holly Mantis shrimp

[dockrat]

well i came home this afternoon after work and looked into my tank to find a mantis shrimp staring back at me.... Holly crap where did you come from ? I have had my tank for about a year and this is the first time that i have seen him, and i spend hours sataring into the tank... I havent added anything that he could have hichhiked on for about 8 months just frags... So he must have come in with the rock... lol well im going to need to set up another aquarium my girlfrend is going to kill me oh well... So how do i get him out? he lives in a rock that most of my other live rock sits on so a fresh water dip is out of the question (for now) tearing down the tank is a huge hassel... I have tryed the pop bottle with shrimp with little susess for crabs so does any one have any ideas? any links on mantis shrimps would be great i would like to id him (if i see him for more then 3 seconds)
any help would be a big help.... well im going to surf the web to get ideas
kris

[Willow]

i had a huge one in my tank that hitched in on some rock. you basically have two options. leave him in there and replace keep adding to your snails every once and awhile. or you figure out what rock he is in, pull it out and pour club soda over the rock until he pops out into a container. i basically lived with mine for a year and got him out when i rearranged the rock, everything was cool until the next day when the popping started again. i guess it never occurred to me that there would be more than one mantis!

[Quagmire]

If you end up having to pull the rock,and are planning on keeping him/her,just put the rock in the new tank

[Midknight]

Hey Dockrat,

Where are you? If you catch him I wouldn't mind taking him off your hands.

[untamed]

Once I pulled the rock that contained my mantis...plunging it in/out of regular SW was enough to make mine jump for it. I didn't need to use anything has harsh as FW or soda water. (I mean...try the least rock-damaging things first)

If you hand feed him, he will become increasingly bold/tame. Once he gets a bit tame, it will improve your chances of catching him in some kind of trap. I haven't done it, but I suspect that a fish trap is likely to have some success. Make sure the bait is secured in the trap so that he has to tug at it for a few seconds. If the bait is loose, he'll grab it and be out of there fast. Unlike crabs, they are very good swimmers.

Mine lives happily now in a 2 gallon tank. He's become quite a pet, although I'm still nervous whenever I stick my hand in there....

[dockrat]

well he's not doing any harm yet i still have most of my sails and crabs, so in not giong to tear down most of my tank quite yet... but I'm going to try to catch him... im going to try to hand feed him with long tweezers what sould i use as bait? will he come out for shrimp?
any advise im new to keeping mantis shrimp but i have had him for a year lol

Midknight I hope to be able to keep him but if i cant ill let you know.

[untamed]

He'll go for just about anything. A piece of shrimp is perfect.