Mantis Battle...

[Reefer420]

OK- after the mantis in my tank knocked over my brain coral from a hole he hides in underneath it (causing the brain to fall on a zoo colony for a day - both brain and zoos are suffering...) I am on a missing.

He must be destroyed.

I just spent 45 mins w/ my hand in my tank and an extra long pair of needle nose pliers- i had him cornered a few times, and I got him mad enough to start attacking them- I swear I had him twice, but he slipped out..:banghead: I am sooo mad at him right now- but I think I have his honeycomb maze figured out... its only a matter of time...

I will keep an update as to how this battle goes.

Anyone here have any luck getting a Mantis out of an established tank? I've read so many articles on them, but I want 1st hand stories...

Anything I can put in a 16g that would hunt him down???

I am scared to put my hand in the tank- I'm always worried he will attack! :theyareon

 

[noodleman]

if you get him alive shoot me a pm

have you tried a fish trap? Or that cup near the side glass trick?

 

[masterswimmer]

One liter soda bottle. Cut off the top, invert the top back into the bottle (so it acts as a funnel). Secure the 'funnel' onto the bottle. Fill it with tank water. Place a couple of small pieces of table shrimp into the bottle. Lay the bottle down on the bottom of the tank. Wait a minute. Watch shrimp enter bottle. Take bottle out. Call Alvin and give Mantis to him. :lol2:

Here's pix of me catching my shrimp. Granted they were only peppermint shrimp, but the trap works the same way for a mantis.

Notice the funneled top inverted in the bottle:

It works on the wrong livestock too:

30 seconds after I put the trap in:

45 seconds:

Whallah! Caught and banished to my fuge for life!

swimmer

 

[ming]

Sounds like a story I had
I caught all 3 of my peppermint shrimps and banished them to the fuge for life because they were picking at my LPS for some reason to the point of near death. The LPS has since recovered but I can't say the same for the shrimps. They just.. dissapeared. It might be because I never feed the fuge.. but I'm just guessing. Its a 15 gallon fuge too. :Thinking:

 

[masterswimmer]

Ming, exactly the same fate for my little executioners. They killed 3 out of 7 heads on my new Blasto. Pi$$ed me off big time. I built the trap and had them out of there toot sweet.

I've since come to the conclusion that peppermint shrimp are opportunistic feeders and are NOT reef safe, IMO.

swimmer

 

[Dmitry]

My peppermint I got from someone on this site ate my aiptasia! But I never see him. He did it at night.

Anyway, with that bottle method be careful and try not to lose too many snails. I used it a few nights when I thought I had a mantis and quite a few snails crawled in and died because there's no water circulation inside. :headache:

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Anyway, with that bottle method be careful and try not to lose too many snails. I used it a few nights when I thought I had a mantis and quite a few snails crawled in and died because there's no water circulation inside. :headache:

Poke holes to the bottle should create just enough circulation for the snails I assume.

 

[Reefer420]

I've done the bottle thing for a week at a time to no avail... all I catch in my hermits and snails

He's just too smart to be trapped like that... but I guess I'll try again, I think he hit my firefish the other night- the poor guys got a small scar on his back!!!

Its funny- the mantis wasn't even a problem until a few weeks ago. I've noticed him becomming much more aggresive and doesn't hide as much any more- which might be good for my odds of catching him. He's about and inch and a half long now...

 

[ezee]

Reefer,

You should nuke the site from orbit.

Its the only way to be sure.


lol

E

 

[Reefer420]

i think he would survive even that i'm afraid... man what a pain these must be in a large tank...16g is too big to catch this bad boy!

 

[inkblue]

LET him attacK!

:Starwars:

...put youR open hand in, and wHen hE goEs to bite yoU... simPly cLose your hand :idea::joke::bigeyes::arg:

 

[Reefer420]

You have no idea how scared I am about putting my tank in to move a frag... I am worred he will attack! He does attack the tweezers I'm trying to use - I will get him :Starwars:

 

[inkblue]

arthVade:fight2::eat:tHat tHing MUST have a naturaL predatoR... E-V-I-L :sgrin:

 

[Savager]

I found this video from youtube. Mantis 1 : crab 0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdPjCL6HJqE&search=mantis shrimp

 

[Reefer420]

i think I could get SnowFlake eels if my tank was big enough- which it isn't. I think they eat shrimp, crabs, hermits, etc...

 

[masterswimmer]

I found this video from youtube. Mantis 1 : crab 0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdPjCL6HJqE&search=mantis%20shrimp

:batangel: Effective way to 'disarm' your attacker :duh:

swimmer

Great vid btw