Got Me a Mantis

[vanillabox]

I was at the NSLFS (not so local fish store) on Sunday and asked if by chance they had a Mantis shrimp or ever get them. To my suprise they said Yup. The had one that is about an inch and a half in length for sale for $15.00. After asking the very cute girl very nicely, I was able to get it for $10.00.

This thing is cool. It is a basher type brownish in color when I bought it, with green and red highlights running down the side. I proceeded to put it in my Calurpa tank when I got home and let it acclimate. Hopefully I will be able to get a picture of it in the near future (it's kinda shy) to show all of ya.

 

for those of you that don't know alot about Mantis Shrimp check out this site http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/

[anthony812]

i GOT ONE TOO!..hehehe...

 

but my is about 6"-7" long..he is in a 25 gallon all by himself..he is awsome..i feed him 2 gold fish per day..its fun to watch him catching it. They know when you are watching him..cuz i swear he was watching me when i was wtaching him ..hahah..it kinda freaks me out...but oh well..

i got him for $12.99 (SUPER SALE)

 

MY LFS just got another 2 in..theya re about 4-5" and they are asking $30-$40 for them...

[anthony812]

i also bought a new Blond Naso Tang ..he is for my 55 gallon tank but he's in the 40 for now til the cycle goes thru...he is about 2-3" adn i got him for $19.99 ..they are not the indonesia ones..it came straight from Hawaii...

[DaveESPI]

yeah they are cool little dudes. BE EXTREMELY CAREFULL. they are the 3rd FASTEST motion/ animal movement in the world. even the Clubbers can smash your finger and seriously do dammage.

ALSO id be leary about it getting ornery and oneday punching a

"freedom hole" in his tanks and making a "get out of Jail free card" Prison run ! Ive seen first hand waht they can do and heave the wet socks to prove it HAHAHAHAH.

[vanillabox]

I already have the Plywood and acrylic sheet and picking up the pool paint to make it a "cell". Figure that way I can make sure that it won't be busten out.

[Carinya]

Ooooh. I am so jealous. I'm gonna get one of those some day. They are the coolest things. Congrats on your purchase!

 

Carinya

[anthony812]

they will not get thru acrylic! hehehe...but just in case...i have the tank sit in a plastic tub also...those rubbermaid things...

 

I think..as long as you feed them often...they will like the prison in which they stat in...*crossing my fingers and hopeX)

[Mnesarchus]

Yes, if you are hit by a mantis shrimp, you will regret ever getting one. They attack at the same force of a .20 caliber bullet.

 

Be Careful. Post Pics.

[NanoReefer53]

heh, don't even #### em off or else it's gonna bust open your tank.

 

Hey anthony, arn't fish illegal to catch in Hawaii ?

[anthony812]

i don't know..but the LFS guy told me its from Hawaii..that is Why he got them in..and he does sell it alittle more than the indonesian ones...he stocked up about 20 4-5" Blond Nasos for $35 ea and 10 2-3" ones for $25...but i got him while he was still in his shipping bag..that is why he gave it to me for $19.99..

[MKramer]

It is not illegal to catch fish in Hawaii. It is only illegal to catch them using cyanide or pressure blasts. They may still be netted and hand-collected.

 

If I remember correctly, though, Naso Blonde is the common name for Naso lituratus tangs caught in the south pacific. Hawaiian Naso lituratus are merely referred to as Naso Tangs. Granted, as is always the case with common names, not everyone follows the same convention, but I do believe that is the nominally correct convention.

 

I never understood why they consider the two to be of the same species. There are so many other fish out there that are more similar to each other, but are classified as separate specifies.

[anthony812]

its good that you clear that up for me matt....cuz i do notice difference from my and the indonesian species..my has white spots on its body at times and they have the ability to camel-flosh themselves...my will turn almost black when i was close to the tank and yet..after i walk away..it becomes the light grey/blue color with yellow fins. and have white spots toward his dorsal areas...

[MKramer]

Probably the most tell-tale difference between the two varieties of Naso Tangs are is the color of the dorsal fin.

 

South Pacific varieties have a mostly yellow dorsal (hence the name "blonde), with a tiny bit of black at the bottom of it, if at all. Hawaiian varities, also referred to as "streamer" Nasos, have a mostly black dorsal, with just a bit of yellow or white at the top of it.

 

I can find some pictures that demonstrate the difference if interested.

 

What I find interesting is that in my local stores, the hawaiian nasos are cheaper than the blondes.

