My tank amazes me everyday

[NewJerseyreef]

Has anyone else outthere experienced this?

I was feeding my tank mussels today which if someone has any tips on how to do this im still trying to figure it out?

and i scrapped some out and threw it into the tank. its the first time my fish have tried it. so they were picking at it not really sure what to do and the piece went on a large piece of LR i have. i tried to take my poker and get it back into the water colum and all of the sudden slowly but surly it was tugged into the rock!!! all of my fish and eel are accounted for!! i dont have much of a clean up crew so im thinking MANTIS! this is awesome ive never seen him and my tank has been up for over a year now.now that i look into the tank there are shells infron of the rock so maybe he roams at night. its a very dense rock so he must be very small. how do i get a glimpse of this guy??? wait at 3 am with a red light?

 

[chimmike]

you'd know if you had a mantis. You wouldn't have many fish left, haha. Probably bristleworms. Or, a bad eunicid worm

 

[NewJerseyreef]

but wouldnt a worm leave trails on the sand? ive seen nothing for over a year now?

 

[Peter T]

Most mantis shrimp that are found as hitchhikers on live rock are reef safe with fish, as they are smasher types. Most commonly found/availalbe mantis shrimp are also diurnal so you would have a greater chance of seeing him during the day. He could be a good sized as well. This is a video of me feeding a mantis. He is about 3 inches long but even in a small sized cave in my LR he is hard to see unless he comes out in the open. If you do have a mantis, good for you! They are very interesting creatures! Do you know where your live rock came from?

On a side note, you may also have a large bristle worm living in the LR. Sometimes they can get pretty aggressive as they get larger. Try setting up a inverted coke bottle trap and see what you get out of that rock.

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edit: Bristleworms don't leave trails in the sand. Oenone fulgida worms look similar to bristles, and leave a mucus trail with them. Plus if your worms live in the LR, you definitely will not see trails unless it is the mucus trail.

 

[david1983]

Nice!

 

[NewJerseyreef]

thats what im used to seeing ive done research on them in the past becasue they amaze me so much! i just have never seen him and he lives I the rock not under. im used to seeing little caves and the burroing underneath and this isnt the case. it was in the middle of the live rock. im hoping that it is a mantis i love them! and especially if he hasnt made any problems in a year. im going to try the bottle trick tonight infront of the rock and see if i can catch anything.

 

[chimmike]

but wouldnt a worm leave trails on the sand? ive seen nothing for over a year now?

nope, and its highly likely you've never seen 'em.

 

[NewJerseyreef]

Well everyone I have found out who it is.... It's a












Pom pom crab!!!! Idk how he is in there with a trigger and an eel but I just sat at watched in the dark and he came crawling out doing his own little dance. I got him 8 months ago to never see him again. This is too funny