Mantis Shrimp Removal

Sam, thanks for dropping in!

Have you tried making or buying a Mantis Shrimp trap? You have to be patient about catching them. You may have to load the trap with fresh bait every night and put it back in the same spot for possibly several days to a week or even longer before many Mantis Shrimp will feel comfortable enough to raid your trap.

I made a one-way trap with some thin walled, large, clear plastic tubing (nearly 1.5 inch diameter, from the aquarium store, used for UGF uplift tubes) and a clear 2-liter pop bottle. I cut about an eight- inch section of the tubing and then I cut slits about 3/4" long by 1/4" wide on one end of the tube and then bent them inward at a 90 degree angle so they touch each other and pretty much block off one end of the clear tube. This lets some water and the bait scent flow through the trap to help attract your Mantis Shrimp to it. Next I made a one-way entrance to insert into the other end which is removable by me, but not by the Mantis Shrimp. I make the one-way insert by cutting a rectangular piece of thin plastic from the clear plastic pop bottle. Make it about 2 or 2.5 inches wide by about 3.5 times the diameter of the clear plastic tube. Roll it up and put it in the tube and measure how much needs to be trimmed off for the ends to not overlap. You want to create a nice snug press-fit so that when you roll it up and stuff it in the end of the tube it will slide in easily and stay put. You can now cut one side of the rectangular one way entrance piece into about 1 to 1.5 inch fringe. Cut these fringes about 1/16" or so wide. Notice that they all bend inward one way as you cut them. When your roll it up again and put it in the tube the fringe will all touch in the center of the tube. This makes a one-way trap that the shrimp can crawl into but not crawl back out of. You will have to cut a bunch of pieces of the fringe off so that they are not overcrowded at the center which would keep the shrimp from even crawling into the trap. I cut about every other fringe right off and then every other one of the leftover ones about halfway off or some one about 1/3 of the way off so that the shrimp can now crawl past them to get into the trap to eat the bait where he discovers later that he can't crawl back out, without some help from you.

Some people claim that the Ultralife Mantis Shrimp traps works fairly well too, but no trap is guaranteed or foolproof. Patience is a virtue, load them just at night about when aquarium lights go out, or afterwards. Stick the trap between some rocks in the area where you have seen the Mantis Shrimp or heard the Mantis Shrimp clicking. They usually make their clicking sound after the lights go out, and sometimes earlier in the morning while lights are on. You may occasionally see a dust cloud created by them sometimes as they bore into your live rock, drilling new dens. You may see them scurrying about between rocks sometimes, but they are usually quite secretive and more active at night. I used fresh uncooked shrimp from the meat counter at the grocery store to load my trap. They like Brine Shrimp too but that might be hard to keep in a trap. Keep in mind that Mantis Shrimp love to eat other shrimp and fish also...

Perhaps the best time to get rid of Mantis Shrimp is when you get the live rock which they reside in. Some people put the live rock out in air for a couple of minutes in hopes that some Mantis Shrimp will bail out. More effective though is to use a bucket of freshwater to dip the newly acquired live rocks into for a minute before putting them into your aquarium. Very often Mantis Shrimp and pest crabs will evacuate quickly trying to flee this shocking salinity change. Large Fire Worms (Bristle Worms) will often flee the same. You can also try this with higher salinity saltwater at about 1.030 to 1.035 specific gravity.

Of course you still have your Mantis Shrimp in your reef aquarium living amoung your live rock. You may not want to tear your whole tank apart in hopes of catching him. So, why not pick up some extra shrimp while you're at the grocery store so you can enjoy a late night snack with your Mantis Shrimp. Your Mantis Shrimp likes it raw, so load his trap with one medium to small shrimp first. Now you can fix some for yourself after the lights go out on your aquarium.

Here's how to cook your shrimp. Cover the shrimp with ample water in a sauce pan. Add salt, about 1 tsp per quart of water, and bring the water to a boil. Then immediately reduce heat and simmer the shrimp for five minutes with only very light boiling action. Now take them off the heat and dump off the hot water and run cold water over them until cool. Add ice to the remaining water if desired. I like mine cold with cocktail sauce. To make cocktail sauce, use 1/4 cup catsup, 1/4 cup salsa (mild or hot, to suite your taste), one tsp mustard, 1 tsp of finely ground prepared horseradish and 1 TBSP lemon juice. You can also add onion salt, garlic salt, Tabasco sauce or other seasonings to taste. Drain the ice water from the shrimp and put the shrimp in a bowl, over ice if you like. Peal the shrimp as you go and dip them in the sauce for some really good eatin'! After you're done and all cleaned up, check the mantis shrimp trap in your reef tank with a flashlight. If you've caught your dining partner, you can bring him on out of your reef tank. Some people like to keep these critters in a separate tank and feed them a gold fish every week or two. They will also eat various prepared fish foods, frozen or dry. If the two of you get along well, you can enjoy the above recipe every so often together. But remember, no coctail sauce for the Mantis Shrimp! Good luck.

Many tanks-

Tom Miller