Mantis Shrimp - Pet or Pest?
Saturday August 29, 2009
Some aquarists love them as pets and others consider them nothing but pests. Some of them are very beautiful, but they all have "jaws of steel", able to inflict a serious wound or kill almost anything in your tank. This article takes a look at both sides and lets you decide.
More: Shrimp Pictures Take a few moments to view these outstanding photos of a number of very interesting Marine Shrimps. Many of these colorful shrimps are available for your home aquarium.
More: Reef Safe Invertebrates Not All invertebrates are safe for your reef aquarium. Some will tear up your corals as fast as you can put them in your tank. Some will not. Here is a list of some invertebrates which are considered safe for your reef tank
Photo by Keith Douglas
Comments
Unless to can successfully catch this creature, I say it’s a PEST! My saltwater aquarium had been established for just over 2 years. I had a nice collection of fish and inverts as well as live rock with beautiful corals. One day, my fish started disappearing. One by one, so I figured it must be a mantis shrimp. I tried all kinds of different traps, but had no luck with any of them. When it came down to a single fish left in my tank, I ended up sacrificing all my live rock and corals in order to flush this PEST out. I lost over $300.00 in fish … not to mention the cost of rock and corals. To this day, that tank is a fish-only (with fake coral deco) aquarium. So I definitely say Mantis shrimp are PESTS!