[SSLEWTER]

i have possibly found tiny mantis shrimp in my tank ya wonderful they are not even 1/4 in long yet i have had them before years ago and want to rid kill destroy them all ( for those who love them sorry life goes on in your tank ) they are way to small for traps that never work they are over many different rocks and many many of them any good ways besides the rock dips to clean them out preferred other animals that just love them as food when small like this

any help is wonderful thanks

[Samper]

I had one that ended up dying of natural causes. We tried many times to rid the system of his presence but failed. Trapping a variety of ways and trying to spear it with various objects all failed. I never dismantled the rockwork but if you can catch it in or on a rock you can pull that rock and dip it in RO/DI.

Another thing you might try is pulling pieces of rock that you know the mantis isn't in and placing them temporarily in another aquarium until you can do the RO/DI dip on his last hiding place. This would take extreme observation on your part but I think you could pull it off in a days time depending on how much rock you have.

[weez1959]

Got any pics? Are you sure they aren't amphipods? I didn't know mantis shrimp were that plentyful. 1/4" is about the size of a grown amphipod and they do look like small shrimp.
Also, can you add a few periods or commas in your posts, I'm having a hard time figuring out where your sentences start and end!
Do they look like this?
amphipods - Google Image Search

[SSLEWTER]

Sorry about the puncuation. It's a bad habit.
I have tried to get some pictures; but they were all fuzzy. These are smaller than the ones i had before (they were definately mantis) so if the are amphipods then I will be one happy man. I will look into some pictures of them to compare. My eyes are not what they use to be. When I had the maintis before I was happy to see creatures roaming around until they started eating everything. So, when I say these I started to panic. I have a nicer tank now

thanks for your help

[weez1959]

I googled Mantis but they tend to show them full size:
mantis shrimp - Google Image Search

Maybe with a magnifying glass you'd see them better but I will say they don't look much like pods!
The thing with dipping your rock in RO/DI without being sure is you'd be killing the rock too I think.

[SSLEWTER]

I GOOGLED them also. Looking for a way to kill them. I was thinking about the dipping thing; but dismantling my tank is not something i really want to do. I found some pictures of amphipods and will going over them tonight . thanks

ps When i had them before; I was feeding them shrimp pellets until they acquired the taste for my corals. It was only then that i looked into what they were

[weez1959]

Jeez I hope they aren't Mantis! If so you're in for some trouble!
We only had one, about an inch and a quarter and we knew which rock was his home so we took out the rock and put it in a QT lured him out with food and put back the rock. Then he was stuck in the QT with a tiny rock to make him feel safe.

[SSLEWTER]

BBBIIIGGGG RELIEF!!! AFTER A MUCH CLOSER LOOK, THEY ARE NOT MANTIS SHRIMP. THANK GOODNESS !!! THAY ARE SOME SORT OF amphipod BUT UNSURE OF WHAT KIND. THE WAY I SEE IT IF THEY DONT HURT THE TANK ; I HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD TO IDENTIFY

THANKS FOR THE HELP

PS I HAVE SOME Aiptasia Anemones. I TRIED THE LEMON JUICE AND NEEDLE THING. IT WORKED GREAT. VERY FAST. ALSO IT WORKED ON MY BUBBLE ALGAE. I JUST FILLED IT UP AND THE NEXT DAY THEY WERE DEFLATED AND PALE AND HAVE NOT RETURNED

[ab420]

I didn't think they would be mantis shrimp, and thank God for that! Your tank would've become a nightmare!