Not in particular. He's a lot more reclusive post-molt, but he's still eating well.

Yes! If you got your LR through Tampa Bay Saltwater or SeaLife, chances are you have an N. wennerae, and it's not the end of the world- it's a great find. I keep mine with fish and other inverts and the only thing it bothers are the small snails I raise to feed it- it has never bothered any of the astrea or cerith snails in the tank.

First Post but its time to stop being a lurker....

I'm setting up my first Nano Saltwater(5 gallon). And this morning when I woke up and turned on the tank light I saw something very quickly move back into the LR. I can't 100% identify it yet but I'm pretty sure its a mantis. the LR came from my LFS and was already cured. The rock itself came from Indonesia. What Mantis come from there?

(also it appears he survived the cycle, which just ended)

could be alot of things, check roy's list
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/cr...traca/royslist/

first dibs if you dont want it!

Yea I intend to find out what it is, I haven't decided if I'm going to keep him I am interested in mantis but a 5 gallon tank might be too small. But if I don't want him, I will let you know.

You can always try baiting him out with some shrimp or krill. Shining a flashlight into the tank at night is another good way of seeing inverts. Until you get an ID, be careful with your hands in the tank due to a few species being quite aggressive. Good luck.

it wasn't a mantis it was a pistol, hard to ID when all you see is it moving at night I did mange to get it out and move it into another safer home away from the mantis that I did end up getting and putting in there(the one with the wood/coral now attached to one of its feet)

Yea I'm very careful when I reach into the tank, the mantis has not made an aggresive move towards my hand yet.

Hello
I've got a ~4cm O.Sycllarus in a 50L tank. This tank is halfway through the nitrogen cycle, this is about the 4th week now. Nitrites are at 2ppm and have stabilised there a while.. hopefully about to drop but i'm not sure.
Can I get some info on how tolerant / intolerant this species is to nitrites / ammonia? The mantis seems to be behaving alright. It hides a lot but it is reasonably active moving pebbles around inside its hole and it molted about a week ago.

not sure if this has been posted...nice vid of Mantis in action



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgvsQ6oNZyo...mp;feature=fvwp

Awesome video. I know haven't been around for awhile due to being in college and not currently having a reef, but I do try to check nano-reef every once in awhile to answer questions on this thread. If anyone would like any input or advice I'm still happy to help.

I'm mantis-sitting at the moment and thought I should share a few pictures. He belongs to my boyfriend and I am just holding onto him until he has his tank at school with him. We found him at my LFS who was going to flush him . Instead, he became my boyfriends birthday present - for a dollar. We think he is a Haptosquilla something (there are two species that are black), but aren't 100% sure, as these are pretty rare. He is probably less than an inch right now.

First day, acclimating (8/30)


Feeding time (9/8)




Any ideas as to species?

Nice pictures; however, I'm definitely not good enough to ID from them. Check out Roy's List of Stomatopods and hopefully you'll be able to find a more accurate ID yourself.

Thanks. From Roy's list we have narrowed it down to the Haptosquilla, unless when it molts it changes color. Which is quite possible. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Awesome, good luck with the ID.

So I'm 90% sure I have a mantis in my tank for the last 3 months clicking everynight only about 4 snails and crabs killed at the most but ive never seen it just 2 eyes for 1 sec and when i added small blue leg hermits in the other day i was watching tv and out of the coner of my eye i saw the herrmit falling down form 10" high in the water and i think i saw i the mantis hide back in the lr but i want to get it out cant take out the lr and it is shy since i never saw it in 3-4 months so what the best way to catch then ill give it away to whoever just pay shipping or pickup local.... do those traps work tha i can buy for 10$ i just dont think i will be able to catch it but i hope ok thx's all brian

Well Here is My Gonodactylaceus ternatensis
I call him Cassius


Have had him for about a year now He was 2 inches when i got him he is now about four wich is full grown for these guys.
Keep him in my 29 Gallon biocube

That certainly sounds like a mantis. One of the best methods that I've heard of is to find out which piece of liverock it's in and place it in a bucket with water. When the mantis comes out, you can remove the rock. There are some harsher methods involving boiling water and seltzer, but I would consider those much less humane. I haven't had to actually catch a mantis out of a tank myself so I can only relate to you what I've read elsewhere. This would actually be a good topic to include in the first post. When I get some time, I'll try to work it in and update the thread. Anyway, have you considered keeping him yourself? They can be extremely entertaining.


He looks awesome.

I've made tons of edits and changes to make this guide much more comprehensive. Let me know if there is anything else that you would like to have clarified or changed. Thanks!

Thanks for posting this. I've been fascinated with mantis shrimp for about six months and finally decided to take the plunge and get one. I just put a down payment on a juvenile G. glabrous and am making arrangements to have an acrylic tank custom-built for him/her (I'm not worried about tank breakage--I just like the look of all-in-one systems and it was cheaper than buying a Biocube the same size). I'm really looking forward to bringing my new beastie home!

My new glab is only about 1.5" long--too small to be sexed. I know Dr. Clarkson says that glabrous are sexually dimorphic in color. Do you know if this is something that only applies to sexually mature individuals? (Mine is greenish in color, but not very dark.)

