What's the best way to catch a mantis shrimp?

[Daniel@R2R]

Got a mantis shrimp in my live rock shipment. Trying to get him out now, but not sure what the best way is to go about it. I'm trying to pull a few pieces of rock at a time and put them in a holding tank, but not sure if there's a way to speed up the process.

 

[LiverockRocks]

Got a mantis shrimp in my live rock shipment. Trying to get him out now, but not sure what the best way is to go about it. I'm trying to pull a few pieces of rock at a time and put them in a holding tank, but not sure if there's a way to speed up the process.

Are you sure it is a mantis or is it a pistol shrimp?

Couple ideas:

• If you see the mantis, go into a rock; remove the rock from the tank, place the rock on a tray/over a bucket for a few minutes, the mantis most likely will exit the rock. (Base rock has little to no sponges, live rock will be fine out of the water a few minutes.)
• If you see it burrowing under the rock, set a bottle trap next to it.
• Some folks train the mantis to take meaty food from tweezers. Once it is comfortable being served dinner, it can be netted out while it takes the food.
• Or leave it in the tank and drop a clam near its burrow 2x per week. Fish will thank you for the treat too.
• Our mantis are smashers, they prefer bivalves, crabs & shrimp.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

+1 let the rocks sit out

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Are you sure it is a mantis or is it a pistol shrimp?

Couple ideas:

• If you see the mantis, go into a rock; remove the rock from the tank, place the rock on a tray/over a bucket for a few minutes, the mantis most likely will exit the rock. (Base rock has little to no sponges, live rock will be fine out of the water a few minutes.)
• If you see it burrowing under the rock, set a bottle trap next to it.
• Some folks train the mantis to take meaty food from tweezers. Once it is comfortable being served dinner, it can be netted out while it takes the food.
• Or leave it in the tank and drop a clam near its burrow 2x per week. Fish will thank you for the treat too.
• Our mantis are smashers, they prefer bivalves, crabs & shrimp.

I saw him in the tank, and he looked to me like a mantis shrimp (long body). Super cool looking critter! I'm hoping to set up a species tank for him.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Also got lots of cool crabs, snails, stars. And other cool critters!

 

[JGT]

Hyper salinity and pouring seltzer into his hole can get him to come out.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Caught him!!

 

[vlangel]

Yay and yep, that is definitely a mantis. How big is it?

 

[William Chiavetta]

Caught him!!

Wow what do you think you're gonna do with him

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Yay and yep, that is definitely a mantis. How big is it?

He's a little guy, about 2.5 inches.

Wow what do you think you're gonna do with him

I have a buddy who is taking him and has a tank set up for him. I wanted to keep him, but I think setting up this tank is about all I can handle at the moment.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Are you sure it is a mantis or is it a pistol shrimp?

So...what would you say if I said, I think I got BOTH!? I removed the mantis shrimp (as you can see above), but I still hear a pretty loud clicking in the tank which I'm about 99% sure is a pistol shrimp. So, I think you guys diagnosed the sound correctly, but since I had already seen the mantis shrimp I (incorrectly) assumed the sound was him. However, now I have the mantis out of the tank, but the sound is still present. So...I'm thinking I should add a goby to pair with the pistol.

 

[Toob]

Could simply be another mantis. I have one just like yours that sounds like a pistol - also came in on live rock. I have left him in the tank over a year now and he hasn’t really done much harm.

 

[kwjones]

When I was curing some LR I found one in the bottom of the tub, I took the small piece of LR it was living in and put it in a 5-gallon tank with a small heater and a Whisper 10 power filter. 50% water changes every week. Don't keep the tank in the bedroom unless you like hearing the smashing sound all night...lol. Super cool, but I lost him during a molt about 8 months later.