do i have a mantis? another damsel is missing 8(

[srgetz]

i am missing 2 damsels over the period of a week, no sign of them anywhere...i suspect a mantis now but i do not have enough experience with this...can juvie damsels can eat one another with not a shred of evidence left? i have seen nothing...its just baffling (the only thing in the tank is the lr & 4 damsels) i just set it up 3 weeks ago, a 45g with 50lb lfs fiji / tonga lr and 4 damsels, a saddleback, a domino and 2 yellowtail. all seemed healthy and active, ate well and the 2 remaining seem fine. a few days ago, after the 1st disappeared i pulled all the rock and sifted the sand and no fish, now another is gone and i know there has to be a problem

btw, the lid was closed and there was no sign of them on the floor, and just to be sure i disassembled the powerhead and hob - not there

the water quality is 0 nh3 0 nh2 8.2 79d (dont have a nitrate test yet)

what do i do now?

 

[reefrunner69]

What evidence do you have (besides a couple of missing fish) that there is a mantis?
Where did you get you LR?

The disappearing fish phenomenon is fairly common in reef tanks, although you may not have purchased any, there are sure to be hithiker crabs on your rock that would make short work of any dead or distressed fish leaving no sign of the fish when they are through consuming it. I think you need a little more to go on to blame a mantis, but if it is, first you have to locate the mantis and the rock it hides out in and then remove the rock, from there you can dip in a hypersaline solution, or a carbonated SW solution and the mantis (and anything else) will most likely flea the rock.

Another possibility is that it has made it's way to your sump/fuge (if you have one) I hade a watchman that made it to my fuge, it stayed there for a couple months before I found him. The disappearing fish phenom is so common I didn't even bother to look in the fuge

 

[srgetz]

lr is from my lfs, i am going to call him now and see what he thinks

no i have no sump, and i already disassembled my hob & powerheads

we combed over every rock and could not find a single crab

i am missing 2 1" yellowtail damsels (incidently, the guys who slept in the bottom near rocks) overnight and within around a weeks time...this is not enough evidence to start dipping the rock?

 

[reefrunner69]

i am missing 2 1" yellowtail damsels (incidently, the guys who slept in the bottom near rocks) overnight and within around a weeks time...this is not enough evidence to start dipping the rock?

For me it would bo enough for me to go on a hunt, but not to disassemble the reef. If however, you don't have that much rock and are not really set on how your rock is aquascaped....I would take the opportunity to pull the rock out and dip it as I re-aquascaped the tank