little bit concerned

hi guys im a little big concerned as to what this little creature is thats arrived in my tank, have been watching it carefully from day one when i put the live rock into the tank.

its a small centipeed like creature with blue legs, it lives in the holes in the live rock and i often see it running around though the small holes, its about 20mm long with blue legs and it can be heard and seen biting the live rock, when a sharp click sound can be heard, anyone got any clues for me?

Oh oh,you have a mantis shrimp,you need to get rid of it mate or they kill every one and than get big and kill every one else!

That’s what it is callum,the most efficient hunter and killer in the ocean.

The one you have is a small speices,but it will still kill every thing you put in the tank eventually as far as fish,crabs,shrimp,tube worms,anemones,most everything that can move.

They had a special on them years ago on tele and they reckon if they were big enough, nothing could stand up to them and survive.

Our local one that is caught and sold as a Bi catch and sent over seas is the second largest of all.

This is our thread on them, it’s a different coloured one but they are all more or less the same in killing capacity.

https://southeastqueenslandm.aforumfree.com/t691-mantis-shrimpthe-ultimate-marine-killing-machine?highlight=mantis+shrimp


These are videos of a whopper we encountered on a trip,it was around a foot long and it would get to an extra 6 inches in length that type.

Hell man, ok so how to get rid of it in a 300l tank,, please dont tell me that its only by net?? if i take out the piece of live rock that it lives in and then get it out manually or how,, trust my f*ing tank to have contracted something in the live rock huh!! lol

Just trap him - clear coke bottle with the top cut off and turned inside out, so the funnel is facing inwards - bit of bait in it - he will find it, typically at night 20minutes after the light goes out.... be careful not to pick him up - they bite / whack ya !

Another method I heard of was to get a long stick (peice of dowl) with a razorblade attached, then at night, once the light goes out, sit and wait like a ninja - with a small peice of bait in an open area to attract him out - when he comes out to feed - introduce him to the stick....sharp end first - it works...

Personally I love them - awesome critter, just need a dedicated set up..... but they are no really rare....

Lol,lol,that dowl thing I put similar on another forum some years back and boy did the what ever hit the fan.

That’s cruel, how could you do that, you sadist-- it’s obvious some people do not exist in the real world with those comments.

I was brought up in the country and those types would be horrified as to life out there.

I used to keep a length of dowl with a needle in it for when a fish became a prob when I would be experimenting with something new, the two times out of the three I removed them that way they survived nicely and no tank disruption or live rock placing probs.

What ignobolis typed is quite true!

Turn the light on a few hours after lights off, follow it with the dowl over it, line it up and push, even the dowl on it’s own pushed hard enough will stun it than get it out.

What you have is very common with live rock bio filtering,90 percent of all tanks run like that will have one to some, sooner or later for sure!!!!

You could take the bit of live rock out and stick some wire or knife in the hole to get rid of it and put the bit of live rock back in its exact spot.

After that you have some tank starter flesh, don’t feed it to fish if you have any sought of, sometimes they can smell the predator scent to it and may not eat it all.

You can cook it as a prawn, very nice flesh.

Oh callum I removed the fully spelt swear words from your thread.

does anyone fancy helping me get this little critter out for a carton of piss haha!!?? 11/53 shore st east cleveland

awesome, so lured him into a piece of live rock with a prawn then hanked it out!! took me a good twenty minutes of looking round the piece of live rock on the floor to see it, ive got it now in a plastic jar in the sump, anyone want it i heard some people keep them, possible swap deal ?

Good on you callum and good luck with that

I wonder if there has ther been documentation ever of these critters breaking tank glass ? They look pretty mean !

well after last nights episode, i give the tank its daily once over with the head torch only to discover another of these little critters hanging out in another piece of live rock,,

well watched him for a while took the light unit off the tank again and at the last minute whipped out another piece of live rock, decided on a different method with this little fellah, boiled a cup of water and went about carefully inserting it into various holes to see if he would run out alive ,,, well sods law states he wouldnt, and ur right he decided to stay put, so out some the crab picks and pliers and out he came forcefully, sad to say this little fellah didnt survive!
if i find another one of these im gonna be getting rather annoyed! is this somethign i should mention to the pet shop i got my live rock from or is it just a given that when building up your rock ur going to get these little fellah in there!!

il be wat hing the tv in mute mode tonight incase i hear another of those dredded " click" s comming from the tank!!

fishnthings wrote: I wonder if there has ther been documentation ever of these critters breaking tank glass ? They look pretty mean !

Yeh there was video of a type of experiment thing on youtube a while back that showed they break glass i am told.

I haven't seen it, the info I got on their ivory clubs glass breaking capacity was from back in the eighties from a reliable club member that said he saw it do it, that’s the first he and I knew that such a thing could happen.

But that was our Moreton bay bi catch species around a foot long, not the little ones that come in the live rock you buy.

I used to have a bit to do with wholesalers and collect live rock with a commercial collector or two back than and there is now way I would trust live rock to have none in it unless you boil it and bleach it like I do and some others I knew would as well back than.

By the time we got it back there were heaps in the boxes that come out and arrival at the shops there would be more in the boxes they find as they put the live rock in the tanks.

Interesting creature but useless to absolutely dangerous to tank life in a reef tank with anything that moves.

if i want to add more live rock to my tank now that it is established and the amonia nitrite and nitrate levels are untraceable in my tests is that a problem? will it throw out the levels?

and if i boil it will it then become useless?? as in kill everything on the rock thats good for the tank?

Don't boil your rock mate,you didn't start it that way so don't change any thing now!!

Just check it over well with some wire in the holes,check all holes thats what you need to do and add some peices here and there,try not to cover the original rock to much!

We have been away today on a wonderful collecting trip,stiil very tired.

ah that sounds amazing, how does one join the club and enjoy such trips?