Islandoftiki Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 Sorry guys, no blood.... Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 .....private video.... I had just set it to public. Youtube is lagging a little. Try now. Betty did a snatch and grab. This was actually the second take. I got a little more contact time the first time, but the camera angle wasn't great. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 Here was take one. We didn't have a wide enough camera angle, so I re-shot the video, but if you want to see the first take, here it is... I'll do it again this weekend. We'll try to get a little better angle and close-up shots. She ate twice tonight, so I probably won't feed her tomorrow. A big thank you to my fiance P-Dog for filming this. Maybe she'll do the feeding in the next video! Link to comment
Acielot Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 Sorry guys, no blood.... And the peanut gallery leaves disappointed. Pretty cool nonetheless. I like how she decorated around her PVC tunnel Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 I ran across this really cool video on YouTube yesterday that someone (I'm guessing from Japan) took while SCUBA diving. It shows an O. Scyllarus mantis just going about it's daily life. Obviously not too concerned about the diver, it forages for food and hunts down some sort of bivalve that it finds under a rock. It's a really great video showing some of it's natural bahaviors. I thought I would share: Link to comment
RollaJase Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 They really are an amazing and beautiful creature. Link to comment
jadedanime Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 Don't click anything off that video...dark side of YouTube..... O.o lol Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted June 28, 2013 Author Share Posted June 28, 2013 Last night, because I love to tempt fate, I stuck my fingers in the water and wiggled them around. After a couple seconds, she swam up to them and grabbed hold of my index finger using her maxillipeds, after a quick inspection, she decided there was no food there, so she darted away. Again, no excitement, drama or blood... Link to comment
BadCrab Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 That's nuts... she hits any sticks and stuff that you put in right? Do you think she might understand you are the source of her food and your fingers and hand are an extension of you?? EDIT: Probably more likely she quickly "trained" to hit the feeding claws you use, & she can tell the difference between fingers and tongs/claws. If in a nasty mood she might give you a little pop I think! Link to comment
eitallent Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 Last night, because I love to tempt fate, I stuck my fingers in the water and wiggled them around. After a couple seconds, she swam up to them and grabbed hold of my index finger using her maxillipeds, after a quick inspection, she decided there was no food there, so she darted away. Again, no excitement, drama or blood... Yikes. Reading this makes me cringe! Don't tempt fate or Betty. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted June 28, 2013 Author Share Posted June 28, 2013 Don't worry, I would not hold it against her in any way if she hit me. I have a pretty good feel for her behavior at this point. I've read anecdotal stories from people saying that their peacock mantis will hit them, but not hard enough to hurt or leave a mark. Often when she comes up to front of the tank to visit with me, her hammers are usually uncocked and relaxed. If something in the background startles her, you can see her cock her raptorial appendages, but then she'll relax them again when the perceived threat goes away and she's focusing on me again. She's quite comfortable with me and I think she has a certain level of trust that she gives me. But who knows, it could happen. Something could startle her and she might react, but I'm cool with that. I find the interaction worth the risk, and how cool would it be to say you got smacked by a mantis shrimp? Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 She just appears to be a social butterfly with you, what a great experience for you. Thanks for sharing all your videos. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted June 29, 2013 Author Share Posted June 29, 2013 I fed her by hand again today. I had to use the tripod, so I wasn't able to get as good of a video as I wanted, but here it is. As usual, I pulled my hand back when she grabbed on with her maxillipeds and some of the action was out of frame. I'll get my lovely assistant to do the camera work next time. Again, sorry. No blood. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted June 29, 2013 Author Share Posted June 29, 2013 She just appears to be a social butterfly with you, what a great experience for you. Thanks for sharing all your videos. She has certainly developed an affinity towards me. Here's the funny thing... Here's the post I made in our local saltwater club forum back in January of this year: Ok, somebody needs to set up a special tank for that enchanting little female peacock mantis shrimp at OIAB. She's only about 3"-4" at this point but will get bigger. She's going to need an unlighted 30-40 gallon tank. Because peacock mantis have a tendency toward shell rot, and bright lighting is a know factor in shell rot, no lights, which pretty much means no coral, or NPS coral only. The good news is that females are less prone to shell rot than males. Somebody rescue this little sweetie before she gets tossed into a brightly lit reef tank by someone who doesn't know any better. I'd pick her up, but I'm tapped out after setting up my current newest mantis tank. She is particularly interactive, even for a peacock. She would be like having a little dog. Someone nice picked her up and got her set up in her own tank, but then he had a child and couldn't properly care for multiple tanks, so he posted her up for sale on the local forum a couple months ago. Nobody was taking her, so I contacted him and asked him if he would do a trade for some coral frags (I'm not poor, but I had just finished spending over a thousand dollars to set up my G. Ternatensis mantis tank and my budget was shot). He was so happy that I would take her that he was willing to give her to me for free. I gave him a bunch of good frags to cover the equipment costs and now she's living here. I was enchanted with her from the moment I first saw her back in January, and somehow the universe conspired to bring us together. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 1, 2013 Author Share Posted July 1, 2013 I took and empty margarita snail shell that I had laying around and packed a half of a krill into it with a pair of forceps, I really jammed it in there so she would have to work for it. Here is what's left: Also, while doing the water change this afternoon, I sucked out about 3 cups of crushed coral and replaced it with two cups of fully cycled live sand that I've been getting ready in a bucket. I'll keep doing this with each water change until it's half crushed coral and half medium/fine aragonite. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 4, 2013 Author Share Posted July 4, 2013 So, I figured out what I'm going to do about a skimmer for this tank. I'm stealing the Tunze 9002 from my 25 gallon tank and upgrading that to a new nano skimmer that's easier to get in and out of the back chamber. So, I gave the skimmer a thorough cleaning last night and popped it into Betty's tank this morning. It fits nicely in the back corner and because 3 sides of the tank are blacked out, it's very hard to see it in the tank. Betty immediately had to check out what this odd black box was. She whacked it twice and decided that wasn't going to result in much of anything, so now she's hiding in her smaller den in the back of the tank, watching the skimmer housing suspiciously and intently to determine if it's going to try to pull any sort of shenanigans. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 So, I figured out what I'm going to do about a skimmer for this tank. I'm stealing the Tunze 9002 from my 25 gallon tank and upgrading that to a new nano skimmer that's easier to get in and out of the back chamber. So, I gave the skimmer a thorough cleaning last night and popped it into Betty's tank this morning. It fits nicely in the back corner and because 3 sides of the tank are blacked out, it's very hard to see it in the tank. Betty immediately had to check out what this odd black box was. She whacked it twice and decided that wasn't going to result in much of anything, so now she's hiding in her smaller den in the back of the tank, watching the skimmer housing suspiciously and intently to determine if it's going to try to pull any sort of shenanigans. I'd liked to have heard that sound against that hard plastic!!! Cowabunga BAMMMM!! Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 4, 2013 Author Share Posted July 4, 2013 I'd liked to have heard that sound against that hard plastic!!! Cowabunga BAMMMM!! I'm pretty sure she didn't hit it full force. She was just testing it. The other day, she whacked the siphon hose when I was sucking out some of the crushed coral substrate. KA-WHACK! It's just a soft vinyl hose, but it sounded like she hit a rock and the shock wave that I felt in the hose kinda surprised me. I really don't think I want to get hit by a full-force blow. That would REALLY suck. Dr. Caldwell was mentioning that if you got hit full-force by the sharp pointy end of the dactyl, it could lodge itself into the bone in your hand. I'm not sure I'm going to hand feed her any more... Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 I'm pretty sure she didn't hit it full force. She was just testing it. The other day, she whacked the siphon hose when I was sucking out some of the crushed coral substrate. KA-WHACK! It's just a soft vinyl hose, but it sounded like she hit a rock and the shock wave that I felt in the hose kinda surprised me. I really don't think I want to get hit by a full-force blow. That would REALLY suck. Dr. Caldwell was mentioning that if you got hit full-force by the sharp pointy end of the dactyl, it could lodge itself into the bone in your hand. I'm not sure I'm going to hand feed her any more... OH WHOA- that visual imagery just sent me cringing. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 4, 2013 Author Share Posted July 4, 2013 A couple hours later and she's made peace with the skimmer. It isn't producing any skimmate yet, but I suspect it might take a day or two for it to break in again after such a thorough cleaning. I completely disassembled it and soaked it in vinegar over night, then scrubbed it out with a bottle brush. I gave her another empty snail shell packed with krill. This one was bigger and I suspect a bit more of a challenge than the last one. I dropped it into the tank and she grabbed it before it even hit the sand and hauled it into her den. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 5, 2013 Author Share Posted July 5, 2013 The skimmer is starting to get up to speed. I expect skimmate by tomorrow. I don't think there's much to skim out of this tank at the moment though. Link to comment
tajaba Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 Thats a beautiful creature! Stunning as usual from you good sir Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 5, 2013 Author Share Posted July 5, 2013 Thats a beautiful creature! Stunning as usual from you good sir If I could keep only one thing in my collection of amazing saltwater critters, it would be this amazing creature. She really is something special. Link to comment
tajaba Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 you now make me wanna convert my 8gal into a mantis tank, only if I can get a mantis in thailand (that hasn't been cooked) Link to comment
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