Okay, so since my move into the new tank last Sunday - where I put a bunch of new live rock - I seem to have lost a few of my fish! I haven't seen my Bicolor Blenny and Sixline Wrasse since I put them in there, two new Blue/Green Chromis disappeared overnight, and today I came home at night to find my little Clown missing!! The female Clown is swimming all over the tank, but the little guy is gone. What the hell do I do?!?! Heeellpppp! I haven't heard any ticking or cliking, but the fish vanish and I haven't seen the bodies.... :-(
I think I have a mantis...HEEEELP!!!
- Thread starter Dmitry
- Start date
that sucks.
I've read a sure fire way to get a mantis out of the rocks is to take the rock out of the water and place it in a container with a half inch to an inch of water at the bottom. the shrimp will move to the bottom of the rock.
seeing how many fish have gone missing I would try this trick.
I would also have a container to put the rock in, I would not put the rock back in untill you find the shrimp, there may be more than one if you put in a bunch of new live rock :irked:
I've read a sure fire way to get a mantis out of the rocks is to take the rock out of the water and place it in a container with a half inch to an inch of water at the bottom. the shrimp will move to the bottom of the rock.
seeing how many fish have gone missing I would try this trick.
I would also have a container to put the rock in, I would not put the rock back in untill you find the shrimp, there may be more than one if you put in a bunch of new live rock :irked:
- Location
- Union Square, NY
Did you check nitrate/nitrite/ammonia after adding the rock? Was it cured rock? Where did you get it?
The rock was definitely cured. I got it from various stores that had it in tanks with inverts. I also got some rock from spyke on here. It was also in buckets for a few weeks before adding it to my tank. I did water tests and only nitrates come up a little bit high, but everything else is normal. So there can't be any fish in the tank rotting away. The lights have now been on for hours and the little Clown isn't in there. :-(
Is there another way to catch the mantis without taking out the rocks??? Some sort of traps maybe? The idea of taking it all out and then replacing it is not an attractive one!
Is there another way to catch the mantis without taking out the rocks??? Some sort of traps maybe? The idea of taking it all out and then replacing it is not an attractive one!
- Location
- Queens/Flushing/Whitestone/NYC
How's your corals doing in your tank? Any signs of stress?
I haven't noticed anything too unusual with corals. Perhaps nothing is as open as it was when it was in my old tank, but I attributed that to them getting used to the new tank, lighting, etc. Then again...
I just made a trap out of a water bottle and put in some raw salmon inside. I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to see if he's in there...and hopefully hasn't gotten out!
I just made a trap out of a water bottle and put in some raw salmon inside. I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to see if he's in there...and hopefully hasn't gotten out!
- Location
- 11756
Dmitry,
I used to have one of these little guys, was a royal pain in the arse...if you can knock it down to which rock the mantis is in I'd go with taking it out that way you know atleast you have it out of the tank. I had a mantis in my tank when i had got new rock a year or two ago. It was on a medium piece of rock, so I just decided to kill that one piece of rock and get rid of everything. It worked tooo. Now you can't tell which one was the one I dropped in the FW.
-Kris
I used to have one of these little guys, was a royal pain in the arse...if you can knock it down to which rock the mantis is in I'd go with taking it out that way you know atleast you have it out of the tank. I had a mantis in my tank when i had got new rock a year or two ago. It was on a medium piece of rock, so I just decided to kill that one piece of rock and get rid of everything. It worked tooo. Now you can't tell which one was the one I dropped in the FW.
-Kris
bad coffee
Inept at life.
- Location
- Location: Location:
If you can find out which rock he's in, Pull it out and dump a liter of soda water on it. The mantis will come SHOOTING out of the rock and into the bucket below. Fish him out and put him in his own tank.
That's what I did!
BC
That's what I did!
BC
- Location
- Queens, NY
I'll take him off of your hands if you find it, lol.
are you sure it's a mantis???if so, how??i hear clicking in my tank, usually during feeding times and sometimes at any random time during the day.it's not loud ticking so i'm not sure if it's a mantis but i have a bunch of fish and none of them go missing.lucky me if it's a mantis, i guess.
- Location
- 11756
I never heard clicking I just found chopped up shrimp all over the tank 
- Location
- Ossining, NY
Mantis don't usually click do they? That is from pistol shrimp.
Anyone?
Sorry about your fish D
Anyone?
Sorry about your fish D
I have heard no unexplained ticking in the tank. (Except for the thermometer or a nassirius snail's shell hiting the glass.) I've also not actually seen anything. I'm going here by the missing 5 fish in one week! I mean, what else could eat five fish in 7 days? My hermits/cleaner & pep shrimp couldn't!! That's a lot of fish! And the Clown was perfectly happy with his mate when I left the house that day, swimming againt the current at the front of the glass. She was alone when I got home that night and still sleeping alone today when I came home and flashed a light at my trap. All it's managed to trap so far is a nassirius snail and one of the pep shrimps. I figure I'll leave them in there as further bait for the mantis....who has to be in there!!! I mean, what other explanation could there be?? I've looked around the tank and see no dead fish. And my water readings are basically normal, certainly nothing to suggest that much dead fish!! I wish I knew what rock the mantis was in; it'd make things so much easier!! Considering it took me about 10hrs of non-stop work to set everything up in the tank a week ago I can't imagine doing that all over again if I have to take all the rocks out. :-( If that thing is in there and I get it out...I'm gonna do things to it. I'm gonna become a murderer!!!!!!!!!!
Well, this evening's trap yielded nothing.
Somebody on another site suggested that if I had a mantis in my tank I'd know it: I would have seen it and heard it. I have neither. I mean, I'm all for not actually having a Mantis in there, but the missing fish just make no sense!
Would a Mantis make noise during light hours or just in total darkness at night?
Somebody on another site suggested that if I had a mantis in my tank I'd know it: I would have seen it and heard it. I have neither. I mean, I'm all for not actually having a Mantis in there, but the missing fish just make no sense!
Would a Mantis make noise during light hours or just in total darkness at night?
- Location
- Union Square, NY
It depends on the type of mantis. Some of them are strictly nocturnal.
What happens to the fish? Are they completely eaten? Are they cut up or stripped to the bone?
Have you tried tapping on the glass with a coin or metallic object? Sometimes that lures them out.
You can also try a freshwater dip for all the rocks, but that seems to have limited success.
If you do happen to find it, put it in another tank or bucket, someone will definately want to keep it as a pet. They are one of the smartest animals in the ocean!
What happens to the fish? Are they completely eaten? Are they cut up or stripped to the bone?
Have you tried tapping on the glass with a coin or metallic object? Sometimes that lures them out.
You can also try a freshwater dip for all the rocks, but that seems to have limited success.
If you do happen to find it, put it in another tank or bucket, someone will definately want to keep it as a pet. They are one of the smartest animals in the ocean!
- Location
- Ossining, NY
D,
sorry to hijack this thread, but I found a nice picure of the tang, I posted it here
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4476
Check him out.
House
sorry to hijack this thread, but I found a nice picure of the tang, I posted it here
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4476
Check him out.
House
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