cobaltplasma
New member
For the last 6 days I've started setting and prepping what would be my new mantis tank. My 12gal Eclipse was to house my spearer (P.ciliata), she seems happy there with enough to do heh, but my new 26gal. I had planned on setting up for a smasher; larger substrate, almost no sand aside from the starter scoops from my 12gal., lots of live rock. Well as it turns out sometimes life tosses you odd curve balls to keep you on your toes.
Late tonight, just a few minutes ago, I was looking at how some starting bits of micro algae had popped up, pretty happy with that, but then I saw what I thought was a crab or something small retreating back into a tiny hole. By tiny hole I mean maybe 1/8" across. I saw two white dibs withdraw into the darkness....when there shouldn't be anything alive in there really aside from the couple of straggler snails that were on a piece of rock I got from the beach. The rocks I got, btw, were pretty sunbleached and dry, left in my car during the day while my wife and I went to town, so I figured I'd give them a quick wash and put them into my tank to start cycling...after a day (last Saturday) I rinsed and added about 15lbs. of crushed coral substrate, made the tank pretty cloudy as I didn't do a terribly good job
So nothing should live, right? Right?
WRONG!
Going back to my story, I'm looking at this mystery Genesis hole that has magically spawned life...and I see the little white dibs again. This time one of them rotates about!.. I wait a bit, call my wife with a bit of excitement.. We sat in front of my tank for a few minutes and out pop those EYES again, the eyes of a tiny baby (juvenile heh) mantis! I have no idea how it survived all the hardships, from being stuck in a rock in my car all day, to getting rinsed down in a bucket, to dealing with cloudy crap from my inability to properly and fully wash gravel, but it magically did. They are beasty
I ran to the freezer, pulled out my silversides and cut off a tiny piece, skewered it and brought it back. Poor bugger must have been starving because almost as soon as the skewer went in his head popped out. When it reached a couple inches from his burrow he darts all the way out, grabs the piece, kicks a few times, and flies back into his hole. He's maybe, maybe 3/4" long, tops, almost a translucent white-ish color. He peeks out once in a while, seems much more lively now that he has food, but I can't for the life of me ID him.
Which brings me to my questions and request. Can anyone take a wild guess as to what species it might be, it being tiny and living in a hole of live rock? My gut is saying it's a P.ciliata, I'm guessing that based on the tail and I haven't heard any smacking from my tank; at first I thought for sure P.ciliata because of the eyes, but they're so small and G.falcatus seems to have a somewhat similar shape at least... But do juveniles bust holes in live rock when they're that small?
My request is... does anyone have pictures of smaller mantises of the P.ciliata and G.falcatus species? Aside from the coaxing of food, I only see his eyes and occasionally his tail when he spins to go back inside. Can you differentiate species 'easily' at smaller sizes or am I just going to have let this bugger grow a little before I can get an ID on him? Do meral spots show in stomatopods that small for P.ciliata and G.falcatus? I ask about those two specifically since it seems they'd be the most common that I'd find in such shallow intertidal/beach areas.
Man, talk about exciting though! My brand new tank has a miracle baby mantis to go with it haha ^_^ Guess I don't need to order one online...well...saying this one makes it *crosses fingers*
Anyways, that's my tale for the night...I'll try to get pictures of him, at least of his tiny eyes when he looks out. Perhaps he'll be out and about more tomorrow since he'll have more energy having eaten
Gah, sorry this is so long, just pretty excited about this find! ^_^
Late tonight, just a few minutes ago, I was looking at how some starting bits of micro algae had popped up, pretty happy with that, but then I saw what I thought was a crab or something small retreating back into a tiny hole. By tiny hole I mean maybe 1/8" across. I saw two white dibs withdraw into the darkness....when there shouldn't be anything alive in there really aside from the couple of straggler snails that were on a piece of rock I got from the beach. The rocks I got, btw, were pretty sunbleached and dry, left in my car during the day while my wife and I went to town, so I figured I'd give them a quick wash and put them into my tank to start cycling...after a day (last Saturday) I rinsed and added about 15lbs. of crushed coral substrate, made the tank pretty cloudy as I didn't do a terribly good job

So nothing should live, right? Right?
WRONG!
Going back to my story, I'm looking at this mystery Genesis hole that has magically spawned life...and I see the little white dibs again. This time one of them rotates about!.. I wait a bit, call my wife with a bit of excitement.. We sat in front of my tank for a few minutes and out pop those EYES again, the eyes of a tiny baby (juvenile heh) mantis! I have no idea how it survived all the hardships, from being stuck in a rock in my car all day, to getting rinsed down in a bucket, to dealing with cloudy crap from my inability to properly and fully wash gravel, but it magically did. They are beasty

I ran to the freezer, pulled out my silversides and cut off a tiny piece, skewered it and brought it back. Poor bugger must have been starving because almost as soon as the skewer went in his head popped out. When it reached a couple inches from his burrow he darts all the way out, grabs the piece, kicks a few times, and flies back into his hole. He's maybe, maybe 3/4" long, tops, almost a translucent white-ish color. He peeks out once in a while, seems much more lively now that he has food, but I can't for the life of me ID him.
Which brings me to my questions and request. Can anyone take a wild guess as to what species it might be, it being tiny and living in a hole of live rock? My gut is saying it's a P.ciliata, I'm guessing that based on the tail and I haven't heard any smacking from my tank; at first I thought for sure P.ciliata because of the eyes, but they're so small and G.falcatus seems to have a somewhat similar shape at least... But do juveniles bust holes in live rock when they're that small?
My request is... does anyone have pictures of smaller mantises of the P.ciliata and G.falcatus species? Aside from the coaxing of food, I only see his eyes and occasionally his tail when he spins to go back inside. Can you differentiate species 'easily' at smaller sizes or am I just going to have let this bugger grow a little before I can get an ID on him? Do meral spots show in stomatopods that small for P.ciliata and G.falcatus? I ask about those two specifically since it seems they'd be the most common that I'd find in such shallow intertidal/beach areas.
Man, talk about exciting though! My brand new tank has a miracle baby mantis to go with it haha ^_^ Guess I don't need to order one online...well...saying this one makes it *crosses fingers*
Anyways, that's my tale for the night...I'll try to get pictures of him, at least of his tiny eyes when he looks out. Perhaps he'll be out and about more tomorrow since he'll have more energy having eaten
