Help, mantis shrimp sighted

[Tired]

That's a funny-looking mantis. 

[WormLicker]

This is an incredibly entertaining thread. Good luck catching him LOL. 

[Wemblymoops]

Years ago when I had one I found it’s hole and pulled the rock and poured club soda into it. Mantis shot out like a rocket right into a net. 

[M. Tournesol]

New update.

Not off the mantis capture (since I didn't put the trap back since the snails even 🤫) but of the mantis assault charge👮‍♂️.

 

Since I heavily feed the tank, the mantis doesn't seem interested in "snail soup" 🥳.

Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that an impudent snail have the right to walk on his lawn 😑.

 

The victim is now out of danger but will live with a cicatrice🐚.

 

[filefishfinatic]

On 4/8/2021 at 8:30 AM, M. Tournesol said:

I decided to listen to an old post on another forum and make offering 🙇‍♂️ of food for the mantis.

Quote from the old post : " As crazy as it sounds, if you keep it fed and full , it won’t kill for food. “A fat mantis is a happy mantis”. "

I may deal with it if some of my precious snails disappear or in 1 year when I will move house.

 

If you have any advice (trap, optimal food offering, ... ), please comment 

if its a smasher you can keep it. it wont kill fish if its fed

 

ik someone who has gulf mantis with gem tangs 

[M. Tournesol]

3 minutes ago, filefishfinatic said:

if its a smasher you can keep it. it wont kill fish if its fed

yes, but I like my snails and also liked my dead pistol shrimp 😅.

[filefishfinatic]

Just now, M. Tournesol said:

yes, but I like my snails and also liked my dead pistol shrimp 😅.

get more agressive fish and move ur goby. a sandfish and hogchoker and shrimp eel would be cool tank and owuld work nano. idk ur tank size tho. and it shouldnt be a spearer cause it killed ur snails 

[M. Tournesol]

Hello, this is my tank, not your 🤨

 

I don't want more aggressive fishes and I like my gobies. The theme of this tank is Pocilloporidae (with 2~3 acropora?? and 2~3 zoanthus??) and their symbioses crab (Trapezia sp.) that I plan to add in the future.

The mantis must go. The only question is when. (And I know that it is a smasher)

44 minutes ago, filefishfinatic said:

it shouldnt be a spearer cause it killed ur snails 

It didn't kill any snails. I haven't lost any snails. I bought 7 snails and still have 7 snails.  

Edited August 23, 2021 by M. Tournesol

[Tired]

"Get more predatory animals" is not a very good response to a predator in an aquarium. Easier to remove the original predator. 

 

The trap should get it eventually. Maybe if you temporarily reduce feeding the rest of the tank? Don't starve anything, but target-feed everything so there's less spare food around for the mantis. 

[M. Tournesol]

Thank @Tired.

For the time being, my biggest problem is the size of the aquarium. I don't have a lot of places to put the trap. One of the emplacements next to the stomatopod home is already occupied by a coral frag rack. Another, less good, was taken by a coral in recoup mode. Thus the trap was placed in an emplacement that was pretty far from the stomatopod home.

Since the coral in recoup mode decided to RTN a little more, I moved him again. I can now bring the trap closer to the stomatopod. I just need to take the time to do it.

 

PS: I think the mantis shrimp may know that I am speaking of him 😰. He is making a lot of noise right now 😨

[Snow_Phoenix]

9 hours ago, M. Tournesol said:

Thank @Tired.

For the time being, my biggest problem is the size of the aquarium. I don't have a lot of places to put the trap. One of the emplacements next to the shrimp home is already occupied by a coral frag rack. Another, less good, was taken by a coral in recoup mode. Thus the trap was placed in an emplacement that was pretty far from the shrimp home.

Since the coral in recoup mode decided to RTN a little more, I moved him again. I can now bring the trap closer to the shrimp. I just need to take the time to do it.

 

PS: I think the shrimp may know that I am speaking of him 😰. He is making a lot of noise right now 😨

Have you, by any chance, been able to ID the species of the mantis? They're actually very interesting and cool animals, but I do admit that trapping it & removing it would be the best course of action. Any plans to rehome it once that's done?

 

(Or will it get the almighty flush down the slippery porcelain bowl of nasty stuff?  )

[M. Tournesol]

1 hour ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Have you, by any chance, been able to ID the species of the mantis?

Not really, the best video I have is the following gif.

On 6/12/2021 at 1:01 PM, M. Tournesol said:

From my observation/glimpse of the mantis, the fact that the rock came from Indonesia, and roy's list, the species could be: 

- Gonodactylaceus glabrous
- Gonodactylaceus ternatensis

 

1 hour ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Any plans to rehome it once that's done?

I cannot sadly set another aquarium until the beginning of next year. But I will ask the local LFTs and French forums.

[Tired]

If you don't find it a home, don't flush it- that's inhumane. Crustaceans feel pain. Either crush its general head area in one go with something like a hammer (have to be confident you've destroyed the brain), or get some clove oil, which you should have anyway for emergency fish euthanasia, and euthanize it. 

