mantis :(

[fresh]

ok, this is my first post and the first time I see this website. I got the link from Jack in ocean aquatics. Hi all, it is so good to know that we actually have something happenning here in van city.

Back to the topic :)

I found/saw one of those buggers in my new 100lbs lr shipment and took the whole rock out and gave it away. Now every once in a while I hear more clicks :(

My guess is it is another one of those evil party poopers (since there was another one). But the problem is I don't know where he is at (which rock). I have been placing a soda-bottle-trap with a piece of salad shrimp in it for the past 2 weeks but he is not coming out to eat!

He has been there with the rock for about 6 weeks now (cycling the tank) and I am itching to put sand and start my reef.

What the hell is he eating? How can I get rid of him? I have expensive fish in qt that are waiting to be added to the main tank but I don't want to add them because I am affraid they will be dinner very soon.

WHAT SHOULD I DO???

Thanks in advance

Fresh.

[Aquattro]

Fresh, welcome to Canreef! Jack's a great recruiter :razz:

Have you seenthis second one? It could be a pistol shrimp. The soda bottle trick can sometimes work in an hour, sometimes a month. It helps to put it near the shrimp hole, so try and find where it lives. It can live forever in a tank, eating pods and anything else it can get, including it's own molt.

[Jack]

Those were my exact thoughts brad. Same advice from me there too.

Welcome to canreef. More the merrier, right? :mrgreen:

[One_Divided]

If you figure out what rock it's in, squirt some fresh water in to it's cave with a turkey baster and it'll come right out..

[fresh]

well see this is the problem guys. I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE **** THIS THING LIVES! otherwise I would have had some fun torturing him just like he is doing to me right now!

[Aquattro]

otherwise I would have had some fun torturing him just like he is doing to me right now!

We know you're joking, right? :eek:

[fresh]

of course I am ;)

actually my friend that took the first one from me and put it in it's new castle (10 gal tank) wants the second one too to put it in another 10gal tank.

BUT I have to catch it first, and so far it seems that there is no way to do so :cry:

[Aquattro]

Try and sit motionless near the tank and leave some "bait" lying around where you can see it. All of the mantis' I've had would come out to investigate. Then watch where it goes!

[fresh]

I have been doing that for the past 4 week but to no avail, and I should mention that my wife hates me for it. Her exact words were: "if you are spending so much time looking at rock, how much time will you spend when you have fish swimming there?" :lol:

I guess I will just keep doing the same thing I have been doing and hope to see him :sad:

Thanks all for your help.

fresh

[Jason McK]

I have had a mantis or pistol in my tank for over a year now. I have only seem it once and grabbed the rock it was in. But it must have hopped rocks as I was pulling it out because it's still in there. I have tried the pop bottle, the store bought trap, and the food in the nylon trick. It has beaten me. I now have an agreement with it. I will over feed to include him and he will leave my fish and crabs alone. The Snails are still in negotiations


Good luck, if you come up with anything new that gets him please share

J

[fresh]

I feel your pain and I am a living example of it :)

[sumpfinfishe]

Welcome to Canreef Fresh :mrgreen:

IYWMO, to me 100lbs of live rock can't be too much rock, 3 or 4 buckets tops. Why not get some steel covered gloves :mrgreen: and give each rock a saline dip in hopes that you catch it sooner than later. Just be sure to dip for less than a minute or so for each piece in water of a salinity at around 1.040, otherwise you will have a bunch of dead rock instead of live. I did this when first starting out, and it helped me catch a little pistol shrimp which I though was a Mantis :evil:, either way that little shrimp sure took a nice piece of flesh off my finger :redface:, which is why I suggested the steel golves :mrgreen: