The Mantis is back!

3 weeks ago I was hearing some tapping noise but I thought there was no way I could have a mantis. The following day I looked and the SOB destroyed 2 base rocks. Remind you this was during my cycling (week 3).

After I saw the ruble I saw a small "thing" jumping rocks so I said some choice words at it and proceeded to remove all the rocks soaked them for >5 min in very hot fresh water and took club soda to all of the holes I thought were new. Then I left all the rocks in separate buckets for 4 days so I could try to pinpoint him. Then I ran a net through all of my sand....nothing.

After a few days I put everything back after I dipped them again and it has been quiet and no sign of damage... until lunch.

So now I have a 5 week tank with some crabs, cleaner shrimp and 2 clowns. I went home to test my water (as I do every day) and I saw this creepy, sly, SOB staring at me!!! If I didn't know better I think he had a smirk on his slimy face.

So the lesson here is no body, nothing is dead. So now I will spend all weekend trying to catch this punk.:-/

 

Damn, I never knew they were that tough . Any idea what type of Mantis it is? If you have a refuge you could try and put him in there, they are amazing! At this point you can't help but cheer him on a little (kinda like those nature videos with the Cheeta chasing the little gazelle)

Edit: Did not want to make it seem like I did not feel your pain, I just love Mantis shrimp, good luck!

 

Have you thought trapping it with a pest/fish trap? Might be a little easier than disturbing the tank trying to catch that guy.

 

I'm a little confused about this. We're talking about a mantis shrimp, right?


I thought this guys were tank destroyers, but again, I'm not an expert.
My question is, if it can destroy a tank and rubble live rock, wouldn't he be also capable of breaking the trap specially if he's cornered and trying to get away? The ones I've seen are made of acrylic, and that's definitely IMO softer than rock.

They definitely look cool though!

 

Those traps will catch your shrimp. I have a mantis in my tank and he's over 2" long and they are extremely smart. You have to be careful when dealing with them. They kill their prey with a 200 mph punch. They can easily break your finger. They can crack your tank. They will kill your crabs and most any invert. They can destroy certain corals(I swear he ate my duncans). When all is gone he will attack your fish. I have a 210 gal reef tank with 200 lbs of rock and all kinds of corals that are stuck to the rocks. I've been considering breaking down the reef to catch him. I only see him maybe twice a month. I took a video of him trying to pull a shell out from under a rock. Here it is.
YouTube - Mantis Shrimp trying to get shell out from under a rock
Good luck!

 

I will try the nylon with shrimp trip this weekend but I have to make sure that my other shrimp won't get nosy and gets stuck there for the stupid mantis to eat. I just paid for a yellow watchman/pistol shrimp pair and they are holding them for me to Sat. I don't want to put them in there until I get this mean, ugly, worthless thing out of my tank. Grrrrrrr.

 

Haha get some tweezers and tempt him out with some fleshy food . Ive seen people able to get their mantis' out this way.

 

I checked your video out. You have a beautiful tank, brother! I hope I'll get mine to look close to that someday

Congrats !!

 

If the nylon doesn't work that I will just poke around with a hanger until I get me a mantis-kabob. If that doesn't that I am going to put on some black face paint and do a special ops mission with baiting him. He will die tonight!

If he keeps giving me the stink-eye I will put a flippin' mouse trap in there!

 

Some punch and some stab/slice. I suggest you try ti identify the species before continuing on your hunt for it. That way you are prepared for the worst.