Mantis Question

[Nikkoli110]

I'm pretty sure I have a mantis somewhere, but not sure. A while back I had a serpant star get a huge gash in him, but he recovered. In the past month I have lost 3 peppermint shrimp and have found a few messed up hermit shells. Now last week I found part of my emerald crab, and then today I found the pistol shrimp I added last week. Everything was all shmushed up like something had attacked it, and the hermit shells had lots of holes. I haven't lost any fish yet though. Fish are a tomato clown, green chromis, yellow watchman goby and neon goby. So does this sound like a mantis? Is there anything else that could make me loose the inverts or hurt the star? And if it is a mantis, is the mantis trap the best option for getting it out of my tank? Thanks...

 

[shawn]

Except for the serpent star, it sounds somewhat typical of mantis damage. As much a predator as they are, that sounds like a lot of damage unless you have a really big one, or more than one. How long since setting up your tank or adding live rock? Where is the rock from?

My experience with traps has not been good (never got one that way). The four times I've caught them it's been with more "active" methods (corner and catch them). That said, try a trap - though it sounds like it may be too well fed to go for dead food.

 

[Nikkoli110]

The tank is a 29, and has been up since last April, with lr added about 4 times, (5 first, then 5 more, than 25, then 5 lbs about 2 weeks ago.) I was careful about adding the rock, gave them all freshwater dips, and cured it all except for the first 5 lbs in a separate tank. There is one spot on my sandbed where all the stuff seems to end up, maybe he could be in there. Are they known for killing off other shrimp? I've tried reading about them on forums over on RC, but alot of the stuff it seems no one agrees on, and most of them are fans of mantis shrimp. Hmmm....

 

[wrassefan]

usually you will here the famous 3 clicks from your tank.

 

[One Eye]

Sounds like a mantis. The holes in the snail shells makes it sound like a smasher.
That is one pest I have never had to deal with. I have a mantis in a seperate tank, but I did that on purpose If you do a google search on mantis shrimp you'll get quite a bit of info. I remember reading about a home made trap that worked well, unfortunately I don't remember what site it was on. The trap was made from a 20 oz coke bottle. The top was cut off and inverted into the fat body of the bottle and food placed inside. I would think you could put one of your live snails in the coke bottle, I don't think it would be able to find it's way out. Sucks for the snail but that's what it's like at the bottom of the food chain.

 

[Nikkoli110]

Yea I found one site with that trap, seahorse.org...
http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/DIY/diyMantisTrap.shtml

Guess its worth a try this weekend

 

[shawn]

Pretty much only smashers live in rock, and thus, arrive as hitchhikers. As such, if you have a mantis, it won't be living in the sand.

I took three hitchhiking mantis out of my 75 shortly after I set it up two years ago. I still have two of them in part of my sump (they really are cool). I also have a bunch of pistol shrimp - they make about 10x as much noise as a mantis, but the mantis are much more visible. They are curious creatures, and although well camouflaged, are always poking their heads out of their burrows to see what is going on. Take a flashlight and look in every hole you can find in your rock a couple of times a day (no need to look at night). Pistol shrimp have long antennae that you will see before you see the body - with mantis, you will generally see their eyes first. Look for quick movement from one hole to another. Once you spot it, it will be much easier find again once you know what you are looking for.

If you can spot it, the easiest way to catch it is to pull the rock it is hiding in and pour cold water in the hole until it jumps out. Do this over a container of salt water so that you can give the bugger to someone who will keep it (or not, as you choose). If you don't want to pull the rock, there are other, more involved, methods to get them out.

Here is a link that shows the trap that was discussed above:

http://tbsaltwater.com/images/mantistrap-websize.jpg

Good luck!

 

[Matt L.]

...Are they known for killing off other shrimp?....

Yes.

This definitely sounds like a mantis -- I would assume 100% that is what you have in there.

The question now is: how best to get rid of him before he moves on to fish.

A 29gal tank is not too hard to take down and put back together. That is how I would go after him. But they can hide on LR. There might be a way, like hypersalinity (not hypo), to cause him to flee the rock.