From, Roy's List:


Aside from the above description, you would have to look for gonads to determine the sex of the mantis. HTH.

i'm sure this has been brought up, but what species available to the hobby are the smallest? 3" or less.

Thanks, travisurfer. What I was wondering is, how old does the mantis have to be in order for the sexually dimorphic characteristics (aside from gonads) to apply? I don't know if, for example, a juvenile male might have the same coloring as an adult female, as in so many animal species. It's apparently too young to detect gonads yet. It's not really important, just wondering. Thanks!

Hey guys well I bought a mantis shrimp from a guy and I haven't seen it ececpt for when I pulled it out of the rock that was his home now my mantis has been though slot of crap like swiching tanks and being out of the water awhile. Now the thing is that I havnt tired to feed him yet and it's been 2-3 weeks (can he live of Copepods also he is a mantis that's all black with white dots on the side he is around 1in long)
Did he live of stuff in the tank ? And I don't think he is dead because I havnt had a amonia spike.
If he isn't dead how can I catch him and put him in another tank.

Also I might just leave him in that tank because this type of mantis only gets 1in

And if he stays in that tank what type of mantis for a 5.5 gal? Also where do I get one ?

I've heard of G. affinis popping up in the aquarium trade from time to time. As far as tank sizes are concerned,many have kept N. wennerae in 5g nanos with success on this website.


To be honest, I have absolutely no idea. Maybe a google search would turn up something?


See the first post for feeding and trapping info.

I can't say that the mantis will only reach 1" in length but odds are that it will grow larger.

N. wennerae have been kept in 5.5g nanos. They can be obtained for $50 shipped from tampabaysaltwater.com

srry now here is the real species name and info http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/cr...=h_glyptocercus

this mantis geats around 40mm which is 1.5in


yea i looked on that site no info? also is there any other sites ? or species ?

That website is the most comprehensive species-specific guide I know of. You can browse through it to find other mantids that would also fit in a 5.5g although finding specific species of mantis for purchase can be quite difficult.

Great thread!

Thanks

Hi all, I was thinking about getting a G. Smithii, what I was wondering was whether to get a female or male? Also what is the most common coloration for it? Any less seen colors?

Sex doesn't really matter. G. smithii can be difficult to find in captivity. I'd be happy with whichever variant or sex that I could find. Good luck!

Okay thanks, because I have found 5 of them. 1 Female and 4 Males. The female is a whitish blue, a male is yellow/green/blue, another male is off blue, one male is blackish blue, and one is a dark blue.

Wow, 5 is impressive. I would just pick whichever one is most appealing to you then.

Is that from stomatopod.com? If, so, I've seen them "in person", and they are very nice indeed. I'm getting my G. glabrous from them (till the tank is built and cycled, I've just been visiting him when I go in to pick up supplies). Can't wait!

Another well written species care guide for those of you researching species to care for:
http://www.mantisshrimps.co.uk/care.php

You sir are correct. He has nice mantis' =)

NIce link

Can G. Smithii be kept with fish successfully, i.e. if I feed him often enough? Also how often would often enough be?

As I said in the first post, it is basically hit or miss. Some individual mantids are more apt to go after fish than others of the same species. Basically, there are no guarantees. Mantis shrimp are advanced predators and should be treated as such. Give him a 1/4" cube of enriched shrimp/scallop/etc every few days in combination with plenty of small snails and hermits. Faster moving fish such as damsels are ideal because they are harder to catch than a clown goby or similar. Because there are no guarantees, I wouldn't want to buy very expensive fish that could end up as meals later on. For this reason, I usually prefer damsels in mantis tanks.

All three of mine (N. wennerae, G. chiragra, and S. rugosa) have been able to catch green chromis. It's not really a question of if they can catch them, it's a question of if they want to spend the energy. They can also wait until the lights are out, at this time most fish rest and are therefore easier to catch. All of the chromis I have tried have disappeared over night.

Okay. Well I got my G. Smithii in today and he is doing swell. He is yellow green and killed his first crab within an hour.

Very interesting read on the Mantis Shrimp.
http://www.livescience.com/technology/0910...hrimp-eyes.html

Hi there!
I have a young peacock named Ally, and thought I'd share a few pictures.
Wanting to play:

Peekaboo:

Mirror gazing:

Full tank:


She's about 3.5" now. She came from Billy at stomatopod.com. I've had her since May in this Oceanic 30-ish gallon cube tank with acrylic and beads of silicone on the bottom, 20 lbs of liverock, and 10 lbs of live rubble dumped behind the rockwork (this has been AWESOME for her). I run a tetra whisper HOB and a rio nano skimmer. Her tank is next to my bed and I couldn't be happier with her. She is the cutest. =)

The aquascape has a very natural look to it- I'm sure she's enjoying it.

that is any ugly looking creature!

what is the minimum tank size for a peacock mantis? would a biocube 14 or 29 work well for one? they are really cool critters and i'm definitely considering making a tank for one when i have the money.

you might be able to put one in a 29G biocube - I know for a while most people were using 40BR for them as they get quite big

The general consensus is that you will want about 30g and up for an O. scyllarus.

I never even noticed this guide. Nice job travisurfer!

Haha, thanks lgreen.