here is a couple pics of my old buddy "bone crusher" i wish i still had him

Those are some amazing shots GT.

thanks. Every time i look at the pics i miss my buddy more and more

Same here... I just don't have the means of caring for another one right now either.

here is bone crusher eating a silverside. He used to grab food from my hands. He was awesome

any body know how to tell the difference between a male and female O. Scyallaris (Peacock) ?

Click to view attachment
Here's some picture of my mantis 1.5inch G.ternatensis, Gabriella to share.

Shy fellow in a 5G picotank. Likes to move pebbles and only comes out when there is light.

hey guys,

i have a spare 10 gallon tank, and im gonna set it up as a planted tank. i cant decide if i should go seahorse or mantis, but most likley it'll be mantis.

now here are my 2 questions...

1. Will a peacock mantis be able to happily live in my 10 gallon?
2. if not, what would be an active, colorful mantis i could get?

Thanks!

They're saying 30g + for O. scyllarus.

hmm okay... what would be similar mantis that could fit in a 10 gallon? i want something colorful

I thought this was a neat mantis article...
http://www.nightsea.com/mantis.htm

okay ive made my choices for what im gonna get for the 10 gallon tank...

Purple Spot Mantis, Gonodactylus smithii
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDeta...1224&cid=84

Tiger Mantis, Gonodactylaceus falcatus
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDeta...1228&cid=84

anyone here with experience with these exact species?

thanks!

waaahhhh

this is a very interesting video on mantis shrimp. link here

That was a great video! I love watching the TED talks. Its awesome to find new info on a very interesting species!

I have a baby mantis HH i just trapped in my tank. You can have it if you pay for shipping lol.

I'll get it if you're local to me

pics?

That is very cool, thanks for posting that.

Happy to

Just found a mantis in my LR. It's small, 2" maybe and green. Anybody interested, pay shipping + packaging and he is yours.

Pics!

I kinda want one.

Me too.

im setting up a tank for one!

Me three!

My house to a future G. Smithii


Burrow 1 (home made)


Cave (i hope lives in here)

im gettin mah peacock 2morrow

Hey! How'd it work out with your mantis? Were you able to get one?

Hey guys, I have been keeping a mantis shrimp since I found the little guy in some live rock. He is approximately 1.5 - 2 inches long and a dark brown purplish colour. I was just wondering if they take time to display their colours or do they just start out coloured according to whatever species it is?

Thanks,
Ben

liveaquaria ran out of stock so my order was cancled :/

i couldnt find a mantis so i tore down the tank. ooh well



they will gain a little bit of color as they get older, but not much

hi everyone!
yesterday whilst at the LFS i saw a mantis shrimp and was tempted to buy it. however it looks a tad large. i have a 7 gallon tank on hand not sure if hed be ok in it.
he had a mottled green/brown spots shell and pink spots and pink legs. they said it was labeled pink mantis. he was about 3-4 inches. any ideas on what he is or if 7 gallons is enough. i have about 12 pounds of reef substrate in the tank. 3-4inches worth.

thanks!

I recently joined the stomatopod club. Got a G. Viridis from my Lfs last week. Right now it is in a temporary 6g eclipse tank but it will end up as the star attraction of my new 7.5 g cube build. I'll post some pics of it later.

Edit: Pictures as promised:






Not the clearest but it was the best I could do while he was wandering around the tank. I'll work on getting more pictures soon as he is starting to venture out of his burrow more.

I ordered a Peacock from liveaquaria.com and when I got it, it was missing one of it's smashers and at the time I didn't care too much, cause I figured he would get it back when he molted. The guy's name was Cpt. Hook and little did I know his one "hook" was his downfall. He molted once, and then when it came time for him to molt again he ditched his burrow and died. Cpt Hook was REALLY big, so he could have also just died of old age, but I know that live for up to ten years or so, all in all it was a sad day.

