I have been trying to trap him for the last 4 nights with a trap made from a plastic bottle cut into with the top half glue in backwards. The first night I saw him looking at it, but he did not go in. I have been using pieces of raw shrimp for bait. Tonight I added some baby clams. I am still waiting. Has anybody had any luck catching one of these with a homemade trap? Are the ones you buy any better? Thanks for any advice you may have.
I have a mantis shrimp that is killing many things in my tank.
- Thread starter msawyer3
- Start date
I've seen it done, but there are traps for sale. the reversed top bottle should work, but if he's just been introduced to the tank, ie new live rock, he may be skittish for a few days. When you catch him, if you need a home for him, let me know. I'll happily pay shipping.
He has been in there several months. The first time I saw him, I thought I was seeing things. This week I was watching one of my snails and suddenly this thing came out from under my rocks, grabbed the snail, took the snail back into the rocks in about 1/4 of a second. The next thing you heard was him smashing the snail to pieces. When I was in my fish store this week, I told them the story and they told me what I have. I have seen him twice since then. If I can catch him alive, I will give him his own home, but I really need to catch him.
I tried every type of trap, store bought and homemade bottle trap. None worked. Had to wait until I knew which rock he was in and yank it out, drenched it with soda water. Good luck!
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If you know the rock he's in, its quite simple to get him out alive. If not, the coke bottle will work, but you may have to cut back what you feed the tank. Hopefully you wont have to disassemble the rockwork. if you do, wear gloves, they have a nasty punch
Nothing new, but just to throw my $0.02...
Soda bottle trap is my #1. Excellent for when you can't pull off #2 and you have time on your hands. Patience!
#2 is knowing his rock (and hole, preferably) so you can pull it out over a bucket of saltwater (to save him) and pour seltzer water into his hole. Sometimes this is tricky due to where the rock is in your tank or your inability to see which rock/hole he's using, but it's sure-fire once you get it over the bucket.
Good luck!
-Matt
P.S. Try baiting the bottle trap at night with something he likes - a live snail or hermit crab. They probably don't have as strong an instinct for dead stuff.
Soda bottle trap is my #1. Excellent for when you can't pull off #2 and you have time on your hands. Patience!
#2 is knowing his rock (and hole, preferably) so you can pull it out over a bucket of saltwater (to save him) and pour seltzer water into his hole. Sometimes this is tricky due to where the rock is in your tank or your inability to see which rock/hole he's using, but it's sure-fire once you get it over the bucket.
Good luck!
-Matt
P.S. Try baiting the bottle trap at night with something he likes - a live snail or hermit crab. They probably don't have as strong an instinct for dead stuff.
Mine was very active and I'd watch him run in and out of the rocks all day. If I had to do it over again, I'd have set up a tank for it. He was quite the character, but I was new to saltwater and had only heard bad things about them.
