curing LR

[Dolf]

I have 50 Lbs of LR arriving Wed and none of it is cured. I know if I add it to the tank directly I will have a problem with an amonia spike and that I need to add it to a seperate container of salt water for a few days. I was wondering if this may not kill off some of the "critters" which are beneficial though? The tank is established and I do not run a skimmer. Any thoughts?
Also, I would like to keep a mantis shrimp and would like to set up a 15Gal for him. Any ideas where I can buy one of these "pests?"
Thanks.

[Samw]

You can probably look around on the reef Usenet group for people who are willing to give away their Mantis Shrimp (Its expected that you pay for the shipping of course).
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&group=rec.aquaria.marine.reefs

Do a search like "free mantis shrimp" or something. Or post a message on Usenet and someone might respond.

My live rock took about 1 month to cure in a garbage bucket. I kept it in the dark and stuck a heater and powerhead in there. For the first 2 weeks, white fungus covered the rocks and the smell was horrible (Keep a lid on it). I did some partial water changes along the way. Through the end, many critters survived. I have tons of tube worms (small featherdusters) and copepods or amphipods that made it through. The bugs bred like crazy which was great for when I transferred them to the tank. My fish love to eat them.

[Dolf]

Thanks, I will cure the L.R. aomewhere other than my room and hope it is still good quality. Thanks for the link to the mantis, I just couldn't think of where you could purposely buy such an undesirable creature!

[Samw]

Hey, if you can't find one for free, I found a place in Canada that sells mantis shrimps for $10. Don't know anything about this company though. I have never ordered from them before.
http://www.interlog.com/~invertca/shrimps.htm

[Dolf]

Thank-you, I contacted the LFS today and was told $90-100 for the shrimp. I will order once the rock is cured and the tank is ready (if I try to do both at once I will be found murdered and the tank dismantled and sold shortly thereafter.)

[StirCrazy]

did I read that right... 90 to 100 bucks for a mantis?? they should be hapy some one wants one..

Steve