Mantis tag along

[fish1344]

<span style="font-family: Arial;">Hi,
I've been reading threads for awhile, but this is our first post. I was just fascinated by all the discussion surrounding the mantis shrimp. We have one that either came into the tank on some LR or came with the setup we bought used. (S)he is pretty big and we don't normally get to see her a whole lot. I'm trying to interact with her more now. She doesn't really mess with our fish a whole lot. She got a couple of small percs before we knew she was there and then took out a mandarin goby after tolerating it for a few months. We have a maroon clown, a lime green wrasse (I just call him Jose, I don't know what type he is), a hippo tang, and a yellow tang that he doesn't seem to bother. There are also two brittle stars that keep him company that he's never messed with. (Yeah, I know I keep changing the sex in my pronouns).

I'd love to set up a separate tank for her, and we even tried to catch her with a homemade trap and a storebought someone gave us. I caught the wrasse, but not the shrimp. I just love watching her and would like to have her out of the community tank. Any ideas, or should I just enjoy her and keep her well fed? I have heard suggestions about flushing her out of the rock, but would really love to avoid rearranging the tank. What else can I do to keep her out and engaged?</span></em>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span> </em>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Thanks for the tips,</span></em>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Jess</span></em>

 

[drnecropolis]

Take the rock that it lives in and dip in in a bucket of club soda... Will come right out

 

[budsreef]

I think he want's to keep it so club soda is not a good idea. Some species of mantis shrimp live in a rock that they plug at night. If you can figure out which one it is and it is reasonable to remove that rock then just move it to another tank at night when it goes in. Otherwise, trapping is probably your only option. There is a forum on Reef Central that is specific to mantis shrimp and I'm sure you could learn a lot about these guys from reading it. Here's a link to it:

 

[gwhiz]

Budsreef;236454 wrote: I think he want's to keep it so club soda is not a good idea. Some species of mantis shrimp live in a rock that they plug at night. If you can figure out which one it is and it is reasonable to remove that rock then just move it to another tank at night when it goes in. Otherwise, trapping is probably your only option. There is a forum on Reef Central that is specific to mantis shrimp and I'm sure you could learn a lot about these guys from reading it. Here's a link to it: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=37">http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=37</a>[/QUOTE]

Actually, they're pretty durable. I wouldn't submerge them in Club Soda, but I had a number of them in my rock when I first got it. I was able to trap the first couple, but the rest I got out by removing the rock from the tank and pouring club soda into the holes while holding the rock over a bucket--when they jumped out I moved them to the other tank. I did have one who barracaded himself in--I couldn't even see the hole, although I'd seen it open earlier. I poked around a bit to knock the 'door' out, then applied club soda.