on the third crab?

 

[liverock]

good crab

good crab

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7133369#post7133369 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by carlab
Richard, you say the crab on the left in above pic is a good crab. Do you know what type it is? I have had my TBS rock since last August and have the same crab living in one of my rocks. He has always lived in the same hole and only comes out after lights out and will dart back into hole at the least sign of movement. I occasionally will hand feed him a piece of raw table shrimp using long tweezers he will grab the food and disappear quickly. His legs are red and white stripped like one in pic above. I have never noticed him bothering anything in tank.
Carla

Is a porcelain crab, very good guy!

TBS