Shrimp ID Please - Mantis???

[HappyGuppy]

Hi folks,
While enjoying the tank I spotted something different in my tank.  A shrimp.  A bit bigger than the others I usually see (at least 1cm).  It has stripes across the back.  I notice that it curls it's tail under it's body similarly to how the aphipods look. 

Is this a mature amphipod?  I googled mantis shrimp but it doesn't look like the colorful pics online, though perhaps it is yet immature?  I'm really hoping that it is not a mantis. 

I heared the ghostly voice of JetJumper in my head saying "take a picture".  Grabbed camera but all I could get is super fuzzy pics up close.  JetJumper, thinking of you I also took a couple snaps of the tank, but I still have to figure out how to get them online for you guys to enjoy.

[JetJumper]

haha!  if it truly is a mantis and you don't want it.. I will trade you something for it.

I have always wanted to try taking care of a mantis!!

[JetJumper]

I was actually reading more on them this morning and saw this.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/

[HappyGuppy]

JJ

It kind of looks like those pics on the link, particularly the 4th on the right. 

I would be happy to give the mantis to you for free, assuming that A) it is a mantis, and B) I can actually catch it.  If you wanna give me something for is as a "trade" then wow, bonus.

BTW, I noticed BAs is selling a yellow mantis. 

Tell me how to trap this guy, and he's as good as yours.

[HappyGuppy]

The more I think about it, and seeing those pics & youtube vids I am seriously leaning towards thinking it is mantis. 

Sigh.

[JetJumper]

Yeah, I saw the yellow one at BA's.  Its in the same container they had the Octopus in.  I guess they sold him or he escaped.. haha..

If it is that mantis.. Thats awesome!  They have nice colours!

What size is it roughly?

Read this.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1710644

[Stussi613]

What a timely post!  I'm in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic right now and while snorkeling off the beach today we saw a mantis shrimp fluttering around on some rocks chasing some crabs!  Truly awesome to see one in its natural habitat, and a very cool animal. I've seen a couple of videos on them on YouTube so I made sure we stayed far away...

[JetJumper]

What a timely post!  I'm in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic right now and while snorkeling off the beach today we saw a mantis shrimp fluttering around on some rocks chasing some crabs!  Truly awesome to see one in its natural habitat, and a very cool animal. I've seen a couple of videos on them on YouTube so I made sure we stayed far away...

haha, way to rub it in   I need a vacation

[JetJumper]

This is kinda funny.. I was just looking in my frag tank at how things are and what type's of Acro crabs I have.. Some need to be removed due to size.

BUT! I saw this.  Check out the 2 pictures.  This looks like a baby shrimp to me..  Does it look like what you have?

[HappyGuppy]

Aaaaahhhh Stussi.  I'm so happy for you.  Would love to be in DR too, or some other places where coconuts grow.  However the weather is certainly getting nicer and nicer and nicer @ home

Thank's JJ for the link.  Will now be studying up on methods of traping them (who knows, possibly more than one).  I shall now have another project to work upon... not that I don't have enough projects already.

I am surprised.  I now have a couple of offers to trade for it.  Funny how a couple of days ago I was looking at the one at Big Als thinking to myself "why would someone buy that", considering that I read that people try to get rid of them.  I guess they can be cool critters; if I had the tank space maybe I'd grow it out to watch the fierce predator.  However I remember my personal decision at the beginning to avoid most dangerous things - my son is extremely obsessed with saltwater stuff now and I do let him "help" from time to time.  He is already asking for a lion fish and urchins for when he is older (I told him when he can drive a car I'll get him those things).  So considering that mantis shrimp have the nickname "thumb splitter", and that they can shatter tanks, I think I'll be trying to catch him.  Off surf the net now to research this further.

[HappyGuppy]

JJ,

I like the coral in your pics, but I presume you are referring to that green thing in your photos?  Maybe it is late but I'm having trouble seeing what you're showing.

I too have plenty of "baby shrimp" like things, along with something like shrimp which I believe are amphipods, which kind of remind me of freshwater scuds.  The thing I noticed today is distinctly different than those other things I often see, and much bigger.  I tried taking some photos, but they might only look clear if you're drunk (extremely blurry). I think one photo does show the banded stripes of its back.

I have an area in my tank that I dumped a bunch of shells in a pile beside the glass (side wall).  My reasoning for this was to create a sort of refuge for critters.  I often see the tiny shrimps & aphipods there, along with brittle stars, roaming amid the shells.  This was the first time I saw this presumed-mantis.  He hung out in visible spot for about 5 minutes or so.  I looked at him and even called over my son to check out this weird shrimp.

I am seriously believing that it is a mantis shrimp; a young one.  I intend to get him out, and hopefully he's got no family there, before he's big enough to do any serious damage.

FWIW, one fish has been missing - a balloon molly.  My wife is concerned for her (it is her fish).  It could also be that we noticed a clownfish has been bullying the poor mollie (though the clown ignores the other mollies - I think our clown is prejudiced against that one).  I expect that the molly will show up sooner or later, but... ah what the heck am I doing.  I'm going into crazy speculation.  I doubt that a 1+cm shrimp could take down a molly.

[HappyGuppy]

Interesting.  I read that they also eat snails.  I have a couple small snails (a bumblebee & something else) who have been MIA for a long time.

