Think I have a mantis:doh:

[xtopher]

So as the title says, I think I have a mantis shrimp in my tank. I don't hear any clicking now that the pistol shrimp is out of there, but I was looking at my tank today and in a tiny hole in the liverock I saw these beady little eyes looking at me. The "thing" whatever it is is only about the size of a dime so not too worried about fish yet, but how do I go about capturing him?

[pyron88]

They make traps and sell them at the LFS. It might take awhile. Use a piece of fish for bait.

[leveldrummer]

remove the rock and dip it in fresh water.

[xtopher]

I can't remove the rock as it is a supporting rock for my aquascape, and plus it contains 2 RBTA's What kind of trap are you talking about Steven? Do you have a link?

[JennM]

Not all mantis shrimp click. Some "spear"... silently.

You can make your own trap. Take a small soda bottle, rinse it out, and cut the funnel end off it and invert it. You can use silicone to fasten it back in.

It should look sorta kinda like this:

-----/
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Sorry I'm not good at 'computer graphics' *g* Have the narrow end of the funnel pointing back into the bottle. This makes the entrance similar to that of a lobster trap. Bait the bottle with something nice and smelly, and place it in the tank at night. You may catch any hermits or serpent stars you have... but if you're patient you'll more than likely catch the shrimp. It will smell the bait, enter the bottle through the wide end of the funnel, and it will be almost impossible for it to find its way out.

HTH

Jenn

[Casey]

Good luck I hate them suckers.

[Loverotties]

Wow! I'll have to try to catch my brittle star that way,because I never see him out.

[cobray]

I'm going to try the pop bottle routine here soon myself. I'm pretty sure I have a mantis.