How do I catch a Mantis Shrimp in my tank?

[Nanni]

After having new rock placed in the tank for over seven weeks, we just discovered that there is a Mantis in the tank. Can anyone give a suggestion on how to catch this beast and get him out of there? Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

It's not as easy as it sounds.
First determine if you want to keep it alive as many people would like one for a species only tank.
You can try target feeding at night to try and draw it out into the open and simply net it out when it's away from its lair though this does take some patience.
You can buy a commercial trap and try to get it that way but you'll probably be frustrated for a while when you catch snails and other critters.
You can remove the liverock it's living in to a bucket of saltwater. Lift the rock out of the water and squirt either fresh water or club soda into the hole and it should come out.
Or if you don't care about the life in the live rock simply put the rock in a bucket of freshwater.
In all of the methods above wear heavy rubber gloves.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

P.S. there are people on this site looking for Mantis shrimps so if youd be willing to keep it alive and send it one of the members...Its totally up to you..And yes wear gloves(thick rubber gloves...)

P.S.S if you do decide you are willing to give this "pest" away, check out the mantis forum and advertise it..

 

[Fl_Seagull]

I have caught two mantis shrimp.
One mantis shrimp was caught accidentally when I had remove a lot of rock to get a grouper out of my tank. The mantis deside to take a walk just before I transferred its rock back into my tank.

The other mantis was caught using this trap:
http://www.tbsaltwater.com/images/mantistrap-websize.jpg

I still think I have another one. So far the bait keeps getting taken but nothing has been in the trap :evil:. Oh well, as long as I keep feeding it my hermit crabs live longer.

 

[Anonymous]

hey can I maybe get it from you? Did you get your rock from TBS? I'd really be interested in acquiring it if so (I am hoping to acquire another N. wennerae).

I'd reimburse you for shipping, and if you want some "positive feedback" you can ask weedhopper on RC about it - he sent me my first mantis and I overnighted him a money order with reimbursement and a little something extra.

I'm hoping to put a little N wennerae in one of those tiny red sea deco nanos.

Thanks man!

 

[Anonymous]

well i had it confirmed by Dr. Caldwell...Its N. Wennerae..I got mine from Fl_Seagull....so the likely hood of it being a N. Wennerae is good..its cool, cuz theyre a small species and you can have fish and snails..they will eat small hermits but larger snails and fish it wont bother..( i do have a rescued percula/ocellaris with my mantis now)..so Carl (Fl_Seagull) i have it confirmed on the mantis you sent me..thanx, he/she is a real treat...

 

[Fl_Seagull]

Thanks LordNikon for ID.

I still have my trap in the tank. The bait has been taken a few time with nothing in the trap. So far, I have only caught snails.

 

[Anonymous]

Hwarang what did you feed your shrimp..i currently feed mine frozen squid and freeze dried plankton..an occasional dead guppy...Dr. Caldwell says he'll really only eat hermits and small snails, anything larger it wont have success breaking into...Im just curious on how you did it?

 

[Anonymous]

For starters I fed her flake, because I knew she could smell it in the water, and she readily scavenged that up.

Then I started giving her frozen krill on a tweezers. She likes that too.

Eventually I put some nassy snails in for lack of anything cheaper/better. They were about the right size for the job, and she totally WASTED them. Problem is, it's not really cost effective. I threw 10 in there and they lasted about 2 weeks. Fun to watch, though! She even dug one or two up when they were hiding in the substrate.

 

[Anonymous]

cool..i threw in some Trochus..he took a few wacks at them, realized he wasnt having success and gave up...i just fed him a dead hermit tonight...he grabbed it and ran back into his lair..i could hear him bashing the shell...I just dont have the heart to throw live hermits in there..i bought a dozen a few days ago and couldnt bring myself to it..that and my wife pleaded...snails i would have no problems feeding to Rancor....