Pufferpunk
New member
Aquarium Rescue from a Mantis:
Spearers live in burrows in sediments, not live rock. So, it is rare for them to be added to an aquarium unintentionally. However, smashers live in rocks, and can often survive shipping, thus they are accidentally added with some regularity. Then they start eating, and you know the rest of the story. So, if you have a pest mantis and want to get rid of it, there are numerous methods you can try. I've obviously only used one method myself, so I can't promise how well any of the rest of these work (or won't), but these are what I came up with and collected from other sources (primarily from Juan, 1998 and Delbeek & Sprung, 1994) that sound reasonable enough. There are many others that do not...
If the evictee-to-be lives in a particular rock, you can try the first few suggestions from the list below. Pay attention though, as mantises often have a"back door" exit and can scoot out of their favorite rock and hide elsewhere, leaving you to think it must have somehow gotten trapped in the rock and/or mysteriously evaporated. The rest are suggestions in case you don't know where exactly it lives, or if removing rocks just won't work for you.
- Remove the whole rock and put it in another aquarium where the thing won't be a problem. The happy ending for everyone.
- Remove the piece and put it in another container of aquarium water, then wait for the mantis to venture out at some point and quickly snatch the rock out and put it back where it came from. You'll need to move fast and/or devise some method to prevent the mantis from getting back into the rock, though. They're speedy and wary.
- Remove the piece and pour carbonated water into the mantis' hole. The fizzing and carbon dioxide should drive it out (hopefully not into your lap), after which you can put the rock back in place. Pouring boiling water down the hole would work, too, although the mantis may get poached in place and not come out.
- For some reason, no one mentioned removing the piece and throwing it into the backyard. Another option...
- Simply try to spear the mantis with a piece of wire, coat hanger, or ice pick, etc. (many sources, of course).
- Put the intake hose from a canister filter over the hole and see if you can suck the mantis out. Probing the hole with a wire from the other end may help drive it into the intake, as well. I'd make sure to be there though, as a small but very unhappy smasher may decide to exit your canister through the side if given the opportunity.
- Hold some scissors over the hole, use something to bait the mantis out, or a wire to drive it out, etc. and try to snip fast enough to cut the mantis in half when it sticks its head out. While it worked for at least one person, if you aren't exceptionally patient and/or quick, I envision this technique leading to the same facial, oral, and physiological responses that I experience after teeing a ball into the pond three times in a row.
- Depending on what else is in the aquarium, try adding a bird wrasse (Gomphosus varius), an Australian dottyback (Labracinus lineatus), or an octopus. All eat mantises, but the wrasse and octopus also eat a wide variety of other invertebrates and small fishes and the dottyback can be overly aggressive. So, once they've done the mercenary work they may need to be removed themselves. Also note that someone suggested the use of a triggerfish on a message board, but a reply told the story of a wholesaler giving away a mantis that had killed six triggers in a single night. I also read somewhere about an occasion when a mantis beat the tar out of an octopus. But, I'm sure size comes into play in such cases though.
- There are traps of sorts available for catching unwanted critters. I have a small one called an "X-terminator" that has a spring-loaded trap door apparatus, which might work fine for a really small mantis. Likewise, for larger ones, you may be able to find a suitable piece of equipment from an aquarium supplier, or some sort of minnow/bait trap at a fishing supply store. Just make sure to get the trap out of the tank before the thing decides to make it's own escape route.
- Try my expedient trapping method (which did work, as it was after the trapping when the problems started). I'd do the same thing again as a first choice to tell the truth, although I'd be sure to use something made out of heavy plastic the first time, instead of glass. And again, one last time, move quickly if this works.
- Or, maybe all you need to do is find a big enough pistol shrimp...
Spearers live in burrows in sediments, not live rock. So, it is rare for them to be added to an aquarium unintentionally. However, smashers live in rocks, and can often survive shipping, thus they are accidentally added with some regularity. Then they start eating, and you know the rest of the story. So, if you have a pest mantis and want to get rid of it, there are numerous methods you can try. I've obviously only used one method myself, so I can't promise how well any of the rest of these work (or won't), but these are what I came up with and collected from other sources (primarily from Juan, 1998 and Delbeek & Sprung, 1994) that sound reasonable enough. There are many others that do not...
If the evictee-to-be lives in a particular rock, you can try the first few suggestions from the list below. Pay attention though, as mantises often have a"back door" exit and can scoot out of their favorite rock and hide elsewhere, leaving you to think it must have somehow gotten trapped in the rock and/or mysteriously evaporated. The rest are suggestions in case you don't know where exactly it lives, or if removing rocks just won't work for you.
- Remove the whole rock and put it in another aquarium where the thing won't be a problem. The happy ending for everyone.
- Remove the piece and put it in another container of aquarium water, then wait for the mantis to venture out at some point and quickly snatch the rock out and put it back where it came from. You'll need to move fast and/or devise some method to prevent the mantis from getting back into the rock, though. They're speedy and wary.
- Remove the piece and pour carbonated water into the mantis' hole. The fizzing and carbon dioxide should drive it out (hopefully not into your lap), after which you can put the rock back in place. Pouring boiling water down the hole would work, too, although the mantis may get poached in place and not come out.
- For some reason, no one mentioned removing the piece and throwing it into the backyard. Another option...
- Simply try to spear the mantis with a piece of wire, coat hanger, or ice pick, etc. (many sources, of course).
- Put the intake hose from a canister filter over the hole and see if you can suck the mantis out. Probing the hole with a wire from the other end may help drive it into the intake, as well. I'd make sure to be there though, as a small but very unhappy smasher may decide to exit your canister through the side if given the opportunity.
- Hold some scissors over the hole, use something to bait the mantis out, or a wire to drive it out, etc. and try to snip fast enough to cut the mantis in half when it sticks its head out. While it worked for at least one person, if you aren't exceptionally patient and/or quick, I envision this technique leading to the same facial, oral, and physiological responses that I experience after teeing a ball into the pond three times in a row.
- Depending on what else is in the aquarium, try adding a bird wrasse (Gomphosus varius), an Australian dottyback (Labracinus lineatus), or an octopus. All eat mantises, but the wrasse and octopus also eat a wide variety of other invertebrates and small fishes and the dottyback can be overly aggressive. So, once they've done the mercenary work they may need to be removed themselves. Also note that someone suggested the use of a triggerfish on a message board, but a reply told the story of a wholesaler giving away a mantis that had killed six triggers in a single night. I also read somewhere about an occasion when a mantis beat the tar out of an octopus. But, I'm sure size comes into play in such cases though.
- There are traps of sorts available for catching unwanted critters. I have a small one called an "X-terminator" that has a spring-loaded trap door apparatus, which might work fine for a really small mantis. Likewise, for larger ones, you may be able to find a suitable piece of equipment from an aquarium supplier, or some sort of minnow/bait trap at a fishing supply store. Just make sure to get the trap out of the tank before the thing decides to make it's own escape route.
- Try my expedient trapping method (which did work, as it was after the trapping when the problems started). I'd do the same thing again as a first choice to tell the truth, although I'd be sure to use something made out of heavy plastic the first time, instead of glass. And again, one last time, move quickly if this works.
- Or, maybe all you need to do is find a big enough pistol shrimp...
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