Hugo Stiglitz the Mantis Shrimp

[MainelyReefer]

Recently I purchased some beautiful rocks off KP Aquatics(epic Gorgonians and rocks) and had mentioned that I hoped a mantis shrimp would hitchhike its way to the granite state.  Sure enough within minutes of unpacking I noticed Hugo Stiglitz slipping through the rocks being a creature of the black lagoon.  Having not fully thought about the rocks then housing a villanous murderer I realized the rocks he resided in where permanently his and he would need his own tank.  He was already in an IM10 I was using to QT the rocks and cycle them but the depth between the panes allows him too much hiding space for decent viewing.  So I bought the Mr.Aqua serene 3 gallon tank.

   The tank is seriously my favorite tank ever!  At 17.7"x 5.5" x 7.1" the dimensions on this thing are a dream!  I want a nice clean look so I am going with a toothless overflow, tempted to call it a coast to coast but is that only on tanks that crest over the length of the aquarium not the width?  Always wanted a white back wall but never found one for sale so I will be fulfilling that dream too.

  In this thread I plan on chronicling the build process of the tank and also Hugo, Who I hope turns out to be half as cool as another murderous sea wench nanoreef knew so well.  It's my first time working acrylic and designing my own AIO insert, and also my first predator tank.  Also would love to have some comments that could even make the guys in lawns lounge blush so speak freely. And I will copy one of the other posters who make such nice first posts showcasing equipment and such, at the  Chris Marks guy that yells at me for being political can we maybe get a template so I don't have to spend time figuring it out? I have included a picture of a cardboard mockup of my simple plan.

[debbeach13]

Good luck with your new tank and your new buddy.

[MainelyReefer]

Ok so I have the insert built, it took about 4 hours, a 9$ 12" square of 1/8" white acrylic a 1.25$ 3" blue acrylic square, plus a $6 tube of #16 acrylic glue.  The process went really smoothly after I figured out how to use the 5$ acrylic knife from the hardware store.  Glueing was easier than expected as was drilling once I used the drill press and progressive drill bit sizes.  I even managed to make a decent filter floss holder with the scraps and bent the acrylic by heating a metal rod with a blow torch then pressing the acrylic against it to the desired shape.  Now I am stuck on how much of the insert to silicone into the tank. I copied the design of other inserts and have two "walls" on the edge and was thinking silicone the top but leave the backside and bottom unsiliconed as reaching would be near impossible and it may create a detritus trap.  Obviously I will silicone the sides abutting the display, any input from people with ideas or experience would be great 

[MainelyReefer]

This pico now sits on my wife's  work desk so she has the pleasure of actually seeing Hugo Stiglitz(the mantis).  The talbots damsel in there was meant to be food but they are now friends apparently so I think the mr aqua may have to become my IM10 for more space for the two and also because the talbots is voracious and attacks ghost shrimps intended for mantis and they tend to go over the toothless overflow creating an issue in feeding Hugo.  Luckily he finally came out today and she grabbed a photo of him looking at her, unfortunately she has an old iPhone so quality is low.  Also he molted and is a cool purpley color in natural light I'll include a picture of his arm he molted off which makes me believe he is a spearer type mantis, he has slowly eaten the rest of the molt which I left.  I have fed him SW converted platies but he will only eat juveniles, now I'm stuck with an adult platie who actually eats GHA so kinda cool. I will likely make the switch in tanks this weekend so as to ensure his health.  If anyone has advice on how to keep this guy healthy and fed properly I'd love to hear it!

