There's a killer on the road

[ajroahkni]

Either my mantis or my pistol.

 

He's been smacking my crabs (the b**ch) and leaving them in a dazed stupor.

 

Been grabbing 'em and stuffing 'em up into the crawlspace of one of my LRs when I can't rescue them and give 'em mouth-to-mouth (not pretty). Morning rolls over and I've got empty carapices on the LS.

 

Now, I think it's one of the two shrimp, but can't see either (not gonna take the flashlight and prowl @ night). Whadddayaguys think?

 

Any thoughts? One of my emeralds kicked the bucket (was doing the backstroke on the LS), my sally lf was dazed & stuck to the prefilter (since resuscitated), and one of my gorillas was stuck in the misty (scooted him on his way) - but the others have become dinner for this cretin.

 

My big question mark comes from both the pistol and the mantis being smaller than the crabs. Must be something else, right???

 

Loves, hugs & kisses,

 

John

[Crakeur]

mantis shrimp are nasty buggers. get yourself a flashlight and try and spot the shrimp when the lights are out. if you can find his hole, set a trap. my favorite method, which I pulled off once, is to set a powerhead near the hole and leave it off. put some food (shrimp works) on a piece of string and put the shrimp near the hole. when the mantis comes out pull the string and lead the mantis toward the intake of the powerhead. turn on the powerhead when the mantis gets close enough and voila - your mantis is now pureed and fed back to the tank. payback's a *****!

 

those little mantis traps never worked for me. I always ended up with a crab or a fish stuck in the trap.

 

Another method, which I never tried but I have seen enough to think it must work, is to cut the bottom off of a soda bottle, put some food in the bottle and put the bottle near the hole. the mantis, hopefully, will be attracted to the food, work it's way into the bottle and be unable to climb out.

 

good luck.

[Dave ESPI]

Originally Spoken by Jim Morrison

Girl you got to love your man.....  

Take him by the hand .... make him understand......

[ajroahkni]

if you give this SHRIMP a ride, sweet family O'CRABS will die.

 

So, y'all think my little termite-looking mantis is the problem? I was growing quite fond of the little, ugly creature.

 

Maybe I'll break off his clubs and leave 'em be (but I guess that wouldn't be leaving 'em be).

 

You should see my crabs, they get all dopey and then SPAZ out, and then move their legs in and out, up and down. Guess it's like trying to shake off a concussion.

[ajroahkni]

It's the fricking little termite looking mantis!!!

 

My Sally LF is no more. Came home this evening and saw the mantis kicking back, on his back, on one of my polyp rocks - like a fricking LaZBoy.

 

He had a carapice between his clubs, with two of the telltale Sally legs still stuck to it. AAARRRGGGHHHH! H! Eating like it was Tony Roma's.

 

This guy's gotta go.

[BCOrchidGuy]

I read that they can dice your thumb like a sushi chef on a rampage, be careful.....be very very careful

[ajroahkni]

WOOHOO.

 

Got rid of my mantis.

 

He was in a hidey hole in one of the LRs I took back to the ocean today...

 

I was looking at the rock before putting it back in and trying to extract 2 of my emerald crabs (didn't work:( ).

 

Then I saw those little beady eyes peering at me... Chucked the rock w/ a big smile on my face.

 

Now I need to go and replace my hermitsX) .

[Dave ESPI]

PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS.......

 

dude ther are some diseases that are captive only, and reintroduction into the wild can be seriously delitorious to native species. If ALL your animals come fron the ocean, ok, but as soon as you introduce a single ounce of forign bacteria, a fish, a crab, or invert (even alga can harbor nasty stuff) to a natural water estuary, the potental for ecological disaster is there.

dude I dont want to single you out, and Im sure you are a cool kid, but you have to stop being so reckless. There is a bigger picture you may not realize at this time.

 

examples,

 

the Snakeheads in Maryland,

 

Also Look at what is happening in CAlifornia with introduced calurpia algaes.

 

"Red tide" slime in Gulf of Mexico.

 

cats on a fringing island of Gallapagos.

 

Maddagascar Ring tail monkeys.

 

Bufo Marunious Toads in Florida Sugar cane fields.

