Something is eating my Snails!!

S

Skepperz

New member
And FISH, janitor crabs!! Help someone please!!

It ate my Bicolor Blenny!! :(

I believe it may be a Mantis? I have heard it clicking but have never seen it.
It seems to be able to navigate its way through the sump and back through the return??? Unless I have more than one of them, it leaves my zoos and other corals alone.

How can i catch the little guy? Or whatever it is?

Your help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
 
I have had over six mantis shrimp hitchikers in my main tank. I had to flush them out with freshwater and lure them with bait. I don't think they ever went after any of my fish...but I did see one poke at a burrowing sea star (I know...but I didn't know any better back then.) and the feet of snails...

Whichever way you try to get them be somewhat careful and wear gloves...people don't call them "thumbsplitters" for nothing (I've never been injured but it's better to be safe). :D


Maybe it isn't the mantis shrimp that is killing off your livestock...
What are your water parameters?
 
If you are hearing a cliking it could aslo be a pistol shrimp, but the possibility of a Mantis is still there.
How can you tell that it can make its way through the sump and back to the tank?
If you can hear it or whatever, I would turn off the pumps and disconnect the drain line.
You could also have a unwanted crab.
 
Thanks SuperNerd, they are a real pain in the bum eah! How big do you think they are if they are killing snails? And my blenny? i think the blenny was trying to claim the matisis rock and he killed the poor little fella! The tank is only 50g, so quite small. Maybe it was a fight for territory? can this happen?

Hmm "thumbsplitters" don't like the sound of that, can set a trap of some sort? I saw the dudeââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s finger on Reefkeeping Magazine! OUCH!
 
Hmm yes i have thought of the Pistol Shrimp, thanks. Thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s what i thought it was originally......but then the snails started getting cleaned out, empty shells, so i assumed Mantis.

Ok well my sump has a piece of base rock that has been in the system for about 3m. The only other thing in there was a janitor crab and a large one at that, and i found that today ripped out of its shell, he got a small one the other day. Just takes what he wants, i have no other explanation for it. The only crabs i have in my system are small, and not big enough to take on snail ect..
 
There are mantis traps you can buy, or you could use an empty plastic soda bottle. Cut off the top and invert it, add some bait, and you could give it a shot. A bit of nocturnal prowling might help, as well.
 
Thanks bertoni I might stay up tonight and see what he is up too, as is stated before i haven't even seen him yet. The only indication i knew he was there when i heard some clicking, last night actually, and one of my coral banded shrimp new it was there to......lol! Will they kill it? If they catch it?

Thanks
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6550482#post6550482 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Skepperz
Thanks SuperNerd, they are a real pain in the bum eah! How big do you think they are if they are killing snails? And my blenny? i think the blenny was trying to claim the matisis rock and he killed the poor little fella! The tank is only 50g, so quite small. Maybe it was a fight for territory? can this happen?

Hmm "thumbsplitters" don't like the sound of that, can set a trap of some sort? I saw the dudeââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s finger on Reefkeeping Magazine! OUCH!
Click to expand...

I don't think they have to be that big to kill a snail. I read somewhere that most of the mantis hitchikers we get on LR stay small (really small compared to the mantis shrimps for sale at LFSs).

Maybe the blenny was killed while sleeping near the mantis' hole and got a quick stab/jab to the head...then again maybe it was something else...
 
Yeah thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s the one.....lol, I hope it's not one of those! I know what rock it's in, or they are in!! So I might try to draw them\it out, hopefully I might be able to suck em out using my fulval 204. What do you think?

I might also try the empty plastic soda bottle method as well, thanks bertoni!
 
Hmm.....im not sure who would win the battle either? It would be cool to watch though.....but my poor coral banded shrimp....lol!

Oh, just another question, is it possible that pistol shrimp are eating my snails? Say hypothetically, if there enough of them? Could they do it?

I have seen a couple of pistol shrimp or maybe just one, and the skin\shell from one just before. They couldnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t cause this amount of problems could they?

I have just recently found my janitor crab in my sump alive, I think I must have over reacted when the snail killings began! it must have just been the shell I say or something.....:)
 
Hmmm, hard to tell, i have one big piece of LR form Queensland or Perth.......from a reef shelf or something. I will ask the guy at the LFS, he should know where it came from, it was a piece that was in the shop for a ages, lots of life on it.

I have s few other small pieces, you can see in my gallery if you like...they are a little old now; i have to fix my digital cam cord!! (My Galah(Cockatoo) ate it) :( But i will have some new ones up soon.

I'll have to get the old soldering iron out!! Lucky he didn't get the power cord.........lol
 
Hmmm, hard to tell, i have one big piece of LR form Queensland or Perth.......from a reef shelf or something. I will ask the guy at the LFS, he should know where it came from, it was a piece that was in the shop for a ages, lots of life on it.

I have s few other small pieces, you can see in my gallery if you like...they are a little old now; i have to fix my digital cam cord!! (My Galah(Cockatoo) ate it) :( But i will have some new ones up soon.

I'll have to get the old soldering iron out!! Lucky he didn't get the power cord.........lol
 
Ok......I have just found an un wanted hitchhiker a crab who I previously thought to be harmless! He is a white hairy thing, no bigger than a twenty cent piece.......but I just found him no top of one of my snails. So that solves the snail problem....well not really, when I catch him that is. How do you catch crabs? They are fast! Can I use the soda bottle technique?

And hopefully the clicking is only......some supposedly harmless Pistols.
 
The soda bottle technique can work for crabs. You can also just try a glass container placed at a 45 degree angle, with some bait. The mouth should probably be up against a piece of live rock.

I've got them with tongs and by hand (wearing gloves).
 
The reason I was asking where your LR came from is because I have read that Atlantic pistol shrimp are more prone to becoming destructive than their blind, pacific counterparts.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6556688#post6556688 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Skepperz
Hmm.....im not sure who would win the battle either? It would be cool to watch though.....but my poor coral banded shrimp....lol!
Click to expand...

I can tell you that my Coral Banded Shrimp, which outsized the Mantis by a good bit, lost his life.

Very sad.
 
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