Mantis Shrimp, Live Rock, Paranoia, and the Meaning of Life

growlf · 08/04/2009, 09:49 PM

Hello all,

I'm seeking advice before I drive myself crazy - here's where I'm at:

I've been up and running for >2 months now. The tank and water processing looks great... It's ready to stock.

The problem:

I've dispatched one mantis shrimp, but have at least two more. Everything I've seen has been confined to one rock. (I had a shipment of ~5 med/large live rocks about 3-4 weeks ago). The one infested rock is now out of the main tank and is waiting for me to either work on trapping or otherwise finding the buggers. Since there are some nice polyps on the rock, I may try to break it up rather than dowse it in seltzer.

I haven't seen any other mantis shrimp in the other rocks (although there is a reasonably large crab I probably should go after).

So, anyway, I'm a bit paranoid now. Logic tells me that it would be ridiculous to think that I'd even be able to find every possible mantis shrimp or predator. Logic also tells me that I shouldn't be dumping every rock I get into seltzer water. So, at what point do I say I've made the best effort to remove the "baddies" and move on?

I also need to get another ~40 pounds of rock, but I'd realllly rather not spend another month hunting mantises... is there decent rock I can get that...hmm... would be "unlikely" to have mantis shrimp? Do I need to quarantine everything that comes in?

My brain is telling me that I should make a best effort and move on... but I'd prefer to exercise due diligence NOW rather than being ticked off later on.

I'd greatly appreciate any advice you folks may have on appropriate next steps - because I'd really like to start actually *stocking* the tank someday

FishFolk · 08/04/2009, 10:00 PM

Well you could always try base rock if your scared of getting more mantis's, it will be seeded and be live rock eventually. There willbe no risk of any harmful critters

DeezNutz · 08/04/2009, 10:52 PM

Base rock would be a good choice, it wouldn't have hitchhikers. Plus, I felt a lot better taking a hammer and chisel to base rock to make rubble than I would have smashing up live rock.

08/04/2009, 09:49 PM	#1
growlf Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 35	Mantis Shrimp, Live Rock, Paranoia, and the Meaning of Life Hello all, I'm seeking advice before I drive myself crazy - here's where I'm at: I've been up and running for >2 months now. The tank and water processing looks great... It's ready to stock. The problem: I've dispatched one mantis shrimp, but have at least two more. Everything I've seen has been confined to one rock. (I had a shipment of ~5 med/large live rocks about 3-4 weeks ago). The one infested rock is now out of the main tank and is waiting for me to either work on trapping or otherwise finding the buggers. Since there are some nice polyps on the rock, I may try to break it up rather than dowse it in seltzer. I haven't seen any other mantis shrimp in the other rocks (although there is a reasonably large crab I probably should go after). So, anyway, I'm a bit paranoid now. Logic tells me that it would be ridiculous to think that I'd even be able to find every possible mantis shrimp or predator. Logic also tells me that I shouldn't be dumping every rock I get into seltzer water. So, at what point do I say I've made the best effort to remove the "baddies" and move on? I also need to get another ~40 pounds of rock, but I'd realllly rather not spend another month hunting mantises... is there decent rock I can get that...hmm... would be "unlikely" to have mantis shrimp? Do I need to quarantine everything that comes in? My brain is telling me that I should make a best effort and move on... but I'd prefer to exercise due diligence NOW rather than being ticked off later on. I'd greatly appreciate any advice you folks may have on appropriate next steps - because I'd really like to start actually stocking the tank someday

08/04/2009, 10:00 PM	#2
FishFolk Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 155	Well you could always try base rock if your scared of getting more mantis's, it will be seeded and be live rock eventually. There willbe no risk of any harmful critters

08/04/2009, 10:52 PM	#3
DeezNutz Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 46	Base rock would be a good choice, it wouldn't have hitchhikers. Plus, I felt a lot better taking a hammer and chisel to base rock to make rubble than I would have smashing up live rock.