# mantis shrimp...i think



## kennyb (Oct 20, 2006)

yesterday i found the molt of what my fish guy belives to be a mantis shrimp. i brought the skelton to him and he said that what it was, and to try and catch him before he gets too big and starts to kill my fish. the mantis shrimp molt i found was about an inch long. i can here a faint click, click, clicking sound. ive read thats its pretty loud, but i was thinking it was quiet because it was so small. 
i mostly worried for my midas blenny who is always tucked away in rock crevises. how big do these mantis shrimp have to be to start hurting my tank? (i have a fish only tank) i have a trap set for it tonight, i just hope it gets it, i heard they were smart and wont go back in it a second time if it gets out.
i'll try and get a photo of the molt on the computer tomorrow.


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## mr.dark-saint (Aug 16, 2005)

If you hear a "click" it's most likely a "Pistol Shrimp". But without seeing the "molt" I couldn't say. Have you seen snails with busted up shells? When the Mantis Shrimp flick them you'll hear a click. By chance did you see the "Claws"? Did it look like a "Pincher" (like a lobster claw) or a what praying mantis's grabber?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

actually mantis make a click as well... it doesn't have to be very big to harm anything... try viewing your tank at night with red colored flashlight


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## i have crabs (Apr 30, 2006)

i have a small one that dosent bash in anything so far, even though its a smasher i cant even get him to bash the food i feed him.so you wouldnt always find smashed in items if you have a mantis.
i would start tring to bait him out into the open.mabey find 1 rock with lots of holes in it and seperate it from the rest of the rocks and start putting a chunk of shrimp tied to a small rock right beside the one you seperated every night after the lights go out sooner or later the mantis or pistol will move into that rock where it can be cought easily.


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## kennyb (Oct 20, 2006)

well we have split the tank down the middle witht he rocks, so that way i can tell what side of the tank he is on so that i can narrow down the rocks.
i didint hear anything last night, i used a blue flash light to look for him, but nothing yet.
i also set a trap for him, and i even thought i had him the next morning! but i ended up catching my flame hawke fish, who died a couple of hours after finding him in the tank.:rip: 
i will not give up!
here are the picks of the molt i found.


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## Guest (Oct 21, 2006)

oh yes. definitely a mantis shrimp. Get it out as soon as possible or it will probably end up killing your fish and inverts. 
When you do catch it, it would make an excellent candidate for a species tank.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

If you do catch it... PLEASE send it to me! I'll pay you for shipping and everything... I've been wanting a mantis for sometime now!


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## Guest (Oct 21, 2006)

Fishfirst said:


> If you do catch it... PLEASE send it to me! I'll pay you for shipping and everything... I've been wanting a mantis for sometime now!


You should talk to some of the people on Grim Reefers (www.grimreefers.com ). A lot of them keep mantis shrimp, im sure you could get one from someone there.


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## kennyb (Oct 20, 2006)

luckly we dont have any inverterbrates.
is it big enough to hurt some of my fish now?
we have;
2 b&w clown fish
3 cromis
1 kole tang
1 blue throat trigger
1 midas blenny
1 spotted toby (who is blind, i hand feed him every night)
all my fish are around 4 inches or less.

does anybody have any other suggestions on how to catch this guy?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

I would try an inverted 20 oz soda bottle... with a nice piece of krill in there.


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## i have crabs (Apr 30, 2006)

mantis shrimp swim quite well and a bottle trick wont work


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

an inverted bottle is similar to a minnow saine... minnows swim good... but it still works. Of coarse I would monitor the bottle quite a bit... so the mantis doesn't figure out how to get out.


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## kennyb (Oct 20, 2006)

ok well its 8pm eastern time, and i will feed the fish soon, and turn off all the light so that they will go to bed early. and see if ican catch him/find him
i'll keep you posted.
thanks guys


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

did I say saine I meant a minnow trap


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

you should use a red lense on your light. not blue.


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## Ice (Sep 25, 2006)

Oh yeah - that's definitely a mantis shrimp ! They can tend to be hard to capture. It must've been one lil bugger that made it in after the rock was cured completely. Just watch your fingers and you won't get bitten by him.


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## Ice (Sep 25, 2006)

So, did you get him ?? LOL !! Try looking for him in rock crevices or under the rocks in the substrates or just that, under substrates.


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## kennyb (Oct 20, 2006)

we are looking, i changed the lence from blue to red tonight, so maybe that will help. and my fiance used a peice of tape to make the entrance a little smaller so that our blind toby puffer would not swim in it by mistake. he almost sawm into it last night, i know he can fit into it but theres not much room so if he puffed up it might be a problem. not to mention the last fish that got in it died the next day. so hopefully this modified trap will work. 
also im going to feed everyone a little bit less tonight and when i hand feed toby i will take out what he dosnt eat so that the mantis will hopefull come out looking for the only food in the tank...in the trap!!

we have a lot of rocks with holes in them, do you still think that it will go into the substrate? i havnt looked there yet. what do i do? just turn up the sand?

thanks everyone for helping me through this by the way. i really apperciate it! especially when i catch the little bugger!


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## Ice (Sep 25, 2006)

He could possibly be hiding in the substrate under the rocks. Just an idea. Gotta think like a mantis shrimp ! Where would YOU hide really, really good without being seen if you were him ? Just a thought.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

most likely its in a hole in your live rock and not under the substrate. Smashers usually aren't burrowers.


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## kennyb (Oct 20, 2006)

going to bed now, i set the trap again tonight, i dont think i'll get up tonight and look for him. i will just let the trap and mantis be and see if that helps. i dont want to be scaring him away with the light.


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## Ice (Sep 25, 2006)

Interseting article on mantis shrimp : Click the link below :

http://ozreef.org/library/articles/mantis_shrimp.html


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## kennyb (Oct 20, 2006)

so far no sign of the mantis.
im going extreme now, im going to not feed the fish for a day or two. i talked to the fish guy at the pet store, (who has years of fish experience behind him, and has done tons of tanks, and tank setups) he said that pellets have worked the best for him. luckly my inlaws have a 175 gallon and they have the right pellets that they give their lion fish, so i dont have to buy a whole thing for a few pellets.
its going to be hard not feeding my fish, they are like babies for me, especially my puffer, he cant graise like the rest of them. i think i will still feed my puffer since i can take out what he dosnt eat. 
i need reassurance thats it ok not to feed them


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

its plenty okay not to feed them for two or three days.


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2006)

Did You get him yet?


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## kennyb (Oct 20, 2006)

tonight the night i set the trap, its been 3 days of no food so everyone is good and hungry.


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