missing shrimp

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michealprater

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Oct 3, 2002
Messages
2,311
Location
Highland , IL
I havent seen niether of my harliquins for several days. I'm pretty sure their gone. It has me bummed out, and furious at the same time. I'm almost sure that my pair of Coral banded shrimp turned on them and killed them. So I was wondering, who has the cheapest trap. My plan is to trap them and put them in my 20 gallon tank with my dwarf fuzzy lion. (and no, this isnt a exucution, they are larger that the lion). Every trap I have found has been about 20 bucks. Anyone know of a cheaper one, or a DIY make shift trap? Any help is apprecated.
 
only DIY trap I've seen is taking a piece of PVC pipe and attaching a panty hose to the end. then you wait for the shrimp to go in and slowly pick the trap up. Sorry if its not alot of help but its what I've seen to catch mantis shrimps.

Peace,
DHS
 
In the past, if I wanted to catch an invert in my tank, I would use some bait on a small stainless steel wire rod (.063" tig wire works great) to lure it out into the open, and then catch it with a clear plastic box. This also works well with smaller morays (-14") and brittlestars.

From my experience, traps don't work well.
 
Well, I ordered a "X-terminator" shrimp trap today. It is coming from www.transfishsupplies.com. I will leave a review once I recieve my order.

Hopefully I will catch that pair of CB's and successfully transport them to the 20 gallon with the dwarf lion. BTW, they are way to big to fit in the lions mouth.

Hopefully in the future I can then replace my harliquins,and cleaner(s).
 
I had a large grey brittle star catching and munching on shrimp. Found them the next morning dead and limbless. :( I was able to catch and remove the brittle star. No problems since.
 
I asked Micheal because of that. A few days ago I fed my tank and the grey brittle star and fire shrimp go nuts when there is food. My fire shrimp cross the same path of the star's tentacles and the brittle had a very expensive dinner that day.

I also have a red serpent star and so far it has eaten a monkey shrimp that I had and God knows what else.

I placed them both on a 29gal that I had set up but had no fish or anything yet.
 
No brittle stars in my tank. Thanks for the concern. However I would not suspect a star fish considering that Harliquin shrimp are predators to all starfish.
 
well, unfortunatly I wont be getting the pair of CBS out any time soon. The x terminator trap is a very small trap. My CBS wont fit in it . NOw I have to order another. Any recommendations?
 
I would try and catching them as I stated in an earlier post. I know that you should keep your hands out of your tanks, however, when the lights are out the fish are normally hiding anyway. I have used this method many times. A 1/4" wooden dowel with a needle (cut the head cut off after you stick the pin in) in the end to place the "bait" works well also.

The idea is to get their attention buy slowly coaxing it out into the open, and stealthly :troop: get a container behind it. as you may know, when they try and "run" they move back fowards.
 
I appreciate the help, dont get me wrong, but my tank is a 100 gallon tank that is 24 inches tall. There is almost 300 lbs of live rock in the tank. Its hard enough to get one arm down in the tank, let alone 2. its acrylic also, that makes it even tougher since the openings on the top are smaller and not even with the front glass. If you would like to see what I'm dealing with, take a look at pictures of my tank in the gallery section. Again, thanks for all the help guys. A trap just seems like the most logical way to catch those shrimp. Does anyone know of a larger trap that would work?
 
www.transfishsupplies.com has "the trap" for 27.99 AFTER shipping. Does anyone else know of a place with a better deal. I bought my trap from them so if they let me ship it back I will get some credit with them. However, I would like to shop around because I'm sure they do price matching.
 
Thanks Kevin, I check it out. Big Al's price is 29.99 before shipping. Trans is 20.99 plus 7 bucks shipping. Do you own a trap? How does it work? Do you catch the wrong critter alot while trying to get the right one? Any hints on making it more effective?
 
Best other place I saw it was 23.99 before shipping. Check out Marks link...it might work.

Do you own a trap?

Yes :D

How does it work?

Bait compartment on one end, weighted door attatched to a string on the other...fish or shrimp go in after the bait, let go of the string, they are trapped.

Do you catch the wrong critter alot while trying to get the right one?

Sometimes.

Any hints on making it more effective?

Use what ever it is that you feed the shrimp for bait. Do it at night when the shrimp are most active and the fish are sleeping.
 
Well, guys. I am going to buy "The Trap". I emailed the owner of trans fish and he said that if I sent the x terminator trap back then he would pay the shipping for my new trap if I paid the difference. Talk about great customer service! I am going to write a review on them telling members how happy I am with my experience.
 
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