I was told by my local reef fish guy that my live rock hitch-hiker (a 1.5 inch brown and purple mantis shrimp) isn't a problem and I don't need to remove him.
I was just wondering what some other opinions are on this. Does anyone else have one in their tank, and if so for how long and has it caused any problems?
Anyone have a mantis shrimp?
4 posts
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skeener - Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:53 pm
Hey. Unfortunately your local fish reef guy did not give you quite all the answers. Mantis shrimp can be demons. First you must determine if it a slasher or a basher type mantis shrimp. The slasher will eventually pick off your fish while the basher the more potent of the two will prey on invertibrates and also has a striking capacity known to crack tanks. The only issue is removing them. As they seem to be master evaders. Mantis shrimp can be beautiful but be very beautiful and seem harmless when small but be cautious.
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ashaw582 - Posts: 9
- Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:41 pm
I set a trap and he almost went into it, but decided not to at the last minute, and that's when our mandarin goby ventured inside and we had to remove the trap. Do you have any suggestions for removing it? Should we just keep re-setting the trap and hope he eventually goes in? Oh and he's a basher, we hear him knocking against things.
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skeener - Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:53 pm
Mantis shrimp are so hard to catch. If you are having an extremely hard time catching him after multiple resetting of traps another option is removing the rock that the mantis stays in (if not a main rock or part of your structure) and dipping it in a tub of freshwater for about 30 seconds (any corals or macro algae growing on that rock will be at risk of dieing) this is how I got mine out he shot out of the rock within ten seconds. Be warned though this method does have its risks for the life on the rock.