Mantis shrimp?

[lanman]

I think I have a mantis shrimp living in a hole in a rock... never would have found him - but while moving rock, I put a piece of rock in the new tank with his hole facing the front glass. I have only seen the front end of him, but I'm watching now... If it is indeed a mantis shrimp - would you suggest putting him in the sump - or just flushing him outright??

 

bob

[traveller7]

I think I have a mantis shrimp living in a hole in a rock... never would have found him - but while moving rock, I put a piece of rock in the new tank with his hole facing the front glass. I have only seen the front end of him, but I'm watching now... If it is indeed a mantis shrimp - would you suggest putting him in the sump - or just flushing him outright??

 

bob

It is a rare time I don't have one somewhere...I find them quite interesting. Have had one specimen for about 5 years now. Pretty green little female that lives with a sea horse.

 

If you know he is in the rock, move it to isolation. Sump should be fine. Quite a few folks like them and will provide them a home in a nano.

 

How old is the rock, source of rock, and have you been able to guage its size?

[jason the filter freak]

I would love to take him, please don't flush him

[lanman]

It is a rare time I don't have one somewhere...I find them quite interesting. Have had one specimen for about 5 years now. Pretty green little female that lives with a sea horse.

 

If you know he is in the rock, move it to isolation. Sump should be fine. Quite a few folks like them and will provide them a home in a nano.

 

How old is the rock, source of rock, and have you been able to guage its size?

The rock came from BRK about February. The hole he is in is about 1/2" in diameter - and he fills it up. I've still only seen his face. I sat there with camera ready for an hour, and he never came out enough to shoot a picture of him. Just two little oval things that look like big fly eyes. I put the rock in the sump for the night. I'll try again tomorrow evening. If I don't have a picture, he doesn't really exist.

 

I've been blaming my red emerald crab for killing all those snails. Now I'm going to have to dig out the shells and see if they have holes punched in them. Maybe the shrimp was killing them, and the crab was just cleaning up the remains. Of course, if he's a 'stabber' instead of a 'puncher', he probably stabs them as they crawl over his hole, and I won't see any holes in them.

 

bob

[traveller7]

Of course, if he's a 'stabber' instead of a 'puncher', he probably stabs them as they crawl over his hole, and I won't see any holes in them.

A spearer is not likely to be working over the snails or hermits at the size described.

 

Small smasher mantis can break snail shells, but there is typically plenty of other fare in a reef tank. When they get just shy of 2" they can wipe out the cleaner crew pretty quickly O.o

 

It is not unusual for them to have more then one places to park in a tank throughout the day, hopefully you snagged it while it was in it's main lair.

 

Lots of good information in the RC Mantis Forum and of course Lurkers:

http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/

 

Either way, good luck

[Almon]

Bob,

 

It sounds like a Mantis shrimp! You probably hear distinct clicking sounds coming from the tank too.

 

I had one for probably 8 years before I got him out. Completely wiped out the janitor population except for a few a the biggest snails. They are cool, but extremely dangerous in the reef tank. For years, I could not figure out why I couldn't keep small fish. I would put them in, see then once or twice, and that was it.

 

If you see it in the rock, remove the rock immediately. Get him OUT. But PLEASE don't flush him. I will take him.......Jason will take him....someone will take him.....

 

Also, they are nicknamed "Thumb Splitters" for a reason.....Don't get too close....be careful..

 

I read about a diver who got too close to one in the wild and was "Speared" through a finger. They could not control the infection and had to amputate the finger.

[lanman]

Bob,

 

It sounds like a Mantis shrimp! You probably hear distinct clicking sounds coming from the tank too.

 

I had one for probably 8 years before I got him out. Completely wiped out the janitor population except for a few a the biggest snails. They are cool, but extremely dangerous in the reef tank. For years, I could not figure out why I couldn't keep small fish. I would put them in, see then once or twice, and that was it.

 

If you see it in the rock, remove the rock immediately. Get him OUT. But PLEASE don't flush him. I will take him.......Jason will take him....someone will take him.....

 

Also, they are nicknamed "Thumb Splitters" for a reason.....Don't get too close....be careful..

 

I read about a diver who got too close to one in the wild and was "Speared" through a finger. They could not control the infection and had to amputate the finger.

Clicking? a) I'm hard of hearing. b) The tanks are NOISY.

 

There is a chance he escaped from that hole in the rock. But I don't think so - he seemed very hesitant to leave the hole; all I ever saw was his face. I'll be watching for him again tonight. The rock is now in the sump. I checked over the empty snail shells (all in a neat pile); and found no holes. If I can keep track of him long enough to rebuild my old sump/refugium into a refugium - I'll just put him in there. If I lose interest, I'll give him away.

 

bob

[traveller7]

(all in a neat pile)

That sounds very mantis like.....

 

Dawn and dusk with little to no activity(vibrations, movements) are best for eyeballing for the little guy. Not to mention a little dose of thawed mysis in front of it's hole.

 

Almost all the mantis species that hitch hike successfully are diurnal, instead of nocturnal.

[lanman]

First photo! I put a piece of silverside outside his hole; but this was as far as I saw him go out of the hole. Does it look like a mantis?

 

 

bob

[traveller7]

First photo! I put a piece of silverside outside his hole; but this was as far as I saw him go out of the hole. Does it look like a mantis?

Extremely high probability it is a shrimp, picture is not quite clear enough to conclusively say mantis vs. a few others.

 

For now, treat it as such, grow it out and keep snapping the pictures

 

EDIT: played with the picture a bit, do you have an uncompressed version which allows you to zoom in and see: Eyes, whether the front appendages are folded, etc.? Eyes, and appendages immediately ID or discard mantis. While I cant find the eyes, the appendages in vertical alignment almost guarantee a mantis in my experience.

Edited May 12, 2007 by traveller7

[lanman]

Extremely high probability it is a shrimp, picture is not quite clear enough to conclusively say mantis vs. a few others.

 

For now, treat it as such, grow it out and keep snapping the pictures

 

EDIT: played with the picture a bit, do you have an uncompressed version which allows you to zoom in and see: Eyes, whether the front appendages are folded, etc.? Eyes, and appendages immediately ID or discard mantis. While I cant find the eyes, the appendages in vertical alignment almost guarantee a mantis in my experience.

 

I zoomed; it just gets blurrier... I was unaware that the images on the foto site were compressed. The original is 1.3MB. Now that my tank move is about done - I'll have some time to chase the elusive hitchiker. This morning he has his door shut. I'm going to move the rock slightly, so I can get a perfect angle on his hole. Let me know if you want the original image - I can e-mail it. But once I have time to set things up, I'll be able to get some pictures that are in focus. I'm still learning the camera - and it has three completely different modes with Normal, Macro, and Digital macro. I just wish it had manual focus - the auto-focus guesses wrong more than it guesses right on macro photos. All else fails, I'll use my daughter's *ist - it has manual focus.

 

bob

[lanman]

Okay - this one is much more in focus. Not MUCH different from the last picture, but clearer; you can see little appendages and claws. It is NOT going to be hard to get a picture of this guy. He's already trained. When I went to put a piece of silverside on his rock, he came out and grabbed it right out of the tongs I was using. Of course - I wasn't ready with the camera yet. But I will be; might have to have my daughter put the fish down, while I man the camera, or vice-versa.

 

bob