[Fishiebusiness]

Dont worry, not all mantis's are super powerful. My teacher last semester, whose considered a world authority on mantis shrimp, said only the really big 12 inchers actually have the power of the .22 caliber bullet and most small ones are much weaker and arent able to break through glass or even hit glass all that often. But its still best to not let them have a chance to whack ya.

[Mnesarchus]

Who was your teacher?

[Fishiebusiness]

Prof. Caldwell

[NanoReefer53]

wow, that's pretty cool having a prof. that keeps mantis shrimp.....or at least knows a lot bout them.

 

http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/caldwell/

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNew...rimp010105.html

[Toyfreek]

Good God! that Professor is playing with blue ringed octopus, Forget the mantis he's got bigger problems!

seriousely, it must be so cool to have tenure at a University and get to "play"/Research any animal you want. That would be my true dream job. It must be fun having such a knowlegable Prof. I suppose his lectures are fun.

Thnx,

Toy

[NanoReefer53]

jeez ! those golf-ball things can kill 26 humans ? I would luv to have one of those

[Foogoo]

I've heard about catching fish with cyanide but pressure blasts? can someone update me on that? how can you tell if a fish at the lfs was caught by such means?

[MKramer]

I don't know how much it's used in this particular trade, but I've seen it used by DNR in Michigan when they wanted to catch King Salmon to test for disease.

 

Basically, an air cannon is set off under water. The pressure waves from it will knock unconscious many of the fish nearby. They say it doesn't actually hurt them.... And I've no idea if that's true or not. But I would guess that the closer you are to the source of the explosion, the more likely some of the damage is going to be permanent.

 

There's a big stink here in LA now because they're using similar air cannons in the Santa Monica Bay. Not for fish this time, but to use seizmographs to plot oil fields in coastal land. Quite a few groups are claiming the blasts are killing fish, and even causing long-term disorientation in sea mammals.

[MKramer]

As for being able to tell, you can't. Hopefully your LFS will be upfront with you.

 

Unfortunately, most of them buy from whomever gives them the best prices and the best guarantee. And typically that means the fish can be from whichever source and method was most successful that week.

 

There are certain areas that don't allow cyanide usage. US Waters are one, so any fish from Hawaii is supposed to be humanely caught. Same is true for most of the Carribean (both US and British water, I believe), and Australian waters (including the Lord Howe Island Group.

 

I'm not sure, but I think the Red Sea has very strict regulations on methods and quantities, as well, since it's a very delicately balanced ecosystem.

 

THe real trick is to just buy tank-raised whenever possible. And for species that aren't available tank-raised, either dig like hell to find a good supplier, or bite the bullet and realize that you may have to accept those practices to get what you want.

[Adam Jones]

Hey guys, just thought I'd mention that Prof. Roy Caldwell is a regular contributor to the Mantis Shrimp forum at Reef Central:

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/forum....php?forumid=37

 

Last spring I had the good fortune of visiting Prof. Caldwell at his mantis lab on the UC Berkeley campus. He was very accomodating, and let me tour his lab. He had 1 or 2 of dozens of species of mantis ranging from less than 1/2" to 12" -- many of which he collected himself. The crazy thing was he collected not only adult and juvenile animals, but larvae too. He had many small plastic cups with developing mantis in them. Some of the tanks resembled hobbyist tanks, but the majority were very spartan - aesthetically and for the filtration. Frequent water changes provided the only filtration for the small plastic cups. Also, it helped that his lab was temperature controlled.

 

Visiting him in his lab made me question why I hadn't dedicated my life to doing something similar - he gets to travel to exotic locations, dive, research and photograph animals he finds interesting, collect them, and take them home for later study.

 

I've kept O. scyllarus mantis for about two years. They are very interesting animals if you set up a tank dedicated to them.

[Joe]

FooGoo

 

Pressure Blasts means using dynamite to blast the ocean and stun all the fish in a 10-15 foot radius. The stunned fish will float and the collectors go and pick them up. Its highly illegal even in game fishing. Most fish caught with this meathod die very very fast after collection. Most cannot survive the trauma of shipping after being blasted therefore only making it to costal LFS's. You can tell they were collected in this manner by 2 signs. The first sign is massive body injury (torn fins, damaged gills, body cuts, ect.) or discoloration. The second way is by behavior. If a fish is acting abnormal you can assume that it was caught in an unsafe manor.