mantis bastard!

[reefNewbie]

Well soon after catching my first mantis, I heard the snap snap of another. Its been about a month now, ive been watching him just waiting for him to settle in the right rock for me to yank out at the right moment. I was on the fone and all of a sudden saw him poke his head out of one of the pieces of rock that was near the top of the tank. I shot my hand in there and grabed the whole rock out and threw it into my sump.

I was soo excited, i just hope he was in there when i grabed it out of the water. I tried putting the whole rock into a bucket of water with 1.011 sg to see if hed come running out. waited a few minutes and threw the rock back into my sump. Any ideas for determining if hes in there, and getting him out. I dont think he will be interested in food, i tried but hes robably really stressed if he is in fact in the piece of rock.

I am so hoping i finally got rid of him because I so sick of watching my snail population slowly being extinct!be

 

[reefNewbie]

well i must have missed him because i watched him prance around my main tank, like "nah nah nah nah you missed me" ill catch him, just wait and when i do.......

 

[Len]

I have a bastard mantis myself that I've actually never seen, but have heard. It's killed its fair share of fish. Unfortunately, I can't remove rocks from my tank because of the aquascaping. I guess I'll just hope he dies soon

Unflavored soda water drives em out pretty quickly

 

[Anonymous]

man, what a drag. you're much braver than i could ever be, reefnewbie - i would never stick my hand in there so close to the bugger. 8O

 

[reefNewbie]

yea, the other one that i keep i feed with my bair hands! The smasher types really dont scare me, its the spearer ones that i would never stick my hand by. 8O

 

[Anonymous]

They don't call smashers "Thumbsplitters" for nothing.

 

[Modo]

Bamboo skewers for grilling work really well too. That is if you know the hole he is in. I know this may upset some folks, but a skewered hitchiking, pain it the arse Mantis vs. a skewered $50+ fish Mantis meal to me is not an issue.

Of course this is after every attempt and is the last means to an end.

You can get'em at the grocery store. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Yep. lost my firefish to a (supposed) mantis. I pulled one out when I got the rock, and now I think I have another-click click click. I know which rock he lives in. I just don't want to pull it out and soda him if I've got no place to put him afterwards.

Have you tried the soda bottle trick?


B

 

[Anonymous]

I caught one last week out of my 75 - I saw him crawl into his hole in the live rock. I yanked the live rock out (caused a small landslide but I didn't want to miss the opportunity!) and threw it in a 30 gallon trash can filled with DI top off water - he came shooting out after about 10 seconds - netted and thrown into a critter keeper in the sump he promptly made a jailbreak from! At least now he's in my sump - I'd leave him in the main tank but I have a few small blennies and gobies I'm fond of.


My peacock mantis grabbed and ate a royal gramma at the pet store just minutes after being put in the tank - fish swam through a partition and in the blink of a eye the mantis got him. I took him home with his little prize of a grammburger still carried triumphantly in his arms 8)

 

[morg59]

What kind of sound do they make? I think I may have one but I have never actually heard the sound. The best way I can describe the sound that I hear from time to time is the sound it would make if I had a marble and knocked it against the tank. I usually only hear one click at a time and thats only once in a while so I have no idea where it is coming from.

 

[reefNewbie]

thats the sound! :lol:

 

[Saltykirk]

Did any of you guys ever see the show on Discovery channel where a marine biologist hooked a seisometer to a sand bag? He somehow enticed a mantis shrimp into hitting the bag.(clubber claw) It registered w/ as much force as a .22 short! 8O
It would have to be a pretty charming mantis for me to hand feed him. The peacocks are very cool looking though.

 

[Sidewinder]

Once/if you remove the rock in which he/she resides, a turkey baster with Seltzer Water, squirted right into the hole will evacuate it "toute suite".

 

[Mogo]

If your LFS guys are as dumb as mine, try returning your captured mantis for a refund or credit. 8)

 

[reefNewbie]

I caught my mantis, I caught my mantis.....na na na na na na! HAHA little bastard ill show him. I watched him climb into a small rock that had my toadstool leather attached to. Ripped my shirt off and dove in on him. Threw the rock into my sump, he shot out, put rock back into tank, grabbed a beer and laffed my ass off at him! :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Mantis shrimps aren't the only things that make that sound, however - two other suspects:

1) Pistol Shrimp (harmless)
2) Snails banging their shells against the glass.

My reef snaps all the time, especially about a half-hour after lights out, & at sporadic times throughout the night. I assume that they're pistol shrimp, because (a) I heard they are common hitchhikers to Florida rock (I have gulf-view rock), and (b) no noticeable causualties or snail/crab population declines.

 

[reefNewbie]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I found another one! Now thats a total of three that I no of! jeez gulf-view.com's rock was loaded with them.

 

[morg59]

I do have a shrimp that my yellow watchman goby whores around with so perhaps that could be the culprit of my clicking.

 

[Anonymous]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I found another one! Now thats a total of three that I no of! jeez gulf-view.com's rock was loaded with them.

Oh man that is really a pain!

Luckely I only got one mantis from my gulf view.

 

[Anonymous]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I found another one! Now thats a total of three that I no of! jeez gulf-view.com's rock was loaded with them.

Oh man that is really a pain!

Luckely I only got one mantis from my gulf view.

And i didnt get any . I am kinda disappointed. There might be one in there. Its only been cycling for 2 weeks. I hope to hear clicking soon.