[WV Reefer]

15 minutes ago, GraniteReefer said:

This pico now sits on my wife's  work desk so she has the pleasure of actually seeing Hugo Stiglitz(the mantis).  The talbots damsel in there was meant to be food but they are now friends apparently so I think the mr aqua may have to become my IM10 for more space for the two and also because the talbots is voracious and attacks ghost shrimps intended for mantis and they tend to go over the toothless overflow creating an issue in feeding Hugo.  Luckily he finally came out today and she grabbed a photo of him looking at her, unfortunately she has an old iPhone so quality is low.  Also he molted and is a cool purpley color in natural light I'll include a picture of his arm he molted off which makes me believe he is a spearer type mantis, he has slowly eaten the rest of the molt which I left.  I have fed him SW converted platies but he will only eat juveniles, now I'm stuck with an adult platie who actually eats GHA so kinda cool. I will likely make the switch in tanks this weekend so as to ensure his health.  If anyone has advice on how to keep this guy healthy and fed properly I'd love to hear it!

@FlowerMama would be a great source of info as well as @lkoechle   

 

  

[MainelyReefer]

little video of his eyes which are absolutely nuts

[MainelyReefer]

Hugo attacking my finger!  What A bad ass!

[WV Reefer]

3 hours ago, GraniteReefer said:

Hugo attacking my finger!  What A bad ass!

Those eyes 

[YaBoyLaj]

He's so cute!!!!! 

[MainelyReefer]

Mantis has been moved to my IM 10 gallon in custom stand, will update first post with current tank info, but I mostly wanted to post because he finally killed a SW converted platy that has been in tank for Atleast a month! Hugo never gives up! Here's a pic of the left overs

and a picture of the tank right next to my ugly sofa so I can stare at it. And my dog Jasper 

[GunslingerGirl]

Hugo is a smasher. That knob on the top of his thoracopod is the defining characteristic of a smasher.

 

Give him blue leg hermits. They like to smash the shell to bits. Kinda like sticking food in one of those food toys for dogs. (btw Jasper is cute )

 

My smasher lived with a damsel, but never went after it, or anything. Thing was so peaceful I fed it from my hands. I miss him. Best mantis I probably will ever own. Always out and about and would follow my finger through the tank trying to climb up into my hand. He was one weird shrimp.

 

Watch out for Hugo taking food back to his den and letting it rot. That is what ultimately got mine.

[MainelyReefer]

Hugo and the talbots are both still doing great!  The tank has been maturing.... meaning lots of algae, but Hugo eats pellets and frozen now too so the feeding should get a bit cleaner.  I realized my clean up crew was zero(except for the random HH on the KP rocks) so I bought 2 snails which have survived and the emerald crab to try and eat the bubble algae that came On these rocks.  Hugo immediately attacked the crab but left him alone after a minute and hasn't attacked yet the past month.  And the emerald leaves me wishing he would get killed as he doesn't eat the bubble algae and instead eats some other cool macros!  I also added a hermit per gunslingers reccomendation and it lasted a month or so but never moved it just clamped down into the rock.  No confirmed kill but I haven't seen it.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Have you ID what sort of mantis he is? He's adorable! I love mantises. They're very interactive and curious.

[MainelyReefer]

Hugo and the Talbots continue the coexist in an ever more algae covered tank.

 One thing is for sure I refuse to go in there and hand prune the algae, and Hugo seems to love scurrying through it anyways so it is destined to be a “natural” reef(that’s what my wife calls it).  The Curlique anemone that hitch hiked along with Hugo from Florida in these rocks has become a real menace of the tank.  

I will drop in three chunks of frozen and I will be lucky if Hugo can grab one before the curlique gets them all, and if the anemone beats Hugo he stubbornly  tries to grab it and gets stung and frantically swims away.  This resulted in my purchasing a pair of 12” bamboo tongs and I feed him chunks of frozen this way now so circumvent making the anemone bigger each feeding.(frozen once a week, pellets daily)

My LFS has been having trouble keeping the SW ghost shrimp in stock lately so he hasn’t been recieving as much live and I have to get him some new hermits to slowly pick off.  I got two emeralds to try and clean up some algae but they didn’t do much before they met their demise, 20 mins for number one, the second one made it like 3 days.  

[MrsK]

Hugo is awesome and I love his name! Love me some Tarrantino! I hope he continues to thrive in your tank. I could never keep one, they creep me out, lol.