paneubert Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 There is no mantis in this box........ Link to comment
sogreedy23 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 There is no mantis in this box........ tell me this was the most epic april fools joke ever by john lol well that sucks.... Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 We shall see. Maybe it can be shipped Friday for a Sat delivery. I am not taking another day off work...... I like John, and this was technically "free". I did pay for overnight shipping, but even that is less than actual cost on his end. So I do not want this to seem like bashing on John. But it still is super laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame. Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 I would also hate for it to make John not offer cool random things due to them causing issues. But it is still a bummer. My wife of all people seems the most sad....which is odd since she has no interest in my tanks Link to comment
sogreedy23 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I would also hate for it to make John not offer cool random things due to them causing issues. But it is still a bummer. My wife of all people seems the most sad....which is odd since she has no interest in my tanks Lol a major turning point! That's like when I'm staring at my tank and I look over and my girlfriend is doing the same, eyes at full attention. It makes rationalizing the need for upgrades so much easier lol Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 I think she was mostly sad that I took the day off work If this specific mantis does not work out, I might see what my LFS can order in for me. The guy seemed pretty excited that I was getting one to begin with and he did mention he could order them for me. But I have no idea what price he would be looking for or what type he could get. Might save me a shipping fee though if it came with the LFS normal livestock order. But I am holding out for a "ReefCleaners saves the day" moment to happen. I have faith Link to comment
sogreedy23 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Worst comes to worst you can order from tbsaltwater for $50 shipped. With them you'll know what you're getting too, a wennerae! but that doesn't really help the whole not-staying-home-from-work thing. good luck with your dilemma, certainly sucks considering you took the day off for it. Still looking forward to this coming together! Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 True true. I will wait and see what I hear from John. If he still has it, I am stuck paying another overnight shipping fee to get it, and it makes sense for someone else to get it shipped to them with their order, then maybe I should let someone else have it. We will see. I still like ReefCleaners either way. Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 Talked to John and it looks like it makes the most sense to just refund some of the shipping I paid and have someone else get the mantis with their order if they want it. I am cool with that. I think I will probably let this tank mature a little bit and then see what is available. Might be nice to have one that will not get quite as big as the one John was going to send. I would hate for a mantis to outgrow the tank. Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 7, 2011 Author Share Posted April 7, 2011 Something is happening......what could it be? This is the email I just got from a mysterious/unnamed retailer... " Little guy will be there by 3pm tomorrow! SEA YA! " Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 Well, today is the "Big Day" round/attempt number 2. I wonder if Mr. Mantis will be at my door when I get home. History says that FedEx likes to require a signature even when none is needed....and even when I have a sign on my door saying "please leave my packages, no sig required". In preparation for the mantis coming, my wife held a naming contest. It consisted of her telling me that her idea of "Trogdor" was better than my suggestion of "Barack the Smasher". So Trogdor it is. What else is new.....hmmm. My Red Gracilaria looks like it is growing come cotton candy algae on it. Not surprised since kgoldy had a post where I think his macro had the same growth and we both bought things from ReefCleaners around the same time. I actually think it looks sort of cool. If I am growing various invasive Caulerpa, why not also try out some invasive cotton candy? Another new thing is that I crammed a bunch of rubble behind my large sloped cave/rock. Since the mantis I am getting is a smasher, I figured I would give him something that is somewhat easy to smash and make tunnels out of. The majority of my rock is "lace" that you would find in a freshwater or cichlid tank and I am sort of worried that it is so dense that he will shatter his arms trying to burrow through it. Hopefully the rubble that I have given him will be more appealing and he will burrow in that instead of my lace rock. Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 9, 2011 Author Share Posted April 9, 2011 Trogdor is here!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pretty good shot from underneath.....that will never happen again! ** VIDEO: If you click on it will play a video. ** Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 There is one true test of freindship.Stick your finger in there and see if he trusts you.........No cheating with food either. Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 9, 2011 Author Share Posted April 9, 2011 Hahahaha. Yeah. Maybe when he comes back out. I let him into the tank and he shot straight for a gap in the rock that is holding back the mangrove area, right up against the glass on the left. Hahaha. I spent all that time making him a cool cave system and he went for an area that I did not ever intend for him to even visit. Now we have to wait and see if he comes back out to explore. Hopefully he does not stick to that one hole where I will never see him. Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 9, 2011 Author Share Posted April 9, 2011 This shows the colors a little better... Link to comment
