Help!! Killing Spree....

[jimmyz]

hey all.. my 5 small fish has been killed mysteriously recently. big fish are ok.. but all small fish gone in 3 days.... could it be mantis shrimp???

does the bicolor pseudochromis prey on mantis???

thanx

[veliferium]

not necessary,it depends on how big ur mantis is...

[jimmyz]

i have caught a 2 inch long mantis shrimp.. but was to late to save my naso tang... water parameter are ok..

[Trigger99]

how did u manage to catch it?

I have a green one, approx 2 inch in my tank.

[jimmyz]

i manage to spot which hole it is hiding and i took out and use a chopstick to poke it out...

[johntanjm]

I've got a mantis shrimp in my tank too! under 2 inch and looks disgusting. I was so disturbed by it after i saw how it looked like that i tried all ways to get it out short of removing all the life rocks are inspecting hole by hole. The closest I came to was actually to use a thick hose and start a syphoning action like how we change water and then stop the hose outlet with my thumb. move slowly until the head of the hose inside the water is near the shrimp and then when u think its close enough, release your thumb, the strong suction should zap that thing and even if it doesnt go in, the force of the suction (depending on how thick ur hose is) should be enough to smash the body of it, just like how i've accidentally chopped off fins of fishes in the past. i thought that would be perfect but when i got a chance to do it, after releasing my thumb, there is a short time lag before the suction gets to full force, so i miss that shrimp cos of that few millisecs.

Disappearing fish is just one indication of a mantis shrimp, u've read abt the tapping sounds and etc i'm sure.

Strange thing is i havent seen or heard my mantis shrimp for quite a while. and i've got a royal dotty back, an anemone crab, a doctor shrimp all very delicate, gentle creatures all inside that tank and they're all ok. and you should know that shrimps, dottybacks and crabs crawl all over into the nooks and crannys, but they're fine, mantis didnt kill any. maybe there's a hibernating period. who knows i'd soon have godzilla. haha!

cut the long story short, my experience with it, dont bother devicing methods to hunt it, cos they all depend on your luck. Unless you're gonna inspect rock by rock, otherwise really, dont bother. and its not a bad thing, cos u know the shrimp goes to places many others cant, so u dont need to worry about uneaten food stuck in cracks or what not. might just prove to be the most effective cleaning shrimp for those lil small fishes trapped dead behind the heaps of live rock.

HAVE FUN!

[Trigger99]

I just found out which rock it is hiding in.

Luckily i am still cycling my tank.

Will wait a couple more days and see if it dies of starvation...

Will be cycling for 2 more weeks.

In the meantime, I will set a "DIY" plastic bottle trap near its lair!

[johntanjm]

that thing has evolved since pre historic times and it has a very evolved and developed instinct for survival. so ya.. i suggest u eliminate the problem once and for all. take the rock out,and boil it! mantis shrimp aka pissing shrimp is a great delicacy in HK!

[kthc]

Just saw Japan Hour. The host just ate it raw... direct from the sea...

If possible, take the rock out and get rid of the bugger... Satay stick works wonders

[diabolus]

mantis makes superb sacengers and keep ur nuisance snails and crabs population zero. if its a smasher, i dun see why its going to be predatory against your fishes if you feed it well.

[Trigger99]

Think i saw another one in the tank today. also slightly > 1 inch.

SO there are 2 in my tank

one is a green one and the other is a grey one.

anyone has trigger fish to loan ? LOL