I have a 75 gallon saltwater aquarium. I have had it for about 5 months now. Everything is going great. I have some grape corals, leather, bubble coral, a clown fish, two anthias, a wrasse,zebra eel, three shrimp and a whole cleaning crew. A couple of weeks ago I saw something try to eat the shrimp I was feeding my eel and finally identified it as a mantis shrimp. He is living in one of my live rock that is on the top part of my tank. I purchased a trap for it and have no success in trying to trap it. Any ideas on how I could trap this thing. I am trying to do this with out removing the rock because the coral that is attached to the rock is thriving and I really don't want to disturb it. Any help or suggestions, please!
Help!
- Thread starter Alkatdave
- Start date
Treezer8
Reefing newb
What kind of coral is it that's attached to the rock?
Treezer8
Reefing newb
Ok, do the "clapping" ones look like this? If so they're called "pulsating" xenias, they should be grown onto the rock as well.
Is the mantis living IN the rock, or under it? how big would you say it is? length wise
GSP and xenias are, in my experience, a very hardy coral, so if you take it out and do a dip or take it out for a few minutes to try and let the mantis come out, they should do fine when you put them back in the tank.
So you said you had a trap, is it one of those mantis shrimp traps they sell online?
You can move the rock somewhere by itself, and then stick the trap outside it with some food in the back.
Is the mantis living IN the rock, or under it? how big would you say it is? length wise
GSP and xenias are, in my experience, a very hardy coral, so if you take it out and do a dip or take it out for a few minutes to try and let the mantis come out, they should do fine when you put them back in the tank.
So you said you had a trap, is it one of those mantis shrimp traps they sell online?
You can move the rock somewhere by itself, and then stick the trap outside it with some food in the back.
Thats exactly what I have. It is living in the rock and its probably about and inch and a half or so. The trap is one of those mantis shrimp rectangular traps, the food floats out of the box so I rigged it to be able to hold the food through a hole on the side. Then, you need to place the box in the tank, but mind you he doesn't really leave the rock on the top of the tank. So its kind of useless in my situation. The only other tank I have is the return tank. What do you think about using that?
Treezer8
Reefing newb
Like your sump/refugium? That would be the perfect place. Stick the rock in there, put the trap right next to it, if you see him come out, take the rock out so he has no where to hide.