 

Crown of thorns starfish and Mans' stupidity of chopping them up in the mid 40's

 

EEL Grass in Hudson Bay Canada.

 

the list continues.

 

Nile Perch in Lake Tanganyika, Africa

 

Accidental "unknown at the time" introductions.

 

Simply "doing the right thing" by replacing an animal back into a saltwater environment can be bad.

Again I dont want to rag on ya John, but there is more at risk than you can realize at times.

 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE....... I seen this dude in Floridahave a huge reef tank in his house and made a salt waterpond in his yard.

He had some hair algae growing in his IN HOUSE tank. he cleaned it, and disposed of the algae.

he was cleaning his NATURALY FED OCEAN WATER FILTERED POND a few days later and thought nothing of using the same buckets, tools and sponges and hozes.

a week later, he had uncontrollable hair algae in the pond.

Frustrated, he took rocks out of the pond, chucked them in the bay, and replaced the rock with fresh stuff from the bay.

Althought it cant be 100 % proved, this person singlehandedly caused a massive Bryopsiss outbreak in the Phosphate rich soil of the bay and in the process wiping out the existing species of various alga and destroyed a ballanced habitat.

 

Think about it.

 

then reply.

[ajroahkni]

You've a good point there Dave. Hawaii has it's share of alien species introduced, so I'm familiar w/ the seriousness of the threat. It's a major concern here, as the State of Hawaii is geographically separated from everywhere else and diversification is not easily dealt with w/ introduced species taking over and obliterating native ecosystems. Mongoose, Jackson Chameleons, Tilapia, Plecostomus, Axis Deer, etc. are a few species that have THRIVED and become threats here because of the lack of native competition for food.

 

I've no fish/rock/coral from any LFS, all life in my tank comes from (and is returned to) the same 1-2 miles of beach. So I assumed that I have pretty good containment and can't intro alien species to the natural environment. However, do you feel that my use of Artificial Salt mix will cause a problem when residual amounts are commingled with the ocean? Or is the greater concern that the captivity period that the mantis, crabs and LR spent in my tank has caused it to potentially ingrain some sort of captivity disease, caused simply by a non-natural habitat?

 

I do no dosing of chemicals/meds to the tank, again, only salt mix.

 

Appreciate your feedback into this. If you feel that I do pose a risk to the ecosystem by returning creatures, I'd like to know the what and how of it. If you feel that my practice of taking-and-returning is detrimental, I'd like to know. If you feel that what I'm doing is ecologically OK, please share that w/ me as well.

 

Thanks

 

John

 

BTW, I appreciate the civility of your post.

[newreefers]

If you get another mantis and want him gone just pull out the rock he is in, give him a good shot of fresh water with a turkey baster and stand back cause he is coming out of there, put rock back into tank. Ta-da.

[Dave ESPI]

Cool......

Thats good to hear. It makes me feel a whole lot better now.

Using a salt mix is fine as is proper collection technique.

I wount pound on ya fer it N-E more

 

What is the laws as of now on the capture and sale/trade of Jacksonii from Hawaii? I completely forgot about that major screw up ! At one time they were simply killing them instead of collectiong them for export for the pet trade (and possibly making $ for the islands).

I for one am interested in "rescuing" a few of them as they are awesome pets (provided the proper care/ enviroment is given)

Does it make it me a hipocrate? yes to a degree, but they are /were "kill on sight" status from EN-CON fer a while. Has this changed? them lill Triceratops are gold 'round here.

[ajroahkni]

I'm not sure of the "shoot to kill" status for these guys - THEY'RE EVERYWHERE in the area I live. Just another incidence of people getting these "pets" and releasing them into the forest. What's more, the LPS will NOT take them in. They "only sell captive-bred Jackson Chameleons..." Bunch of idiots.

 

Don't know if you heard of it, but there's this little tree frog that really screams out. Another LPS introduction to Hawaii. As w/ the Jackson, owners have released them into the rainforests. ON the Big Island of Hawaii (it's called Hawaii, as if that's not confusing enough), home values have plummetted in one area because of the screams of this frog - people don't want to live there anymore.