Mantis Shrimp vs. Triggerfish

[LouieM]

I hear tons of horror stories about Mantis Shrimp hitch hicking in on live rock and killing things in the tank. But how does a Mantis fair against a medium sized Huma Huma or a Dog Face Puffer? I mean I am sure Mantis can kill little crabs and gobies and such but can they kill a decent sized tough fish?


Louie

[dragon_slayer]

if the trigger catches a glimps of the mantis, the mantis had better get his butt in gear and go for hiding.

IME a trigger WILL find and eat him after he see's any shrimp. by moving your rockwork around if need be, the trigger will do it.


kc

[T-T-Trigger]

puffers should also eat mantis shrimps for you.

[COreefer]

Whom ever finds who first will win this battle. If a mantis wanted to it could ambush the trigger at night.

[dragon_slayer]

i'd put my $$$ on the trigger any day. :)

kc

[silent_assassin_e99]

i'd say it depends on the species of mantis, the smaller species that hitchhike in on live rock would get torn up....but, there is a tale of a 6" peacock mantis taking out a few clown triggers during the night.....and then theres a species of spearer that gets close to 3ft that'd probably like to snack on a med. size trigger.

[Zoom]

my trigger is very friendly to the cleaner shrimp:p

[lilswanwillow]

the mantis would be destroyed.....

[M.Dandaneau]

IMO, mantis shrimp, like many other marine creatures, get an undeservedly bad rap (probably originating among reefers) and can be some of the most fascinating animals that you can keep in a FOWLR tank, depending, of course, on your selection of animals.
The 6" (and most commonly seen, plus expensive) Peacock mantis shrimp is of the "hammerer" type, and I've kept up to three in a 125 gal. tank along with many species of fish, as they are specialized feeders upon crabs and snails.....the impact of their strike has been found to be equivalent to a .22 cal. bullet, thus capable of breaking aquarium glass.
They ARE crustaceans though, and as such, are prey to almost any crustacean feeding specialist, such as snowflake eels, puffers, triggerfish, wrasses and larger groupers and sea basses, with their number one enemy probably being the octopus.
The "spearer" group, however, are often active piscevores, and the 18" plus species can pose a real threat to most fish of suitable size to be kept in a home tank.

[MERCEDES]

I fed the mantis shrimp that had been wreaking havoc in my tank for almost a year to a Clown trigger at the LFS. The trigger was probably about 31/2 inches. The clown made short work of that nasty creature. Sorry for being sadistic but it tortured us until we had to take all of the liverock out of the tank. The only way we caught it was by putting the rock in a bucket and waiting for it to jump out and scoop it up in a net. So long story short I wouldn't worry.:uzi: :dance: