X-terminator trap does it work?

[plancton]

I think I have a mantis shrimp, I saw it 3 months ago and I thought it was weird since apparently I had removed all the mantis I had (3), I also have many of the hairy crabs, some of them are 2", those are more active, and have lost 5 royal gramma already, almost instantly, they hide and are never seen again, I kept the last one in the fuge for 2 weeks eating like normal, and the day I placed it in the main tank, it never came out again.

I made a home made trap one day, it never caught anything but snails. What about the X-terminator trap? does it work?

 

[plancton]

anyone?

 

[zoo]

not really snails or hermits set it off

 

[DanInSD]

Let's back up a bit here. You have had fish disappearing. This implies a spearing mantis, as the smashing species would not go after fish (especially since you have a lot of yummy crabs).

Royal grammas are smart, relatively aggressive fish. Any mantis capable of eating one of these would be pretty darned obvious.

On the other hand, you have several large crabs. These are your likely predators. They are indiscriminate omnivores and will eat sleeping fish. A large (2") crab can catch fish. I'd start by getting rid of the crabs and seeing if your problem disappears.

Dan

 

[Koshmar]

Spearers are rarely hich-hikers in live rock. I would be surprised if it was a spearer that was taking out the fish. IMO it's the crabs. I agree with Dan, isolate the crabs first.

 

[plancton]

Ok then, will the exterminator trap work to get rid of crabs?

 

[DanInSD]

That is one I do not know.

In an irony, a guy at the local LFS had a big crab that was eating fish. To get rid of it, he borrowed a friend's peacock, which smashed the crab to bits

Perhaps the *addition* of a mantis would take care of your problems?



Dan