Best way to remove a Mantis Shrimp from live rock - All hands on deck!!!

[thebulkhimself]

Ok those of you who read my last post would know im having an issue with a baby/small mantis shrimp.

I have figured out a "trap door" style method to get the blenny out of the rock.

I'm after a way to remove the mantis from the rock (I've heard of soda water methods / warm water methods etc). I'll take as many ideas as possible as I really don't want to 'disturb' the rock too much.

Please help!!!!

[JimInAugusta]

I have heard that if you place the rock in hypersaline water that the critter will leave the rock. Then again I saw bigfoot once. Turned out to be my Mother-in-law.

Jim

[leveldrummer]

i would try a fresh water dip, you might flush out some of the other life in the rock, but it may be worth it, otherwise, a bigger mantis might work...

[XeniaGirl]

I hink I have a mantis shrimp too so I talked to the guy at the LFS (he's had one before too, and they had a huge one in the store)... he said to do the freshwater dip but make the freshwater extremely COLD, like 40 degrees... keep the rock in for about 1-4 seconds, he said it took 2 to get the mantis out of his live rock. Oh... and be sure you use tongs so if he does come out fighting, you don't get victimized!
Let us know what you do and if it works, since I'm debating on doing the same thing (even though I have no fish left)...

[know-it-all]

let the rock sit in a dry bucket until the shrimp come out

[tdwyatt]

Know it all hit it on the head, This does notkill everything else in the rock by using freshwater as well. If you want to capture it, put th ock over some SW in a bucket, it will be there, along with any crabs, etc over the rock. Try turning the rock 90 degrees every 6 hrs. When curing large amounts of live rock, there have been times when the rock (especially Caribbean-farmed land rock for some reason) would have tons of mantis shrimps lying under stax of the rock when it was piled up out of the water.


JME

[JennM]

I'm with Know it All and Tom on this one. You don't even need much water in the bottom of the bucket.

I had a client once have several fish "disappear". After a time she gave up on putting any more fish in her tank other than the ones she'd kept since the beginning without problems. Each "new" fish vanished without a trace. She never heard clicking and she tried the standing glass-against-the-live-rock as a crab trap but caught nothing. It never occurred to us that she had a "spearing" mantis, not a snapping one.

About a year later, she moved, and we moved her tank for her. Small tank - 26 gallons. We put her rock in a couple of salt buckets (empty) and bagged her fish and corals.

By the time we got to the other end and set the tank back up (less than 2 hours), as Scott was putting the tank back together, he called me over to look - sure enough there was a mantis in the bottom of the bucket. I guess when he got a bit "dry" he dropped out of the rock into the small puddle of water in the bottom of the bucket.

Problem solved.

Jenn

[Drfumanchu]

I have heard that pouring carbonated/seltzer water into the hole in the rock will make them come out in a hurry.

[chaynes73]

Where is a good place to get plain mantis shrimp, if one wanted to keep one?

[thebulkhimself]

Well i got him - he was only small but I used the soda water trick took a whole bottle of pouring slowly but sure enough he was lieing in the bottom of the siev and i just picked him up by the head with pliers (Really strong pliers)

[know-it-all]

congrats