Aggressive and Timid Mantis species

[Mkman]

Hi, can anyone tell me which mantis shrimps are the most aggressive and which ones are timid???

I have a black and white striped mantis which Dr Caldwell thinks is a Haptosquilla. Well this guy is pretty boring! He just stays in his little home all day and doesn't move much. Not active or anything!

On the other hand, a fellow RC member gave me a mantis from his TBS rock (N. Wennerae probably) and he moves around a lot, hunts, and if I come up to the glass, he/she will flare out his smashers.

Please let me know!
Mike

 

[Gonodactylus]

The most aggressive smashers are gonoactylids such as G. chiragra, G. ternatensis, N. wennerae, N. oerstedii. The odontodactylids generally are pretty reserved although they can be trained to attack a feeding stick. A good way to assess how aggressive a species is involves looking at how it handles prey. If you attach a food item to a stick and pull it back after the stomatopod grabs it, aggressive individuals will continue to pull on the food and even strike. SHy species will immediately give up and usually will not take the item again for at least a few minutes.

Spearing species that can be aggressive include Pseudosquilla ciliata and Lysiosquillina maculata and L. glabriuscula. Most squillids are fairly shy.

Roy