alexkharden
Active Member
Ok, here's the deal. I've got no less than 5 mantis shrimp in the 306 pounds of Florida live rock I bought, maybe as many as 10. They are, of course, completely destroying my invert population. As an aside, I also have a couple (not many) bad crabs, and I've also seen at least 5 Cirolanid Isopods. All of these are things that I would like gone from my tank, obviously.
Compounding factors are:
A) The tank is cycled and there are inverts, fish, and coral that would be negatively impacted by causing a nitrogen cycle so I don't want to do things that will "kill" my rock or disrupt my system too severely.
B) The mantis are ignoring traps, likely because they're so well fed from my inverts, lol. Likewise the crabs and CI's aren't interested in traps or smelly water either. Right now food is just too plentiful in my tank for any interest to be generated.
C) If at all possible I want to remove the mantis shrimp alive. I'd like a species tank with a couple in it, plus I know I've seen at least 50 posts from people who would like to do the same. I'd happily donate my excess to that end for only the cost of shipping. The CI's can go down the crapper and the crabs may find a home in the sump, if there aren't too very many of them.
I've been doing a lot of brainstorming and reading. I fear that hypo/hyper salinity treatments would kill my rock. Likewise I believe would seltzer water. If I'm wrong on this point, someone please correct me.
The best idea I've read is suspending the rock over water and letting it dry, with water underneath, so that the shrimp (and crabs) make a dive for the water. This will likely be the death of any sponges/tunicates I have on the rock, but would it cause a massive die off of everything else? How long does it usually take for the shrimp to take that dive? Also, I doubt this would do anything for the CI's.
My original thought, a variant of this idea, is to put my rocks, one by one, into a 20 gallon at proper sg and temperature with normal flow. Inside this tank will be an eggcrate platform 10ish inches tall. On that platform I would set the rock. At that point could maybe force some directed high powered flow into the various cracks and holes in the rock to inspire the mantis, CI's and crabs to leave, the catch them in the open tank. Once each rock has been "cleared" I'd then put it into a separate 20 gallon, also at proper sg, temp, and flow, and leave it sit for a few days to listen for any telltale clicks/pops. Once cleared from that tank I could reintroduce it to the system in either the pump or fuge sections of my sump. Since I'm only removing two rocks at a time, and technically keeping them in the system for cycling purposes in the sump, I don't feel like this will cause a tank crash. I know once I get down to the bottom layer of rock I'll need to be super careful in not disturbing the sand, also to avoid tank crashes. Once the DT is cleared of rock, all the shrimp should be gone, all the rock should be living and happy. Yes, this is labor intensive. Yes, I think it would be worth it, if it would work.
The tank is 190 gallon. The sump is 75 gallon. I already have the two 20's set up as quarantines. So to implement this plan would only really require the construction of the platforms.
What I would like from all you fine people is experience and wisdom. Would/could this work? Would strong, directed flow be enough? Anyone ever attempted anything like this, with any success? Any modifications I should make to this plan, anything I'm forgetting?
I'm hoping that not only will I be able to solve my own mantis issues , but can possibly begin to create an almost guaranteed method of mantis/crab/CI extraction that is safe for the rock, the system, and the shrimp/crabs.
Fire away, I'd love all input!
Compounding factors are:
A) The tank is cycled and there are inverts, fish, and coral that would be negatively impacted by causing a nitrogen cycle so I don't want to do things that will "kill" my rock or disrupt my system too severely.
B) The mantis are ignoring traps, likely because they're so well fed from my inverts, lol. Likewise the crabs and CI's aren't interested in traps or smelly water either. Right now food is just too plentiful in my tank for any interest to be generated.
C) If at all possible I want to remove the mantis shrimp alive. I'd like a species tank with a couple in it, plus I know I've seen at least 50 posts from people who would like to do the same. I'd happily donate my excess to that end for only the cost of shipping. The CI's can go down the crapper and the crabs may find a home in the sump, if there aren't too very many of them.
I've been doing a lot of brainstorming and reading. I fear that hypo/hyper salinity treatments would kill my rock. Likewise I believe would seltzer water. If I'm wrong on this point, someone please correct me.
The best idea I've read is suspending the rock over water and letting it dry, with water underneath, so that the shrimp (and crabs) make a dive for the water. This will likely be the death of any sponges/tunicates I have on the rock, but would it cause a massive die off of everything else? How long does it usually take for the shrimp to take that dive? Also, I doubt this would do anything for the CI's.
My original thought, a variant of this idea, is to put my rocks, one by one, into a 20 gallon at proper sg and temperature with normal flow. Inside this tank will be an eggcrate platform 10ish inches tall. On that platform I would set the rock. At that point could maybe force some directed high powered flow into the various cracks and holes in the rock to inspire the mantis, CI's and crabs to leave, the catch them in the open tank. Once each rock has been "cleared" I'd then put it into a separate 20 gallon, also at proper sg, temp, and flow, and leave it sit for a few days to listen for any telltale clicks/pops. Once cleared from that tank I could reintroduce it to the system in either the pump or fuge sections of my sump. Since I'm only removing two rocks at a time, and technically keeping them in the system for cycling purposes in the sump, I don't feel like this will cause a tank crash. I know once I get down to the bottom layer of rock I'll need to be super careful in not disturbing the sand, also to avoid tank crashes. Once the DT is cleared of rock, all the shrimp should be gone, all the rock should be living and happy. Yes, this is labor intensive. Yes, I think it would be worth it, if it would work.
The tank is 190 gallon. The sump is 75 gallon. I already have the two 20's set up as quarantines. So to implement this plan would only really require the construction of the platforms.
What I would like from all you fine people is experience and wisdom. Would/could this work? Would strong, directed flow be enough? Anyone ever attempted anything like this, with any success? Any modifications I should make to this plan, anything I'm forgetting?
I'm hoping that not only will I be able to solve my own mantis issues , but can possibly begin to create an almost guaranteed method of mantis/crab/CI extraction that is safe for the rock, the system, and the shrimp/crabs.
Fire away, I'd love all input!
