Mantis shrimp

[lando]

i know that mantis shrimp in the aquarium are bad. I have "hunted down" a few of my own and gotten rid of them. My question is...Why are they bad? i seem to be missing two pepp. shrimp that resided under the same rock that I found a mantis hiding in. could he be the reason they are gone? thanks!

 

[reefrunner69]

They are bad because they are predators that eat small fish (or large depending on the size of the mantis), snails, crabs, shrimp etc... Basically nothing is safe in your tank when you have a mantis shrimp...

 

[lando]

thanks for the reply. what is the best way to prevent them? should i do FW dips on all live rock before adding it to my tank? I don't want to kill all of the good stuff growing on the LR.

 

[reefrunner69]

I like to dip my rock in a carbonated SW dip. basically you mix up some super saturated SW, and then add carbonated water to bring the SG down to that of the tank, I think most are using a 50-40% carbonated water to regular SW mix.