Shrimp-ka-bob

[skeeter_ca]

Sorry,
Been trying to catch this mantis for weeks. Tried all the traps- no good. Tried the grabber thing-no good. All i could do with those was ended up ripping off one of his arms. Usually the grabber works. Have caught three that way. But got home yesterday and one of my new clowns were missing. Started looking around and finally found him being dinner in a hole with the mantis. That was the last straw. No more Mr. nice guys. Took a piece of stiff wire about 10" long, sharpened the end. Put a rubberband on the end with the other end on my fingers. Teased the mantis out with a small piece of shrimp. Let go of the Wire. ZOOM-WACK. I had one Shrimp-Ka-Bob. Had to do it, he forced me in to it. I'd like to say all my problems are over, But....... I still have one more mantis left, But he doesn't show himself very much. That makes a total of 5 mantis shrimp from my 130lbs of TBS rock.

 

[psychodave]

holy cow! 5 mantis hitch hickers!! I wonder if that "spear gun" would work with a xanthid crab that decimated a colony of zoanthids in my 110gal. I can see him in his burro in his host rock...id pull the rock out, but it is supporting at least 3 pieces of tonga branch and if i move it im afraid it will come crashing down.

good luck catching the rest of em...

 

[XeniaMania]

Sometimes you do have the weigh the long term consequences versus a few hours of work disassembling your aquascaping. I know I for one have torn my tank part to remove a vermin.
Also, if you know where that mantis is, freshwater dip the rock, it'll come right out..:lol:

 

[Codeman00]

I had a couple of red eyed xanthid crabs in a piece of rock a friend gave me. There was no way to catch them, so I finally sharpened up a skewer and kabob'd both of them. They were awesome looking crabs, but would have been a menace later if I didn't get them out.

 

[skeeter_ca]

Yeah, i still have about half dozen gorilla crabs. I'll have to start working on them next.

 

[psychodave]

I hate mine with a passion...he ate dozens and dozens of zoanthids before i ever knew he was in the tank. Did you use a metal skewer or a wooden one? I would imagine metal...

Its White with brown markings, hary legs like an emerald crab and black tiped claws. Wonder if I can keep it alive and feed it to the mantis when I get it...

 

[XeniaMania]

I used metal on my gorilla crab. Scrambled it in the rocks and left for the worms to feed on.

 

[psychodave]

hehe
I want to extract mine so I can have the pleasure of introducing it to a pot of boiling water! Or the freezer!

 

[Codeman00]

I used a metal skewer and sharpened it with a Dremel to a very fine point.

 

[skeeter_ca]

Yeah, Metal. Actually it was a piece of .125 piano wire. About ten inches long and i sharpened it with my bench grinder.

My last (hopefully) mantis was seen last nite. I tried baiting him out in the open. But he keep looking at the skewer and even touched it a couple times with his feelers, but wouldn't come out far enough to spear. I'll keep trying.

 

[hgbarwick]

I dont know about gorilla crabs but im pretty sure dotty backs will eat mantis shrimp. Thats

 

[mickey85]

My bicolor dottyback tried to sneak up and peck at the telsen of my 3" platysoma...he didn't like what happened.

 

[skeeter_ca]

If dottybacks will eat a mantis it sounds like it might eat anything else that i might want. Is this the case?

 

[hgbarwick]

no I think just mantis but I could be wrong.