I realize now that I am fairly lucky to have even seen him.  From the reading they're usually hidden.  Mine was "hidden" in my shell rubble pile... but he happened to be near the glass.

[HappyGuppy]

As I mentioned a bit earlier, I've already got a couple offers for the shrimp.  I also see online that people actually wait for people like me to find, capture & dispose of these shrimp.  I guess they are more desirable than I thought.

Anyhow I am just posting this as a courtesy message to inform everyone that JJ was the first to voice an interest, and since he was kind to correspond with me early on in my saltwater venture I have decided to give it to him... assuming that I catch this critter.  However if there is more than one in my tank (unlikely, but who knows) then I shall make him available for trades. 

Thanks everyone for understanding.

[HappyGuppy]

Anyone think that a freshwater snail would work for bait?  Perhaps some ramshorns or MTS?  I see that bottle traps and other traps are the thing to use to catch mantis, but am confused about what bait to use.

[Greatewhite]

Did your shrimp look anything like this?


I had this guy in my 55G display tank before I had to dismantle it to do some basement repairs.  He managed to hitchhike into my little quarantine tank that I put my clowns into where they all lived for 3 years until I built a new 90G...

I think mine is a pistol shrimp.  I hunted him ALOT in the big tank, chasing after the "click click click" with no luck.  Surprised me when I found him scurrying around the bottom of the little tank when I was cleaning it.

[HappyGuppy]

Similar for sure, but a bit different.  Being so late my brain is too tired to attempt to describe the subtle differences I remember seeing.  God I wish those photos would have worked out.

Hmmm... so it *might* be a pistol shrimp.  May be a mantis.  I dunno.  Thanks GreateWhite for your photo.

I should get to bed.

[Greatewhite]

Looks like the big difference between mantis and pistol shrimp is that the pistol has a big claw, while pics I've seen of mantis shrimp look like they don't have claws at all....  I think that I id'ed my shrimp as a tiger pistol shrimp. 

I just read on another forum that a guy caught one by not putting food in his aquarium for 3 days.  He then stuck a piece of cocktail shrimp on a skewer and dangled it outside the hole he thought his mantis was hiding in.  It came out, swam after the bait - and he scooped it up with a net.

This is the pic he posted.


His is definitely a mantis, and mine was not...  I just knew I had a pistol shrimp in my tank because of the BBQ clicker noises that I could hear.  Interestingly - they started up in my 90G a couple days back again, so the guy I pulled out was not alone!!!

[HappyGuppy]

Yes, more like this last photo.  Mine definitely did not have any big claws out front.  Kind of looked like he had arms held close to his chest.  Tail was shrimp like, like in the photo, but it was curled underneath him; he was kinda swimming in a circle in a very tight spot, so the curled under tail is probably due to the space.

Well, I don't have good photos, and memory is what it is.  Once I catch him we'll have a better look-see for ID.  Will get a pic up here of him, even if JJ ends up doing it

[Darth]

could just be a tigerpod

[White Lightning]

I had one in my tank over a year ago and I was able to locate his hiding spot and I took that rock out of teh tank and flushed it with freshwater. He came scurrying out.

The best way to tell if it is a mantis is listening for a clicking sound. If you have that, then you probably have a mantis. Good luck!

[HappyGuppy]

Hmmm... a new possibility.  It does look very similar to your photo darth.  Do they have the shrimp like tail, that ends in a fan like think like shrimps and lobsters have?  I definetely saw that on mine, but your photo doesn't show that very well.  Also I thought that the tail was a bit longer than what I see in this photo (longer & shrimp like).  I just googled images of tigerpods, and with some variations, and didn't come up with any photo to id from... all though the search did find a tangent thing I was wondering about ( http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1173824 I wondered what those thousand of spiral dots on my glass were).

All in all yours is by far the closest photo I've yet seen, just the tail isn't absolutely convincing me.  Can't find any more info online about them to verify further.

If it is indeed one of these things I hope JJ won't be too disappointed.

[HappyGuppy]

I have heard little sounds from time to time but I assumed that it must be hermit crabs bouncing their shell against whatever.  Hmmm...

I feel more confused now than before.  I guess I'll go with the "shoot first ask questions later" approach.  I'm gonna try to trap him first (hopefully I won't disrupt the tank too much) and then ID him in a plastic cup.  If it's a mantis JJ gets him.  If it is something else, and someone wants him...

[Darth]

in all honesty I would bet on it being a tigerpod, they can get fairly large for pods, and are extremely fast!! LOL they will be on the rock work, and you may see more than one (although you may think it is the same one it may be a dfferent one) good luck whatever it is you find

[HappyGuppy]

Thank you Darth.  I am hoping that it is a tiger pod as you say.  Will set up a bottle trap and see what happens.

[JetJumper]

Thats okay if its not   If it is a Tiger Pod or something similar, just leave it in your tank.  They are harmless.  I have millions of them in my tank that when the light comes on you can watch them scurry to hide fast!  They are good cause they get caught in Doughnut corals tentacles and are food.

[Greatewhite]

Any pods you have living naturally in your system are beneficial, in my opinion.  They are eating stuff that needs to get cleaned up somehow.  Better them than me, I figure.   Plus, it's always fun to look for critters once the lights are out.