catching a mantis

niloc16 · #1 10-31-2006, 05:54 PM

we sat in the fish room for about and hour and a half last night with lights out and flashlights in hand waiting and he didnt show. i found a crab though that i'm going to have to trap. i forgot to ask, with the inverted trap idea, what do you put in for bait?

i have crabs · #2 10-31-2006, 06:34 PM

try rubbing raw shrimp on your fingers and then poke your fingers into every cave untii the mantis finds you

smellsfishy · #3 10-31-2006, 06:41 PM

how do you know you have one? i almost never saw mine only heard, they are super smart and can see and sense movement very well. If you are able to see there eyes coming out of a hole in the rock your lucky.
I've also been fooled before buy the red and white stripped snails (forgot the name)they spin around quickly back and forth and tap the glass. i wouldn't have believed it if i hadn't seen it myself.
I admire your diligence

niloc16 · #4 10-31-2006, 07:26 PM

i havent seen just heard. there is a snap that sounds like ripping fabric (the best way i can explain it) that only happens about 1/2 after all the lights are out and then every 1/2 to hour or so through the night. havent lost any snails. i'm not a 100% its a mantis but leaning towards that direction

smellsfishy · #5 10-31-2006, 07:40 PM

it should sound like a marble hitting the glass< esentialy that is what they have on the end of the killer arm. mostly a non-rythmical sequence 2-4 snaps (usually 3) at a time, They will eat anything as long as they wack it first mysis for example.

niloc16 · #6 10-31-2006, 07:46 PM

it is never mutiple times only once and then stops for about an hour. it could sound like marble hitting the glass but more like thick fabric ripping. but the snaps are never more than once. do you think it could be something different. i guess it be more than one hit at a time but it is very rapid taps to sound like one

smellsfishy · #7 10-31-2006, 08:11 PM

personally i have always heard multiples.
i'm thinkin it maybe something else.
????metal shifting in the lighting, the bulb cooling down, syphon bubble from a vortex of water (sounds like a hand slap onto water), snail, sometimes my tangs will wack the tank with there tail while posturing, crab snapping it's pinsers as it picks the rock, i've even had my lawnmower blenny snapping the water as he eats the alga off the eurobraceing. i wouldn't panic just yet, keep investigating.

niloc16 · #8 10-31-2006, 08:53 PM

there is no fish in the tank yet except 6 chromis, 5 snails (4 astraea and 1 turbo) the canopy is being retrofitted with lighting as we speak so there is no lighting on the tank, the syphoning or bubbling would happen all day not just night time. but i definitely appreciate the ideas.