on the killing of hitchhikers...

[snookhunter]

If you have a separate tank suspend the rock above the floor of the tank...say on an egg crate shelf with pvc pipe suppors/legs or pvc pipe rack. Then place a meaty bait on the bottom of the tank. The crabs and shrimp will smell the bait, come down to eat it and not be able to climb back up into the rock. The free for the taking.

I haven't tried this but read about it. Worth a try...

 

[miztic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6199779#post6199779 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snookhunter
If you have a separate tank suspend the rock above the floor of the tank...say on an egg crate shelf with pvc pipe suppors/legs or pvc pipe rack. Then place a meaty bait on the bottom of the tank. The crabs and shrimp will smell the bait, come down to eat it and not be able to climb back up into the rock. The free for the taking.

I haven't tried this but read about it. Worth a try...

Should work ok on crabs, but the mantis can swim back up

 

[ladyshark]

I lucked out--only had two mantis, but a bunch of gorillas. Happliy, the mantis eventually ate the gorillas, and I got one of the mantis out by grabbing his rock home and plopping it (and the mantis inside) into a 3 gallon Eclipse system with some southdown and a yellowtail damsel, where they both live today eating only when I feed them. Amazingly, the damsel continues to survive.

The other mantis continues to terrorize the reef tank, and cause my snail population to dwindle and need replacing from time to time. He is clever, but I will get him eventually.....he even killed and gutted my beloved "Biff" -- a large red mithrax crab---the only thing left was a hollowed out shell, legs intact. Very sad.....