[M. Tournesol]

Thinking about it, I may just wait it out again.

 

I will upgrade my tank at the start of next year as I will surely move to another town. It will also be possible for me to keep multiple tanks. If no snails die until then, the stomatopod stay.

Unfortunately, this means that the pistol shrimp will have to wait 😭.

[M. Tournesol]

So ...

After reading this following post, my stress level shot up 😬. 

On 8/24/2021 at 10:26 PM, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

This isn’t always the case. Our G. Ternatensis was well fed, and still killed any fish that was in the tank with her. Mantis will mantis, and nothing is safe in the tank with them. Not even clean up crew. 
 

I would not recommend a mantis for a 10 gallon tank, nor would I recommend one in a tank with no water changes. They are messy, dirty creatures that need regular water changes to keep their conditions pristine, so they can safely molt. 

Because of it, decided to try to catch my stomatopod again 😣.

(I Know, I Know, I quickly changed my mind😩)

 

This morning I set my trap with some raw shrimp. 

I get up to go do something else when, my nassarius snail that I haven't seen for a week, exhumes itself out of my sand 😦.

The bugger jump at the shrimp piece and disappear back into the sand 😱 !! 

He's a real ninja .

he didn't even need my help to go out of the trap 😑.

 

I think I'm cursed 😵.

Does this mean that I cannot set my trap with any kind of appetizing food? 😥

 

(The photos are in chronological order)

[M. Tournesol]

😳I just saw the stomatopod, it has a beautiful black coloration with a touch of orange on its edges.

It's also bigger 😓

[Tired]

Catch the nassarius and temporarily put it elsewhere so it won't steal the bait. 

 

Lovely tank!

[M. Tournesol]

It's ####ing going out. From Sunday, I will actively try to cash it every day.
 
I was looking at my YWM goby doing its "I am the boss, don't come close" dance when a black shade jumped at it 😨.
I got the fright of my life 😵. The stomatopod may have wanted the frozen food behind the goby. Didn't hear a "clack" and the goby doesn't seem too perturbed by this meeting.
Its intimidation level doesn't seem strong enough to overawe the mantis shrimp. It should go take more dance classes 💃.

Edited August 27, 2021 by M. Tournesol

[horseysurprise]

On 4/10/2021 at 8:14 AM, Tired said:

Catch it in a bottle trap and put it in a container where it won't die, then see if you can find someone who wants it. If not, humanely kill it. I recommend clove oil to humanely kill unwanted hitchhikers, since you should have it on hand anyway for euthanasia of suffering, dying fish. Health food stores should have it, or you can get it online pretty cheap, and you can read online how to use it.

 

Preferably, though, rehome it. Ask on here, on a local aquarium forum if you have one. Heck, if it's colorful, ask your LFS if they want it. They're novelties, and unusual to find for official sale. 

Didnt know about this clove oil thing, adding that to my purchase list

[Tired]

I highly recommend having it on hand, for when animals inevitably get to a point where they should be euthanized rather than allowed to die on their own, whether that's from disease or simply from old age. We think of old age as a peaceful death because humans get a ton of drugs when dying of age-related issues, but animals don't get that, so they should be euthanized before they start to suffer too much. And pest animals should be euthanized humanely if they can't be rehomed- it's not their fault they're pests. 

 

[M. Tournesol]

My trap may be too small to cash it now. it doesn't seem to be very interested in the bait (a piece of raw shrimp)😢.

 

[Tired]

Oo, he teleports! 

 

Is he underneath the rock? If he's not in a rock, but under them, you could try to catch the fish and then pull the rocks and chase him around with a net. Or if you know which rock he's in, you could remove just that rock and try to get him out. Suspend the rock over a container of water for a bit, see if he climbs out. 

[M. Tournesol]

40 minutes ago, Tired said:

Oo, he teleports! 

 

Is he underneath the rock? If he's not in a rock, but under them, you could try to catch the fish and then pull the rocks and chase him around with a net. Or if you know which rock he's in, you could remove just that rock and try to get him out. Suspend the rock over a container of water for a bit, see if he climbs out. 

I already did it once 🙄. I don't want to do it again 😭.

 

This morning I did a test with the trap closer to the rock and whiteout the lid (trap part). The shrimp threw itself on the bait.

I will post the GIF in the next 30 minutes 😉.

[rough eye]

take what i say with a grain of salt because i know nothing about mantis shrimp. but you've had this since april and other things have not worked. if it were me, i think i would consider evacuating the tank as Tired suggests; removing all livestock. Then you could starve the guy out. get him so hungry that when food is presented he'd be easier to trap.

[M. Tournesol]

Just now, rough eye said:

Then you could starve the guy out. get him so hungry that when food is presented he'd be easier to trap.

Yes, but for this to be possible, I would need another tank. This is physically impossible. I don't have room.
The shrimp seems to eat the bait. I have a good hope that the trap will work in the coming month 🤞(if not, I will surely retry the all rock out).