Squared Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww it's so ugly it's almost cute. mantis shrimps are awsome :) Link to comment
sogreedy23 Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 that's a really really nice mottled color you got! i wonder it it'll change during its next molt. i think i read it has to do w the intensity of the light, lower power leaving the mottled look. nice addition! happy its finally mantis-ified! Link to comment
juvance Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 And the wait is over! That is a nice looking mantis. I see it has been in the tank for a day now, has it eaten all of the resident fish? Maybe they all decided to be friends... more pics of it in the tank! Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 9, 2011 Author Share Posted April 9, 2011 I have not seen the mantis since it went in I think he is still hiding in that same hole. I figure after a day or two he will come out to explore. I hope....... Lights are off now, so it is hard to see what is still swimming crawling around in there. But between the dozen little mollies and the few snails, I think he will have some time before I would really need to feed him for sure. I might wait a couple days and then see if I can entice him out of where I assume he is at. He will probably be on the opposite side of the tank laughing at me waving a piece of food at an empty hole. Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 9, 2011 Author Share Posted April 9, 2011 I will take some photos later today when all the lights are on. I guess I have not posted any with the latest macros. Not that it looks amazing or anything But photos are always fun. Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 Soooo....... no photos. Mostly because I just had a scare and I am still not sure what to make of it all. I had not seen the mantis all day. I just came back from the store and took a look in the tank and he seemed to be wrapped around one of my macros sort of in a half circle......not moving. I was convinced he was dead so I poked him with some tweezers and he sort of swam away...but maintained his half curled/half circle shape.....did not look good. He came to rest in a crevace in my rock and I could see that his little feet were still moving. So not dead. But he was still not trying to move at all. Just sort of sitting there resting on the rock. I then convinced myself that one of two things happened. 1. That the ich medication/copper that I used in my other tank somehow transferred to this tank via one of the few rocks I used in both tanks and that it was killing him. 2. That there must be elevated levels of ammonia or nitrate or something that was killing the mantis. But when I really thought about it, I remembered that the form of copper in Cupramine was supposed to be easily removed with carbon. I had run tons of carbon in the old tank after treatment, done lots of water changes, etc..... And the tank this mantis is in does not have anything that was in that medicated tank other than one or two small rocks. The level of copper after all that could not be that high to impact the mantis. Also, I have tons of snails running around in there and I have seen none of them die. When I tested the water for ammonia and nitrate, both are at zero. I am not surprised since I have all that macro in there and it seems to be growing.... So what was causing the crazy mantis behavior? While I was doing all this testing, the mantis disappeared! Hahaha. I think he is messing with me! So now I have no clue if he is sick, dying, messing with me, or what! Ohhh, and the other weird thing is that I counted 12 baby mollies this morning, and now I can only find one. Hahahaha. Did he eat 11 fish and just get bloated and slow? Hahahaha! Maybe I am going crazy. Link to comment
paneubert Posted April 11, 2011 Author Share Posted April 11, 2011 This tank is not meant to have a mantis I think. The universe keeps throwing roadblocks up. Found him dead a few minutes ago. So lame! I am going to let this tank mature for a while with the macros and then somewhere along the line get a copper test kit to see if that was the issue. If it was.....then I guess this will be a macro and molly only tank since the rockwork is leaching copper. I acclimated the guy......temperature was fine, and as I found out last night, the parameters are all fine as well. Wennerae mantis are supposed to be hardy, so there has got to be something going on in that tank. Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Some shrimp are really really really sensitive to salt differences.Thats the only thing i can think of.It Uasually happens after adding them.Id say instantly.......... within a few minutes.......... and hours. Link to comment
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