Be careful with the rock though and watch your hands!

Matt

 

[RichConley]

Don't do anything bad to the mantis if you catch it. There are a ton of people on the board that would love to have one, either in a seperate tank, or in their sump.

(i'm one).

 

[Nikkoli110]

Oh no way I wouldn't do anything to the little guy, I know its not his fault he came on my rock! Damn I actually last week "finished" my aquascaping and epoxied some rocks together. Oh this will be a fun weekend! I'm gonna be scared to put my hands in there now!! I think I might try the little trap thing for a day and put a few snails in there, then if that doesn't work I will try disassembling the tank. If I actually can catch it I'll put it in my nano until I can find a home for em. Thanks!

 

[NateHanson]

Have you heard clicks from your tank? With all that death I'd be suprised if you hadn't heard anything from your mantis. I understand they are quite loud! I haven't had one myself, but I have a very small pistol (less than an inch) and I can often hear it from the next room. I'm told mantis are much louder than pistols, so I wouldn't go tearing everything apart if you haven't heard anything.

Has all the death happened recently? Or has it been a slow steady appearance of dead animals. If it's fairly recent (aside from the wounded star) and you haven't heard loud clicking, I'd suspect a water quality issue first.

 

[Nikkoli110]

Yea I have heard clicks, but I was figuring it was my pistol shrimp until I found him dead. Last night I heard them too, and just the way all the hermit and snail shells are in pieces, and the way my emerald was tore apart too, even when I saw him the day before. My water is ok, I have always had higher nitrates about 10-20, but everything else is fine. The clicks are pretty loud, I can hear them from my living room when my tank is in my bedroom about 3 rooms down. I just usually hear 1-2 at a time.

 

[NateHanson]

Ok, I'll jump on the mantis wagon.

I hadn't heard you mention any clicks so I got suspicious.

Time for a mantis Expotition (Pooh reference, for those of you without a 2-year-old)

 

[Jill & Brian]

expotition!

I'm cracking up...I recognized it right away--I've got a two year old, too.

Nikkoli110, good luck. Don't envy you. Let us know how it works out. Jill

 

[Scuba_Dave]

I've been looking for a Mantis.....

 

[Nikkoli110]

Grrrr!!!!!!

Well I've tried the soda bottle trap for a week now, everynight before the lights go out I put it in, throw a poor little hermit and a snail in, and a litlte food, (tried pellets, frozen, brine) and nothing. I've moved it around to 4 or 5 different spots, but haven't had anything. I feel bad now, because this morning I found my poor little watchman goby stuck in there, scared to death, lost a lot of his color (stress?).

So does anyone else have any ideas? I'm thinking maybe the other mantis trap that they sell. I cringe everytime I hear the cracking sound. I really don't want to have to dismantle my whole tank to get this thing out!! This might sound like a dumb idea, but what if I transfered alot of the hermits and snails to my little nano for a few days, its only a 5 gallon, but if I did that and eliminated the food source, maybe then the trap would work? I don't know but I'm getting frustrated!!

 

[dedfish]

Maybe try positioning it so that the opening is inside a cave or hole in the rockwork. The mantis may not want to stray to far from his home.

If you can setup a small tank with a powerhead you could try removing a few rocks at a time and try to isolate where he is hiding.

 

[smcnally]

Do mantis mainly only click when the lights first turn off? I hear LOUD clicks when my lights go out, and I always thought it was my canopy (or aluminum reflectors) making that sound from cooling and contracting. Makes me wonder...

 

[Nikkoli110]

I hear them mostly at night, but maybe thats because thats when I'm mostly in my room. But then again I just heard it two minutes ago, so it is during the day too. I have put it in between the rocks, but still nothing. I am actaully afraid to take the rocks out! I kind of just want him to go in the little trap and then I can give him to someone else and get him the heck out of my tank!

 

[RichConley]

If you've got heavy plastic gloves..wear those if you take out the rocks. I had these gloves that were called "bluefish gloves." If I knew where they were, I'd give em to you. They were made for fisherman who deal with bluefish alot, so if you get bit, you dont lose a finger.