Bristleworm & Pistol Shrimp

[unninair]

I am looking to trap a few of my bristle worms, a pistol shrimp (??), and a black & white crab.

 

Are there traps available in the market for trapping these? Anyone have a trap that I can borrow for a few days?

 

Unni

[davelin315]

Use a jar that you lean against the rocks and bait it with some shrimp or other meaty food. If you angle it correctly, they won't be able to get out when they fall in. There are commercial traps, but they're pretty expensive and I'm not convinced that they're worth the money, or, for that matter, even that much more effective.

[unninair]

I'll try the Jar approach and let you know the results in the morning

Thanks

[unninair]

Jar still has the bait.. may be they have not found out how to get in there... Or they may know these tricks already :D

[traveller7]

Jar still has the bait.. may be they have not found out how to get in there... Or they may know these tricks already :D

39605[/snapback]

While I am quite sure you have bristle worms, but why would you think you may have a pistol shrimp?

[flowerseller]

You have to take the lid off the jar............

 

:D :P

[unninair]

You have to take the lid off the jar............

 

:D

[traveller7]

The reason I believe I have a Pistol shrimp is because I hear loud clicking

39615[/snapback]

Clicking at night all but eliminates mantis, but they are infinitely more common in rock then pistol shrimp.

 

fwiw: I have yet to see a confirmed ID of a pistol shrimp arriving as a hitch hiker on LR. It is unlikely because they live in sand. Not saying it can't or does not happen, just that I have never seen it :>)

 

fwiw2: 99% of "clicking" in a tank is due to snails climbing on top of each other and the bottom one twisting to shake the other off and clicking the glass.

 

btw: The crabs are tough to catch, be patient it may take a few weeks. I have been more successful watching the tank after lights out with red film over a flashlight and relocating the rock to a bucket.

 

Good luck.

[unninair]

I am not sure what it is that is causing the clicking..... I hear it sometimes during day time and mostly at night. I sure hope to find out soon.

 

The crab I have has a shell that is half white and half black. Since I didnt put him there, I want to catch him to get a picture to ID the species.

 

Unni

[davelin315]

I am not sure what it is that is causing the clicking..... I hear it sometimes during day time and mostly at night. I sure hope to find out soon.

39642[/snapback]

 

That's just the bristleworms tapping their chins wondering how in the world they're going to open the jar up to get to the bait without hands...

[unninair]

Alright Dave.....

 

1. You gave me incomplete instructions...

2. How do you explain the tapping before I put the closed jar in the tank?

 

JUST KIDDING

 

 

BTW Whatever is in the tank does not know how to jump very well. I realised that in my haste, I placed the bottle such a way that the shrimp would have to be well versed in gymnastics to get in.

 

Hope I'll have better luck tonight.

 

Unni

[davelin315]

The tapping before the jar was them tapping on the glass saying "Hey, give us some shrimp in a jar!"

 

When you stick the jar in, make sure you lean it against the rock. If you have hermits, you'll catch them in there as well, otherwise you should be able to catch what you're looking for. The other method is to take a soda bottle, cut off the top, flip it over to act as a funnel, and then glue it together or fasten it together with something. You can put this on the bottom and submerge part of the bottle in the substrate so they can walk in, but they won't be able to get back out.

 

By the way, to make sure you don't have incomplete directions, make sure it's a plastic one!

[Guest speccialj922]

if it happens to be a mantis or a pistol shrimp, what do you plan on doing with it when you catch it?? id be happy to take it off your hands either one too. i was thinking of using one of my 2.5 or 5g tanks for a species aquarium for either a mantis shrimp or a small goby w/ a pistol shrimp. let me know if youre looking to get rid of your "pest".

justin

[Guest minimalist]

Bristle worms are commonly frowned upon but they're actually beneficial to our systems. If you want to get rid of them, coral banded shrimp and six line wrasses are their natural predators.

[unninair]

CAUGHT THE CRABBY.... Picture attached... But I think he died of fear or fighinting with the hermits that got in there with him..........

 

Can some one please ID this?

 

Dave - I had tried the "plastic" bottle trick and all I caught was hermits and snails.

Thanks a lot for your help. I will repeat this if I continue hearing the clicking, to catch the elusive shrimp.

 

Unni

[GaryL]

the pic might be a little small but you could ask dr ron over on RC. didnt you post it in another thread. some one id'ed it as xanthid sp. probably right. but after meeting dr ron i figure in invert zoology he is the MAN.

[unninair]

Gary,

 

I did post on a different thread.... I will try RC to be certain. BTW I havent figured out how to post these hi-res pictures....

 

Unni

[davelin315]

You need a web-hosting site and then you simply copy the link to the picture and paste it in using the "IMG" button in the code buttons area (when you submit something new). I use photobucket and also have a shutterfly subscription. Photobucket reduces the pictures to a uniform size so they download quickly and fit into the screen (I think 250kb max) while shutterfly doesn't reduce the picture quality at all, making for a difficult time for someone with a slow connection. Really, there are tons of free sites out there, so pick and choose one that suits your purposes.

[DCDeacon]

BTW traveller, I did get a number of pistols with my TBS live rock, which is apparently pretty common. I also got a few mantis in there as well. Apparently I didn't get them all out as I still have clicking in my tank. Since it's at night, I'm assuming it's another pistol I didn't get.

[unninair]

Dr. Ron from RC confirmed that it is a Xanthid Crab, defenitely not reefsafe.

I have not heard any clicking last night, so I am leaning towards the crab rather that shrimp.

 

Thanks again

 

Unni