Lime green mantis shrimp

Sue.K

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I didn’t know where else to put this post…

Ok, back in December a bright green worm showed up in my tank. The August before had added live rock from TBS. I’ve been watching different things pop up, some live, some die. So this “worm” turns out to be a mantis shrimp of some flavor and is closing in on almost 2 inches long. I can hear a snap from the tank every so often; and, two of my Mexican turbo snails are dead. How do I remove it?

Sue
 

Gumbies R Us

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Sue.K

Sue.K

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Thank you for that! ☺️
 
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Sue.K

Sue.K

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Flame thrower?

Seriously, the way I've caught three of them is with a bottle trap.
I’ll look into that. This little thing isn’t quite 2” long, hopefully he’ll stay IN the trap 🪤
 

vetteguy53081

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often you can place a piece of shrimp in a fish trap and wait for it to enter. Can also be a pistol shrimp
 

BryanM

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I’ll look into that. This little thing isn’t quite 2” long, hopefully he’ll stay IN the trap 🪤
The bottle must be cut and the top inverted and glued back. Like this, and then they usually cannot get back out. I bait mine with mysis, and I poke holes in the bottle so the mysis can more easily be sensed.

1773411924865.png
 
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Sue.K

Sue.K

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I’ll look into that. This little thing isn’t quite 2” long, hopefully he’ll stay IN the trap 🪤
The bottle must be cut and the top inverted and glued back. Like this, and then they usually cannot get back out. I bait mine with mysis, and I poke holes in the bottle so the mysis can more easily be sensed.

1773411924865.png
I’m suspecting he’s going to be able to find the exit.
 

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I finally caught my mantis hitchhiker last week out of my evo 13.5 after a month of trying different methods. Bottle traps didn't work, all I got was my peppermint shrimps and snails. Couldn't let anything just sit in the tank.
I ended up making a tiny version of a minnow trap out of a water sample container attached to a glass scraper. The first couple of attempts it swam back out so that's where the extra plastic piece came in that's attached with the rubber band. I fed it well every other day (without a trap) so it knew when feeding time was, held the baited trap right by his burrow until he swam in and pulled it out real quick. Crude but effective. Donated it to my LFS and my tank is now back to being peaceful.
 

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