I talked to my friend in Phoenix who owns an exotic picker service and he was telling me to get all kinds of crazy fish and I was so interested in all of them, but then I took a trip to my LFS. My LFS really never has anything good, but when I was looking at their display tank I saw this small tank in the back that said "WARNING MANTIS SHRIMP" in the biggest writing ever. I instantly perked up and asked if he was for sale, and he was! It was a tiny little baby peacock and he was around 30 bucks, so now I am happy again. Pictures soon!

Sorry to hear about your first peacock but congrats on finding the new one!

Hope its doing well.

Awesome thread I never knew how colorful they are.

Anyone know a place I can get a smithii or ternatensis?

best bet is probably bluezooaquatics or Liveaquaria. Try calling every LFS you know of and see what they can get in.

Most lists they order from list any mantis shrimp as a peacock so you may be able to score a smithii or tern from the mislabeling.

Yeah I check both those sites daily (sometimes obsessively. :[ ) and am on the email list for when its in stock but so far anytime one of the 3 or 4 species I requested pops in, its gone way before I get the email, usually about an hour after it hit my inbox.

You would think with how popular they are becoming as cool species tank pets now a days that they would be available at more places and more species but this has to be the hardest creature to get I've ever tracked so far.

Peacocks I can get in easy at my LFS, but they are always adult size and too big for my 14G. If they could catch me a youngster I could get away with the tank I have for now and update in the next few months to a proper peacock adult tank.

Dont lose hope. You'll find one eventually.
Could always just get a Wennerae from Tampa Bay Saltwater or Sealife if you cant find a smithii or g. tern.

The Wennarae are so.. bland. Tho they do have silly looks on their faces. With their little mustatches!


The pics of them on Dr. Roys site are especially funny.

Not as bland as an Oerstedii. If its active and interactive, I'd take any species I could get regardless of looks. I'm still thinking of ways to set up a 5.5g Wennarae or Oerstedii tank without my fiancee finding out until its too late lol

This may have been covered before but i couldn't find it with the search function and this seemed like the appropriate thread to ask in.

I hear a lot of talk about how high intensity light can be harmful to peacock manti. Can anyone credit this? I have T5s and was wondering if a peacock would be ok under my lights.

From what I've read on RC, high intensity lights will cause shell rot on O. Scyllarus. Particularly metal halides and some T5's. My assumption is if SPS could grow in it, its too much light for a peacock. Dr. Roy also said that shell rot is naturally occurring in the wild so its not just light that causes it. He advices to provide the peacock with a black PVC burrow that it can seek refuge in from the light.

How many watts of T5 are you going to be running?

I'm planning a low PAR LED setup for my O. Scyllarus tank. Maybe like 36W of LEDs without optics. Really just want the tank to be visibly appealing rather than grow a lot of coral.

My LFS has had a large peacock for a couple of months now and it has always fascinated me. I just didn't want to set up a tank big enough for one of that size.

Well today I happened to just wonder through my LFS and spotted a 2-3 inch mantis in a tank of peppermint shrimp. I asked the owner about him and he didn't realize he had a little one. Must have hitched in on some rock. Anyways he gave me a great deal!

Just wanted to say I am happy to have joined the club of mantis owners today. Been reading about them but didn't have a tank for a big one. Now I have a small one and it will be great for a small tank I had set up in my room with nothing in it, a sorta quarantine tank.

I am excited to have it. Let me know where you get your feeder crabs/fish. Also still have yet to ID it.

Thanks!

Welcome to the Stomatopod Owners club
How's your mantis doing? ID it yet?

I mostly feed your average cleaners (hermits, snails) and market shrimp/scallop pieces soaked in selcon. Once in awhile I will get ghost shrimp and gut load them with selcon soaked frozen food and feed as a treat but havent in a while.

My Mantis is doing great! Loving it. It is pretty active and interesting to watch. I haven't gone to buy market shrimp yet, but have been thinking about it.

I have been feeding him guppies so far and a hermit here and there, but tends to leave the hermits alone. Loves the guppies though.

Here are a couple of pics.

First tank and pic of Mantis
Click to view attachment

Current tank. Loves the pipe under the sand.
Click to view attachment

Frontal Pic
Click to view attachment

Thanks for looking! Love my Mantis!




No ID as of yet.