How do you catch a mantis shrimp? HELP!

[TeamTyEmily]

Hey.
We bought a marine fish tank 2nd hand with fish and live coral etc. starting from last night our starfish has lost 2 limbs. We have checked all tests for the water and everything is fine. It's now down to the mantis shrimp. Please can anybody help us in catching him????
Thanks
Emily

 

[herp_mommy]

make a simple trap. Have to check it each morning though. Take a regular size water bottle/ coke bottle, etc, cut the top third off, invert the "funnel" and place bait inside. Prop it up next to the rock you think he's living in and leave overnight.

 

[Weaver]

I never had much luck with the traps with my tank, i had to get mine out by hand. When the lights go on in the tank, look for which rock he scurried into and move that rock (quickly!) into a bucket or similar device. Then you can wait for him to come out, or do as i did and take a turkey baster and squirt hot water into the holes in the rock. They usually come right out after that. I then filled the bucket with acetone, but if the mantis is of the more desirable variety, just acclimate it to a new tank. Good luck.

 

[Readingexcalibur]

The tank knowingly came with a mantis, or you think you have one?

 

[TeamTyEmily]

The tank knowingly came with a mantis, or you think you have one?

We think its a mantis she told us it was a a pistol shrimp and bright green. When I went to my local marine shop he said it sounds more like a mantis. We can him clicking but haven't yet seen him.

Does anybody know what this centipede is? Would it have done any harm to the starfish?





Centipede just above the starfish.

 

[Readingexcalibur]

It is a bristleworm, very common hitchhiker with LR. And I may have. There is a pretty solid difference between a mantis shrimp and a pistol...

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Mantis shrimp and pistol shrimp are only alike in that they both make the snapping noise. You are probably very wrong about it being a mantis, mainly because it would be very hard for an employee to mix the two up.

 

[Ryleyman]

Show us a picture if you can get one!

 

[TeamTyEmily]

We are on the hunt for it coming out to tonight. We are even more eager to catch now after our starfish has sadly passed away
We have a scallop in the tank do u think it could harm that?

 

[Ryleyman]

We are on the hunt for it coming out to tonight. We are even more eager to catch now after our starfish has sadly passed away
We have a scallop in the tank do u think it could harm that?

Did u get it yet??

 

[TeamTyEmily]

Did u get it yet??

Nope haven't caught it yet. We are trying to figure out where abouts it lives and which hole. We can still hear it all the time. Think he's teasing us! Haha
Unfortunately our starfish passed away

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Nope haven't caught it yet. We are trying to figure out where abouts it lives and which hole. We can still hear it all the time. Think he's teasing us! Haha
Unfortunately our starfish passed away

I hope you guys arent searching for something that doesnt exist.... I havent heard much evidence that there might be a mantis in your tank

 

[TeamTyEmily]

Well it's either a mantis or a pistol shrimp in the tank. The lady we bought the tank off said it was a pistol shrimp when we bought it but last week something took a liking to our starfish. We can defiantly hear him as he is always clacking his claw.

 

[Beengirl]

Could be a pistol then. If the star buried itself and its arm ended up in the pistols burrow, it'll likely eat the offending arm. No wild animal is gonna pass up on a meal just sitting there. And pistols click too. But they're not dangerous, except to snails and burrowing starfish maybe. If the lady you bought it from says she bought a pistol, then it's a pistol. Just don't get anything else that digs in The sand and you should be okay. (Nassarius should be okay, though) Now if you suddenly have a bunch of fish go missing, then I'd be thinking a mantis.

 

[Readingexcalibur]

A big mantis at that. Last I heard, mantis are not starfish eaters, rather fish/clams/scallops.

 

[crister13]

Yes they eat fish clams and things of the such. Crabs, snails, blah blah not stars. Seriously why would you think it's a mantis if she said there was a pistol in there?

 

[TeamTyEmily]

Yes they eat fish clams and things of the such. Crabs, snails, blah blah not stars. Seriously why would you think it's a mantis if she said there was a pistol in there?

Because we didn't know if she had got it wrong or not. If one person is telling us one thing and another is saying something. We have seen videos of mantis eating starfish. So to be honest we don't know what to believe so on this one I think we will stick to our on judgement.
People have been very helpful towards us though in trying to help and for that thank you.

 

[Sniperhank]

I'll be honest, I wish I could look at the tank and be able to give a better opinion. I want to say pistol in this instance. But time will tell.

What kind of starfish was it? There is a chance that it could have died from other reasons... Mantis can eat starfish. The first guy I found in the forums here that owned one had it in a tank w/ an attached sump full of chocolate chip stars that he would cut a leg off to feed the mantis.

 

[crister13]

That was a harlequin shrimp. I remember the thread. But they USUALLY dont eat stars.

 

[Readingexcalibur]

I have never heard of a mantis eating stars... Harlequin shrimps only eat stars as crister points out...