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Islandoftiki's Peacock Mantis

Islandoftiki

By Islandoftiki,
in Nano Reef Journals

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eitallent

eitallent

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She's so cute. Last night, I was showing her my car keys. She found them so interesting she had to come out of her den and up to the glass for a closer look. I'm going to have to come up with some aquarium safe unusual objects to put in there for her to explore. She's always curious when I show her new things.

 

That is so cool. I had no idea they were so curious and intelligent!

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Islandoftiki

Islandoftiki

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Always curious when someone walks up to the tank. She comes up to the glass for a quick greeting here...

 

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Mr. Microscope

Mr. Microscope

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Wow! Just found this thread. Had to look at the whole thing. Great videos! You seem to choose the perfect music for every video. Very entertaining. The video where she's being picky about food was hilarious! Thanks for sharing this adventure with us. It really has me thinking about a mantis. Following.

 

BTW, I notice that you don't seem to have any issues with algae. With all the food in there, what's your key to success on that end?

 

Also, how often are you feeding it?

 

Finally, any plans for corals in there?

I'm going to have to come up with some aquarium safe unusual objects to put in there for her to explore.

Here you go!

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Islandoftiki

Islandoftiki

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BTW, I notice that you don't seem to have any issues with algae. With all the food in there, what's your key to success on that end?

 

Also, how often are you feeding it?

 

Finally, any plans for corals in there?

 

Well, because it's a peacock mantis the tank is unlighted. Peacocks can be susceptible to shell rot and light is one of the contributing factors to that. So, with no light, you get no algae. I never even have to clean the glass. Maybe once a month if that.

 

I feed her about 1/2 of a krill soaked in selcon every day or so. It's a small enough amount that she consumes it all in about 5 minutes. I've never seen her not eat all of her food and she's not messy. She's a little pig. Anything that might escape her death-grip on the food is consumed by the damsel.

 

No corals obviously, because of the lack of lighting. The tank does have a small CFL light that I turn on for filming/picutes or if we have guests over so they can see her better.

 

I could put NPS corals in there, but I rather enjoy the low maintenance of this tank. I have enough to do with all of my other tanks.

 

Here's what Betty does around dinner time. She hangs out at the front of the tank and swims around when you come up to the tank so you don't forget that she's in there and hungry. As you can see, the tank is fairly dark normally.

 

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andi.rahl

andi.rahl

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That's it, I'm sending someone to kidnap her for me.

Id do it, but I'm afraid if I got to Oregon that I'd never want to leave...

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Islandoftiki

Islandoftiki

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So, this is what you can expect just about all of the time... except late at night when she's going to bed.

 

Watch as I sneak up on her doing her daily mantis things. The second she sees me, she rushes over to the front of the tank to visit with me, but alas, there is glass in the way. Darn that glass!

 

 

This little girl will steal your heart.

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Rollermonkey

Rollermonkey

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In the old animated movie Heavy Metal, there's one vignette which title pops into my head every time I look at this thread:

 

So Beautiful, So Dangerous

 

Maybe not so dangerous to you or I, but certainly to any mollusks that end up in her tank!

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Islandoftiki

Islandoftiki

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I fed Betty by hand today. Now, before you all get really excited, she was swimming upside down at the surface of the water and I just kinda dropped the krill down into her maxillipeds from 1/4" above the surface of the water. I'll take a video when I feed her tomorrow and I'll be a little more brave and let her touch me. I know you want to witness me getting struck by her raps. You evil bastards.

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Islandoftiki

Islandoftiki

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I think I'm comfortable enough to attempt to touch her. With her complete and utter fascination with me and her knowledge that I'm the bringer of delicious food that she might even be ok with me touching her. I think I'd have to take my time and work my way up to that. Hmmm.

 

As far as feeding goes, if I don't hang on to the food while I'm feeding her, she won't strike. Of course, if I wrestle with her for it, I'm pretty sure I'd get whacked. Like if I don't let go of the food with the forceps, after a couple seconds, she'll start swinging.

 

I'm really curious what it's like to get whacked by a mantis. I'm sure it's not too fun, but how bad can it be? When I was a teenager, we used to have BB gun fights. Can't be worse than getting hit in the finger by a BB gun. Ok, that does suck, but it's not the end of the world.

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jedimasterben

jedimasterben

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I fed Betty by hand today. Now, before you all get really excited, she was swimming upside down at the surface of the water and I just kinda dropped the krill down into her maxillipeds from 1/4" above the surface of the water. I'll take a video when I feed her tomorrow and I'll be a little more brave and let her touch me. I know you want to witness me getting struck by her raps. You evil bastards.

HOW THE FRAK DID YOU KNOW

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Islandoftiki

Islandoftiki

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I use my hands a lot at work, so I should probably use my left hand since I can work better with an injured finger on that hand.

 

What do you guys think would happen?

 

A. It would hurt for a bit, but the pain would go away after 20 minutes.

B. It would hurt a lot and probably leave a bruise/blood blister.

C. It's gonna split the skin open and you're gonna bleed.

D. Three words: Deep tissue infection.

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Islandoftiki

Islandoftiki

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My vote is probably c. She's pretty big....

 

That is if she wants to hurt you

 

Yeah, that's the thing. I really can't speculate on stomatopod morality. Does she know that it's a bad idea to hit the food bringer? Does she have any concept of how much it would hurt me to hit me? I try not to anthropomorphize her. After all, she's not human. She does have higher intelligence than the average crustacean... By a large margin. Honestly, I think she has better problem solving skills than most dogs or cats. I mean, how many times have you watched a dog lay down on it's bed, with a sharp pointy bone or toy under it, and it's obviously very uncomfortable, but they don't think to modify their environment to remedy the problem (IE: pick up the bone/toy and move it off the bed). Betty is constantly adjusting her environment to suit her needs.

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ccapasso

ccapasso

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I'm voting C. Also, I hope she doesn't unfold her spear on the club and stab you. That would likely cause a lot more damage.

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