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The Mantis Shrimp Guide Thread


travisurfer

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NirvanaandTool
Maybe you can set up a small cheapy land/water tank to keep fiddlers alive in and order a bunch?

 

Not a bad idea.

 

But can I convince the fiancee to let me set up another tank? lol

 

Was up in Cape Cod this weekend and totally forgot to check bait shops for fiddlers. :o

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  • 1 month later...

So the manager of the LFS called me yesterday and said that he found a mantis shrimp in the tank with the Live Rock and managed to trap it. he's calling it a Peacock Mantis and sent me a cell phone picture of it, I can't readily identify it from the picture, but he said it's around 5-6" long. He's holding it for me right now in a tank by itself with a DO NOT SELL sticker on the front of it. I've got a spare 15 gallon tank that I could set up for it, depending on which type it is. I was hoping someone here could help me shed some light on identifying it a bit better. if it is a peacock I know i'll need a tank a bit bigger than a 15 gallon eventually. Rock and Sand are no problem, I have at elast 300 lbs of rock and a good deal of sand (80 lbs +/-) as for light I'll just stick a cheapo light on the tank and run a HOB filter for now. thoughts? here he is, front and center for a photo shoot.

 

6276746173_ce660d37bb.jpg

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Nice mantis! It's hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like a smasher to me... Maybe Gonodactylus smithii or Neogonodactylus bredini? Then again those are smaller than the 5-6" you mention, so maybe it is a peacock (Odontodactylus scyllarus), I just don't see the dot pattern behind the eyes on it's side (though the pic isn't very sharp). Sometimes the eyes can help a lot in identifying a mantis...

 

Good luck with him I would try to find out a bit more about it before actually purchasing though.

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That is not a peacock. It looks like a Wennerae to me. Google "mantis roys list" for Mantis Roy's list and it will pop up as the top or near top link, with a berkely url.

 

or..

 

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/cr...traca/royslist/

 

:)

 

Oh forgot to add, one of the best initial things to look at are the meral spots on its arms. Most mantis have very bright or contrasting colored circles on what would their equivilant of a forearm. Check the pics on that site I linked and look for that

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I was also thinking N. Wennerae, if only because it's probably the most common in gulf/caribbean rock. The only thing is the 5-6" size of it seems really big...

 

Also mindfreeze thanks for the link! I was looking for that site, it's really good and the pictures are nice and clear.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Tonight at 9pm on NatGeo Wild, "Killer Shrimp". All about Mantis.

 

 

09:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Go on the trail of a sharpshooting inhabitant of the coral reefs - the record-breaking, thumb-splitting mantis shrimp. At the beautiful coral reefs of Thailand, witness mantis shrimps in the wild. Then at university labs in the USA, learn about their eyesight - the most complicated in the animal kingdom - and their incredible hard-hitting claws. With ninja-like precision, mantis shrimps can strike with the acceleration of a bullet and can crack a crabs shell with a single blow.

Edited by kgoldy
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  • 2 months later...
Often in the evening or when the lights are out I hear 2 or 3 snaps, just shy of 1 second apart per snap. Could this be a Mantis?

 

 

Possibly. What else do you have in your tank?

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The usual reef tank suspects. I thank has only been going since the end of December.

The only livestock I have lost was a peppermint shrimp (would make sense if there is a mantis) and a watchman goby, that too since it would have been up in the rocks (though I did have a pH drop when the goby stressed and died)

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The usual reef tank suspects. I thank has only been going since the end of December.

The only livestock I have lost was a peppermint shrimp (would make sense if there is a mantis) and a watchman goby, that too since it would have been up in the rocks (though I did have a pH drop when the goby stressed and died)

 

 

Do you have a pistol shrimp with you goby ?

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I am doing some experiments with Stomatopods and was wondering what a good specimen be considering...

 

Size (tank will be no more than 20, probably like 10 gal)

 

and...

 

Intelligence (has any species shown more intellect?)

 

*Tank will have water changes at least twice a week, necessary or not, I'm also looking for a smasher, this would be the only tank inhabitant (including corals and inverts)

 

When testing is done and ive have submitted my formal report i will definitely send you guys a copy :D

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ShrimpyPooh

just signed up, great site. i love mantis shrimp!. had a purple spotted mantis for a couple years until it died :/ by far the best little critter ive ever owned for my tank

post-73309-1332044626_thumb.jpg

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I have a G. Ternatensis. He is awesomesauces. Especially since he is high light tolerant so I can keep a mixed reef with him.

 

Smithii is a highly desired species of mine. One tank though, so one mantis. When this one goes I want to get a peacock just because. Or perhaps I'll set up a second really nice tank at that point.

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NirvanaandTool

I think my next is a Smithii. I lost my Chiragra back in Jan and replaced him with a Wartskin angler for something different. After having such an awesome smasher, I didnt think another mantis could replace him right away. I'm enjoying the angler and still have my Viridis but I have an empty 10g that's screaming for a Smithii. Soon lol

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  • 2 weeks later...

Love the rock work Airport! If you build the caves right you can usually get your mantis to make his home there. I made 2 rock islands in my new tank, each has holes that are sort of cave'ish and he made one his home, them moved to the bigger one.

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Love the rock work Airport! If you build the caves right you can usually get your mantis to make his home there. I made 2 rock islands in my new tank, each has holes that are sort of cave'ish and he made one his home, them moved to the bigger one.

 

Thanks

 

 

There's actually a 1 1/2" pvc tunnel under there. It goes from the big rock in the center to the smaller one on the right. To make it appear as natural as possible I chiseled/sanded the back side of the rocks so the pipe would recess into it, hiding the entrance. I also brushed silicone onto the pipe and coated it inside and out with sand.

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  • 2 months later...

I got mine as a hitchiker about 6 to 8 months ago when I broked open a piece of liverock I bought with a SPS on it. There was a tunnel inside and this creature fell from the tunnel. It was the size of a large amphipods just a bit longer. At first I thought it was an amphipod and I was going to kill it (I hate amphipods) but then I saw the eyes and realized it was a mantis.

 

I put it in my quarantine tank and it went hiding in the rocks. I forgot about it and tought it was dead. Then I set up my new nano 15 gallons with a 10 gallons sump and there it was one day, flying through the tank at great speed. It's now 2" to 3" long and come to eat from the pipette. I will have to be carefull as he grab as much food as he can and go back in his cave.. I guess that can pollute if he does not eat all.

 

Mine is soooooo skittish, and rarely come out of its cave, only when I am feeding with the pipette. It took months for it to be tame enough to do this as before it was not even coming out for food.

 

When it was a baby it was light beige in color, but now it is starting to gain nice colors. Amazing how it grew from about 1/2" to 2" 1/2. I guess it must be pretty close to adult size.

 

I will try to post some video, if I can, because it is so skittish. I have it now with one large cleaner shrimp, 2 blue legged hermit crabs, 2 clownfish and a leopard wrasse (going in my 75 gallons soon).

 

I had it for months with an orchid dottyback and they lived well together, but since I sold the dottyback the mantis took the dottyback's cave and it's really happy about it.

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