Mantis in my tank

ok so last night im sitting there and i see this shadow and im looking im looking and sure enough its an all black mantis looks to be spear type . the thing is i know that they are killers and the and will be yes . but should i go threw the trouble to remove this fella from my tank . . . which i know will be a lot of trouble .

tank has a sea heare three damsels 2 black osc clown snails and crabs in a 55 gallon .

 

up to you. you know what will happen if you don't it sounds like.

 

very sad = ( damn hitchiker will pay !!!

 

dont kill it kalandra. take it at least back to your lfs. or set up your own mantis tank .

 

+1 Divott. Mantis shrimp are very cool. Just not for a reef tank.

 

i wouldnt kill it

 

set up a mantis tank for it.. or if you live near me, ill take it off your hands.. where do you live in the country?

 

Are you sure it's a spearer? They naturally inhabit sandy-bottomed areas in little burrows in the substrate so it would be strange (although not impossible I'm sure) for one to be brought in on liverock because they don't really live in the rock in the wild.

That said, it's up to you if you want to get it out, there are lots of people who have kept mantises with fish in the same tank and the mantis doesn't ever attack the fish, maybe just make sure it stays fed, leave some food outside it's burrow/rock hole or whatever.

 

I tried to trap mine out (I had 2) and only could get one. I had the attitide that if I just kept the remaining one fed, it would be OK. Well, two nights ago it ate one of my clowns. Now its war.

Pete

 

If it is a smasher, I would just leave it in there. They do no harm to reefs or fish, and as long as you don't care about any inverts in there you might actually grow to like him/her. However, if it's a spearer, I would try to get it out of the tank. Without getting a good look at a mantis, it can be hard to tell if they are spearers or smashers. Oh, and a fully grown smasher can get fish if he wants to...Bo (one of our smashers) is fully grown at just over 3" long, and he's taken down a chromis in his tank before. But then our other smasher, Princess, is only about 1.5" long and has lived with her damsel buddy named Orca ever since we got her with no harm done.

Wait for a positive ID on the mantis, and then if you decide to remove it we can dream up some ideas to trap it.

And another thing, if a fish goes missing you can never be too sure a mantis got it, unless you actually saw the mantis physically attack it and drag it into a hole. People like to use mantis or brittle stars or whatever as scapegoats for when prized fish go missing, when the vast majority of the time a mantis/star/whatever did nothing to harm said fish. Mantis are vastly misunderstood by many reefers and fish stores, and finally the general reefing "public" is starting to understand that they are not mindless killers, but fascinating animals.

I have 2 mantis as pets, so coming from me, I urge you not to harm it or kill it. Take it to a mantis friendly fish store and they could find it a home, or maybe another reefer around you that might want it.

Just to restate my opinion, get a positive ID (smasher vs spearer if you can, or even a pic would be great) and then we can decide from there.