Look who I found hiding under a rock.

[Cheech]

I placed all my live rock in my sump to get it ready to be displayed in the main tank (from the move) when I saw this little guy running around in the sand. It's years I have the same rock, and I only noticed him this once.


I'm figuring this is a mantis shrimp.

Question is, what do I do with him now?

http://i.imgur.com/ylNLtl.jpg

[Ace25]

Setup a Pico tank for it? As "alien" as Mantis look, that is also what intrigues me about them so if I ever found one in my tank I would have to make a new home just for it. :D

[Amphiprion]

I'm surprised you haven't noticed any of its usual activities. Sounds like this one may have only preyed on the occasional snail and/or hermit crab. It may have even been eating food provided from fish feedings. In any case, I'm not a fan of euthanizing them. I've brought many to LFSs before, as well as giving them to an interested party. Of course, if you have the room, setting up a small system specifically for the animal would be interesting in it's own right.

[OrionGirl]

If he's been in the system for years...why fuss about him now? I'd put him back in. If you can't bear to do so, leave some rock in the sump and let him live there. They really are cool animals!

[Sploke]

I'd let it live in the sump. I had one with a dedicated biocube, but the only time I saw it was to feed it every week or so, so I gave it away to someone in my reef club.

[Cheech]

I definately don't want to euthanize it. I'll place him in the fuge for now. (he'll have plenty of room to move around, and lots of rock rubble to hide in). I also posted a few ads offering a free mantis shrimp on some local fish forums. We'll see if anything comes through.

[Conski]

How big do tanks have to be for these guys?

[Ace25]

5G would be the smallest I would say.. 10G I think is a perfect size to give them a nice home with several hiding areas.

[audifeesh]

^they get pretty big, and the ones I've seen definitely like to move around on occasion.. I'd think it'd be better to keep one in a larger system than by itself in a tiny little tank.

If it was in a 55+ gallon you could keep it with fish that are large enough that it'd never bother them, and there'd be enough snails and crabs I wouldn't think you'd ever have to worry about running out.

I guess I'm one of those people who doesn't like to have a tank built around a single inhabitant though, I prefer something to be as complete of a natural system as possible.