empty tank

[chunchma]

so I have a tank with nothing in it and I am about to get some live rock. If I put the rock in the tank and nothing else for a couple of months would that kill off any mantis shrimp and bristle worms. With no fish and no feeding of the fish could these two pest still survive?

 

[ricky1414]

Well, you might want to keep the bristleworms, they are beneficial consumers of detrius. I don't know if it will get rid of your mantis shrimp. they might be able to consume the algae that forms in your tank, as well as any organic material that is growing or decaying on your LR. You might want to look into a mantis trap. I hear they are pretty inexensive, IMHO. Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

Mantis shrimp can survives for weeks, and more if there are some critter it can get it hand on. Use trap, as ricky says, besides, it is more reliable.

 

[Baianotang]

..."would that kill off any mantis shrimp and bristle worms"... no as they are not parasites on fish or anything else, they could live indefenetly as is. (bristles are good, and if you capture the mantis you could sell it to a mantis lover for some cool $'s).

 

[J.Howard]

There are many ways to get rid of Mantis shrimp besides a trap. If you know that you actually have one, you can remove the rock it's hiding in and put it in a hypersaline dip or pour carbonated water or soda down it's hidey hole, these will force it to bail. Either method works from what I've read. (Never had the honor of getting one personally :wink As far as Bristleworms go, you may want to do some reading on them. Dr. Ron has plenty of good things to say about them as they are more beneficial to a natural set-up than they are bad. Just make sure you don't have fireworms. Many aquaculture farms actually sell them to add diversity as part of a clean up crew.