Mantis trap
- Thread starter puffer21
- Start date
rudyistaken
New member
I have never caught a mantis with the bottle method.
rudyistaken
New member
Sorry to do that but it is true. In my opinion the only way to get a mantis out of a rock is to break the rock. I am sure others have had success with the bottle trick, maybe I just have intelligent mantis shrimp.
ppht
Premium Member
rudyistaken
You are so right, I setup traps and I did catch a Gorilla Crab once.
But the 2 mantis I every caught went like this. 1. was 10 yrs ago it destroyed my tank I got so agravated I took out every rock and bashed it with a hammer. LOL That was the end of my saltwater experience then. I just restarted a new tank and I have 3-4 mantis in their but I am much more patient. I have a trap going and yesterday I caught a glimpse of 1 mantis going in a small rock.. I ripped the hood of and said to myself I GOT YOU NOW!!...
So I wanted to test all the theories of how to get the shrimp out. I started with the leave the rock in a bucket he will pop out in 15 mins... Yeah right I ended up getting the rock out at 8:30am came home from work at 3pm he was still alive in hole. So I tried the freshwater dip.. He didnt come out and was still alive after 20 mins in fresh water and shaking it like crazy... Enough is enough so being a small piece of LR I know wanted to see him. I took it in the backyard and ended up breaking the rock to get him... They are stuborn, Smart and Durable!!! I can only think of another way to get them out without loosing the rock and I guess it would be to remove rock and keep it in sump then bait a trap their and wait for them to starve and have to go to the trap!
You are so right, I setup traps and I did catch a Gorilla Crab once.
But the 2 mantis I every caught went like this. 1. was 10 yrs ago it destroyed my tank I got so agravated I took out every rock and bashed it with a hammer. LOL That was the end of my saltwater experience then. I just restarted a new tank and I have 3-4 mantis in their but I am much more patient. I have a trap going and yesterday I caught a glimpse of 1 mantis going in a small rock.. I ripped the hood of and said to myself I GOT YOU NOW!!...
So I wanted to test all the theories of how to get the shrimp out. I started with the leave the rock in a bucket he will pop out in 15 mins... Yeah right I ended up getting the rock out at 8:30am came home from work at 3pm he was still alive in hole. So I tried the freshwater dip.. He didnt come out and was still alive after 20 mins in fresh water and shaking it like crazy... Enough is enough so being a small piece of LR I know wanted to see him. I took it in the backyard and ended up breaking the rock to get him... They are stuborn, Smart and Durable!!! I can only think of another way to get them out without loosing the rock and I guess it would be to remove rock and keep it in sump then bait a trap their and wait for them to starve and have to go to the trap!
Mantis
Mantis
I caught 1 mantis this week and located another and it is my first S/W tank.
I got 45 lbs of LR Saturday. Best LR I ever seen but no matter how careful I was, 2 still got in. I got VERY lucky the first night by spotting him in a small rock. I took it out and gave it a hyper dip and nothing, however when I went back and forth from Hyper to fresh dip once, he came flying out.
Now, I removed half of the rock today. 1 by one into a bucket until I heard another click to see if he was still in the tank. The tank is new so I figured I should get this over with and get him no matter what it takes. Removing the rest tomorrow and hopefully the dip works again. I do not want to break the rock either
Mantis
I caught 1 mantis this week and located another and it is my first S/W tank.
I got 45 lbs of LR Saturday. Best LR I ever seen but no matter how careful I was, 2 still got in. I got VERY lucky the first night by spotting him in a small rock. I took it out and gave it a hyper dip and nothing, however when I went back and forth from Hyper to fresh dip once, he came flying out.
Now, I removed half of the rock today. 1 by one into a bucket until I heard another click to see if he was still in the tank. The tank is new so I figured I should get this over with and get him no matter what it takes. Removing the rest tomorrow and hopefully the dip works again. I do not want to break the rock either
BigRedDog1934
New member
i just got new lr for a new tank and have spotted two mantis. the one is under a big rock and so i am wondering if i pick the rock up quickly will i be able to grab him with a mechanics bolt gripper or will he move way too quick for me?
BigRedDog1934
New member
after trying the trap and failing last night i decided to revove the rock and dip it in hypotonic salt water. because i have two mantis, one living in a small rock and one in the biggest rock in the tank, i decided to start with the smaller.
i also thought about dropping my dog into the tank and letting the shrimp na d her fight it out.
today i took the smaller rock out and as soon as it hit the water the smaller dude jumped out into the bucket. i have to do this twice before i finally separated the bugger from the rock but the total effort lasted less than 5 minutes. once bagged i delivered it to the wating coffee can full of tank water.
the second one i was far more nervous about. the mantis is at least 2" long and i felt there was at least some possibility to getting my hand amputated by it while removing the rock. i had my gloves on but it just didnt do much to reassure me.
once i finally got up the nerve i hoisted the rock out of the tank and into the bucket so fast that i spilled about a gallon of water onto my floor. a startfish jumped out of the rock at this time and the water became immediately clouded. once things cleared up a bit i could see that the starfish was by itself and that the mantis was still holding fast to its cavern.
i was ready for this, however, and had some tonic water ready with the baster. i pulled the rock out of the bucket and onto the balcony where i had moved everything after the spill. setting the rock down i grabbed a load of the tonic water and shot it into the hole where i thought it resided . there was an instant flapping noise from in the rock and within 3 seconds the mantis flopped out onto my balcony more than angry. i took my mechanics grabber at that point and gingerly gripped the shrimp. he was hitting the grabber right away but unable to free himself. within a few more seconds he ws relocted to the coffee can with my other mantis.
of course anyone in chicago that feel like picking these two up is welcome to do so. othterwise i will keep them and feed them until tuesday when the lfs opens up again.
so there you have it. just one small manits success story. now its time for the gorrilla crabs.
i also thought about dropping my dog into the tank and letting the shrimp na d her fight it out.
today i took the smaller rock out and as soon as it hit the water the smaller dude jumped out into the bucket. i have to do this twice before i finally separated the bugger from the rock but the total effort lasted less than 5 minutes. once bagged i delivered it to the wating coffee can full of tank water.
the second one i was far more nervous about. the mantis is at least 2" long and i felt there was at least some possibility to getting my hand amputated by it while removing the rock. i had my gloves on but it just didnt do much to reassure me.
once i finally got up the nerve i hoisted the rock out of the tank and into the bucket so fast that i spilled about a gallon of water onto my floor. a startfish jumped out of the rock at this time and the water became immediately clouded. once things cleared up a bit i could see that the starfish was by itself and that the mantis was still holding fast to its cavern.
i was ready for this, however, and had some tonic water ready with the baster. i pulled the rock out of the bucket and onto the balcony where i had moved everything after the spill. setting the rock down i grabbed a load of the tonic water and shot it into the hole where i thought it resided . there was an instant flapping noise from in the rock and within 3 seconds the mantis flopped out onto my balcony more than angry. i took my mechanics grabber at that point and gingerly gripped the shrimp. he was hitting the grabber right away but unable to free himself. within a few more seconds he ws relocted to the coffee can with my other mantis.
of course anyone in chicago that feel like picking these two up is welcome to do so. othterwise i will keep them and feed them until tuesday when the lfs opens up again.
so there you have it. just one small manits success story. now its time for the gorrilla crabs.
