Tank full of unwanted Mantis

[kenny77]

Last night when i went to take a look to my tank with red light to see what can i find. i couldn believe what i saw. there were more than 20-25 mantis shrimps in my tank. all of them very small except for the biggers one was about almost 1/2 inch.

since i have no experience with mantis shrimp. i will like some advice here.

i dont know if it will be ok to keep them of to take them out.

other thing i really dont know what kind of mantis they were since they were so small. they look like some kind of yellow, veryy light brown.


what should i do?

 

[kenny77]

can somebody help with the ID, i dont know if it will be posible since they are so little, that some of them i had to look at them with magnifying glass.

 

[sdm]

Try to catch as many as you can. Or atleast SEPERATE them. Most likely 20-25 mantises in a 75g will result in a battlefield. Need pics to ID.

 

[derrikd]

if you start to get rid of them ill take one or two

 

[oddball_from_ac]

as will i for the biology club in my highschool. well only one is needed for the empty 6 gallon
dylan

 

[sdm]

....no offense, but could people stay on subject? SAVE IT FOR THE "OFFER THREAD"....

 

[derrikd]

 

[kfra]

yea use the water bottle method it usually works. also i know i know stay on subject but can i have one if you catch them.
copy and paste this link if you dont know the water botle method.
mantis trap

 

[derrikd]

wow that is a great idea..

 

[sdm]

you didn't know about that?

 

[Freed]

Yeah, I'll take at least one if you want to get rid of them. Thanks.

 

[PeejFish]

well I mean are they hiding in the rocks or what..with that many and that small you might have to take out the rocks and spray ro/di water into every hole to make sure you get them all out...or the bottle trap works excellently...I'd love to have a couple that small too....thanks

 

[nanoman123]

yea use the water bottle method it usually works. also i know i know stay on subject but can i have one if you catch them.
copy and paste this link if you dont know the water botle method.
mantis trap

with all those mantises, you might be able to catch alot more with mabye a 2 liter bottle:smokin:

 

[nanoman123]

are you sure they are all mantises? mabye its possible a mothre carrying eggs came in on your rock.....


this is very unlikely because your probably alot smarter than this, but is it possible that there pods?

 

[nubreefer]

I always thought stomatopods were more solitary than this. 20-25 in as much rock would fill a 75g seems a little outrageous. But hey if they're all under 1/2" to me it would seem beneficial to let them take care of any pest crabs or what have you for about a week and most of them will kill eachother off. After that they'll be hungry enough to go for most bait. Though I have some doubts that they're really mantis shrimp. No offense to you kenny, it just seems very odd indeed.

If they are mantis shrimp though, I hope you have a garage or something and the rock is new cuz the only way I could see you getting them out in a timely fashion would be to suspend the rock above a bucket of saltwater and let it dry. They'll just jump out into the buckets of saltwater or on the floor.

A more biological approach would be to get an octopus or cuttlefish, or even a large trigger or other crustacean eating fish. But make sure the tank is cycled.

I love mantis shrimp as much as the next guy but hey 20-25 mantis shrimp are gonna kill eachother before he can get them out before trapping them individually. Might wanna trap as many as you can and give them away and take care of the rest biologically. That would seem the best to me.

 

[kenny77]

no they are not pods. i also have them in my tank, even when they are that small you can identify them very quickly, i put some bottle today and when i came from work i already catch 12, and they still look like i have 20-25 more because they are all over the rock.

and yes i i can catch them, wish i already did, i will post some pic and and if any body is intrested they i can gave some.

i think im gonna stay with some of them in the main tank and the other im gonna put them in the 10g tank andthe rest i can trade them.

thank everyone.

BTW it is good to have mantis shrimp in a FOWLR going reef tank?

 

[Ron Leversee]

Man that has to be a record... I have never heard of so many mantis in one tank... It is hard to get one let alone that many... I don't know wether congrats are in order or my sympathy!!!!

 

[kenny77]

well i still surprice. because i really dont have that many LR and i havent get LR for about 2 month. and the last time i put something in my tank was a piece of rock but it was solid with no hold to them hide. so i really dont have any idea were i get them. but they are there. i will try tomorrow night to take a pic.

but they are all over the rock running around. even make the tank look like empty because they just run like ants in a rock.

my question is. i havcea bunch of hermit crabs. wil they atack the crabs?. because lately i have notice some dead crabs behind the rock. i dont know if it is because the mantis or because i have to species of crab and they are fighting( wich i have never seen between them)

 

[ReefGeekster]

there are fish that will actually attack and eat the mantis shrimps, do a search of RC, I belive it belongs to the dottyback family.

 

[dc]

So did you ever get pictures of them?