How do I Catch a Mantis Shrimp?

[Frigideus]

I've had my tank for a couple months now and through its ups and downs it's still thriving (somehow). But recently, a mantis shrimp has popped up in my tank. I keep a LOT of invertebrates so this is an extremely problematic case. It's just a baby, so it has not attacked any of my larger shrimp or crabs, but it won't stay small forever. I tried the bottle trap and it didn't seem to fall for it. What can I do to get him out? Any help is appreciated!

 

[edsbeaker]

I've had my tank for a couple months now and through its ups and downs it's still thriving (somehow). But recently, a mantis shrimp has popped up in my tank. I keep a LOT of invertebrates so this is an extremely problematic case. It's just a baby, so it has not attacked any of my larger shrimp or crabs, but it won't stay small forever. I tried the bottle trap and it didn't seem to fall for it. What can I do to get him out? Any help is appreciated!

Following! I have the same problem and can’t seem to catch it.

 

[BryanM]

I've had my tank for a couple months now and through its ups and downs it's still thriving (somehow). But recently, a mantis shrimp has popped up in my tank. I keep a LOT of invertebrates so this is an extremely problematic case. It's just a baby, so it has not attacked any of my larger shrimp or crabs, but it won't stay small forever. I tried the bottle trap and it didn't seem to fall for it. What can I do to get him out? Any help is appreciated!

I've had success with bottle traps.

Take a water bottle, cut the top off, invert and super glue it back, so the opening is inside the bottle now... It is an easy in, hard to get out for most critters trap.

Poke many holes on it, put some mysis in it, submerge in the tank preferably nearby where the mantis lives, and hope he comes looking for the food.

Its noteworthy that you will catch other things. My cleaner shrimp made it in there, usually snails too.

 

[DaJMasta]

You can try traps but I had one hitchhiker smasher type that just walked over to it and bonked on my 3d printed one instead of going to the bait....

That said, what was ultimately most effective for me:
Find out what rock it hides in most of the time
Remove that rock and put it in a bucket
Wait about a minute
Add an inch or two of water to the bucket and slosh around
The shrimp should run out and be in the water

 

[fishface NJ]

You can try traps but I had one hitchhiker smasher type that just walked over to it and bonked on my 3d printed one instead of going to the bait....

That said, what was ultimately most effective for me:
Find out what rock it hides in most of the time
Remove that rock and put it in a bucket
Wait about a minute
Add an inch or two of water to the bucket and slosh around
The shrimp should run out and be in the water

This is what I did also. I had one that came in with a live rock shipment that I missed while they where in QT. I thought that they would die after being in the tank for a year. He was in the tank for 2 years. Then the trouble started. He was a good size by then and was stabbing my fish that swam near one of his homes...1 yellow wrasse, midas blenny and Dracula Goby. I had tried the bottle trap for 2 weeks with no success. My mantis went into a rock that was in the front of the tank. I grabbed the rock and that was the end of him. I have one in my sump from the last purchase of live rock that was bought for the sump.