just caught a mantis shrimp!

[jmanz]

just caught a mantis crawling across the bottom of my tank.

heard these guys were bad - anyone out there have an idea of a humane way to deal with it?

he is small so should i just let him back in the tank?

 

[fishfanatic2]

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

DO NOT release him back in the tank unless you have a fish-only tank with big fish or you would like something to clean out any inverts that you have. These guys eat everything from shrimps to small fish, and are a terror of the tank. There are different types-thumbsplitters, spearers, and a few others I forget. They can seriously hurt you (thumbsplitters-hint hint). Good luck and hope this helps

 

[jmanz]

guess i will flush him then. feel kind of bad for the little green guy.

 

[Bleeding Blue]

Why don't you set up a little 5g hospital style tank, and keep him until someone wants him. Someone is always looking.

Mike

 

[Anonymous]

You can drop him in the sump. That is what i will do with mine when i see it again

 

[LauraH]

If you haven't already flushed him, I would banish him to the sump or set up a small tank. They are pretty interesting to watch and amazingly intelligent.

 

[Len]

You lucky bastard you I've been after mine for 5 years and still no luck. I'd banish him to the sump as well, or see if anyone at the LFS wants it. Amazingly, there are people who actually want to keep mantis tanks

 

[jmanz]

dont have a sump so i will check out the LFS

thanks for all the advice

 

[fishfanatic2]

They are rather interesting when there's nothing for them to eat, so a 5 gal. tank with a small rock should suit him fine. Check the Wanted Forum, someone is always looking for one (don't ask me why)!

 

[tazdevil]

Even worse is what I saw at a LFS a few days ago. A mantis that was about 5 inches long! Wasn't the pretty peacock, it was a bright yellow. They didn't even realize what they had-one of the boneheads working there actually stuck his hands into the tank to show everyone how the mantis followed around. After laughing hysterically for about 15min, I then showed them some of the stories online from Monterray aquarium. They didn't seem to think it was as funny, and were actually trying to figure out how to move him out of a little partition tank (thin plastic sidewalls, thinner acrylic front viewing wall 8O ), without losing a finger or two.

 

[fishfanatic2]

Even worse is what I saw at a LFS a few days ago. A mantis that was about 5 inches long! Wasn't the pretty peacock, it was a bright yellow. They didn't even realize what they had-one of the boneheads working there actually stuck his hands into the tank to show everyone how the mantis followed around

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