Oh, good :confused: Just set up three new tanks and have taken down two of them already to fix various problems. Now I gotta take down the third tank for some freaking scary worm :evil: Will be on the look out for this sucker for sure :2gunfire:

Bev, the worm we're talking about wraps the snail in a slimey mucous. If you don't have slimey snail shells, you likely don't have this worm.

Brad,

How long does the mucous stay on the shell? I leave the shells in the tank for a few days before removing them because they're in a hard to get at place. Maybe they have mucous, but it goes away before I get the shells out.

I'm hoping it's some kind of crab that will take the bait I've set out. Most crabs are relatively easy to catch ime.

oh, hmm was that the one that I had the pics of it streached across the tank trying to get the krill out of my brain? made the slime tunnel accross the sand. redish about 3 to 5mm accross and segmented?

Steve

About an hour after lights out, I took the flashlight to the dead snail tank. Found an itty bitty light coloured crab, about 5mm across its back, about 2" from the mouth of the trap. As well, at the other end of the tank, found a large hairy legged crab with black claw tips. Inside the trap were flying bugs, two or three about 2mm long and white, and one large dark one about 4mm long. I've seen the large dark one before and had it IDed by Dr. Ron at RC as a harmless detrivore. All in all, a pretty exciting evening :razz:

This morning, though, I got quite a haul out of the trap. TWO crabs, one a 2.5cm across the back red eyed crab and the other a 1cm across the back crab that had become a midnight snack for the larger one. Have had red eyed crabs before and didn't have a dead snail problem though.

Also this morning, the bivalve shell is missing and the two dead snail shells that were there for the past few days have been moved.

Chris says he just heard some clicking in from that tank :eek: So, going on the premise that there's a mantis in there, how do I catch it?

are the snail shells cracked? that is usaly a tell tail sign for a mantis.

Steve

Steve,

Not cracked and not slimey, either. Maybe Chris heard the acro shrimp from the other tank, which also clicks. But if it was a mantis, how would I catch it?

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I any of you have a picture of this worm I'd like to see if it resembles one that is living in my tank. No mishaps yet but sure is an ugly thing.

Bev,

I found a few links you can check out...
The last link is mostly just info about them though.
HTH :biggrin:

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver...tisShrimp.html

http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pest/catch.htm

http://www.togar.de/English/aqua/mantis_shrimp.htm

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Those Mantis shrimp are freeeeky