Mantis Shrimp GOOD OR BAD

by **puffedupseagull** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:11 am

For about a year now, i have been hearing this tapping noise in my tank. Unfortunately my poor old hermits been getting the blame for his shell tapping on the glass, but tonight eating dinner in front of the tank, I SEEN THE LITTLE BASTARD. Had a head like a prawn (shrimp) and a body like a lobster. Was quite colorful, and heaps of little legs..
ARE THEY BAD OR GOOD.
If they are bad how do i catch it, cause damn its quick, and sly. Took a year to actually see him.

by **Snowboss4492** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:24 am

BAD BAD BAD - - -very mean VERY AGRESSIVE - - -beautiful in their own right but very dangerous creatures, I actually can't believe you still have crabs left as they will kill em - - -do a search on Youtube, and you'll see what I'm talking about

i've never had one, but i know there are actuall mantis shrimp traps out there look on petsolutions or Drs foster and smith type sites and see what they have

they are cool and beautiful, I'd set up a 10 gallon just for him and have a Hyper agressive tank - - - they can get 3-5 inches long

Boss

by **blueshoes2208** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 3:16 pm

haha damn i hope if i run across a problem like that i can spot it within a year..... found a little red lookin earth worm... he was pretty cool.... so now i have what people told me was a bristle worm, a little starfish, and now a lil red earthworm.. :) look at my ecosystem ha

by **saltwaterpimp** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:00 pm

mantis shrimp are very smart.and very hard to find..some people like them as pets.. what are the shrimps colors ?

by **lionlord3502** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:44 pm

thay are the coolest little guys ever but will eat all you fish if alowed to. we had a zebra mantis in a 12 g nano reef dident tuch any of the hernits or crabs but it loved fish lol. all i can say is good luck. and i hope you git it out befor it kills everything. but i have herd of people keeping them with fish to. sometimes you git lucky.

by **puffedupseagull** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 4:32 am

Yeah it is smart, has actually taken me nearly a year to find the little shit. Pimp i caught a quick captain at it, it seemed to have a brownish head to middle of body color, and the tail had similar colors to a mandrin dragonet.. But like i said he is only and inch to inch and a half long, but quick, and fast.
Whats the best way to catch the little guy. Wouldnt mind putting him in another tank. Maybe a refugium.

by **jweb1369** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:09 am

Make sure whatever tank you have him in is thick. They can break glass as well as acrylic. They can also grow to 12". They are one of the smartest creatures in the ocean, and have better vision than any known animal. You can catch them, there is a website out there somewhere I read that this guy successfully caught one and after going to get something he came back and it broke through the trap. Then he had to be even trickier to catch it a second time. Make sure you catch him the first time it is the final time. Here's the site I just found it.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-03/j ... /index.php

It tells you all about them and that guys experience. He seems to be a well researched man and knows what he's talking about. Read it all, I did.

by **newbie916** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 4:56 pm

My cousin and I were talking about mantis shrimp the other day. I guess he knew someone whose glass tank shattered because of the little bastard. I heard that they could almost break through anything. Some LFS's sell them for $50 around here and they recommend keeping them in their own tanks. Not an animal that I want to keep, it's kinda like having an aligator in a fish pond:)

by **nicholas542** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:56 pm

I've heard from my local petstore manager that those things can actually break the glass on tanks, and they will kill pretty much anything including fish that you put in you're tank. BAD thing to have in a peacful reef aquarium.

by **Snowboss4492** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:03 pm

ok here you go................turn up the volume and listen to this little mother smash that crab all to peices

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkv_30niM_A

Boss

Mantis Shrimp GOOD OR BAD

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