Anyone up for an ID (lots o pics)?

[DensityMan]

Looking for a name and some details about a little hitchhiker I found at the LFS and brought home (on a trial basis) to add some 'spark' to my reef. A little danger makes things interesting, no?

Anyway, found her under a freshly received colt softie (attached to a rock-frag) a few weeks back. Kept her there in a critter-feeper, within the reef system, and stocked it a couple weeks ago with a very tiny blue-leg hermit, a small stomatella hitchhiker to test its diet. Both the snail and the hermit were alive and well today when I decided to take her (the Mantis) home. During that time I have supplied her with a few forzen brine or a piece of krill which she excitedly hauled under a piece of rock (apparently she's a shy eater).

On with the pictures now...

This first shot is to establish basic form looking down on her, o apologies for the otherwise crappy shot.

Pretty boring looking, eh? Check this next shot out then:

Close up of her front section:

A curtsey and another look at the front (other side):

She does enjoy swimming and in the critter-keeper would often swim to the top and then hang out there:

Back half:

She isn't even as long as a quarter stretched out, so she may still be a juvenile...

Thanks in advance,

 

[ReefMagic]

Looks like an awesome mantis. But Dr. Caldwell is on " vacation" studying stomatopods right now so it will be difficult to get a positive ID on him. sorry. But otherways It looks like a nice mantis

 

[Microcosmos]

Beautiful! But if it is a juvy of a species that eventually gets large, I'll bet that shrimps and hermits will start to disappear...that's what it was designed for (I learned an especially harsh lesson on that when I introduced a large mantis to a small puffer with a not so happy ending--you can guess that ending if you think about who was designed for what, which I didn't)... Sorry I can't be more help, but I'd only introduce it to your main tank if you feel confident that you can capture it without too much hassle if it becomes a menace.

 

[DensityMan]

No idea if he's a juvy or not (hence all the pics and questions on ID).

It is too bad that the good doctor is out (for a year?)... But with that being the case, are either of the following shots helpful to our amateur Identologists? (Thanks for the responses to date, as well... just talking about it is cool... even without an ID)

Not looking for a specific species ident, mind you, just something along the lines of "yep, looks like it's gonna be a big ole Peacock-type... hide the fish and duct-tape all the glass" or "aw, he's cute... when he full grown you feed him to your blue-legs as a snack." (Does it look to be a giant species or a small species?)

Home sweet home. It isn't much, but I still want to keep tabs on him AND try to make him as comfortable as possible (while held in solitary confinment in a fry cup high above the sand). I found a little (and I do mean little) frag of LR with a hole through it and placed it into a corner of his cell. He went straight to it and spent the rest of the night alternating between fidgeting to get comfy (he has to curl up to fit in) and hammering away at the sides to smooth and shape his burrow (I'm hooked on the little guy already, so I'm secretly hoping he'll stay small).

Feeding. This shot was awesome (not the actual pic, but the oppurtunity the mantis gave me to take a photo). I fed a little flake last night and he unfurled from his cave and assumed the 'stance.' It was awesome... I thought for certain I could smell the fear on those little flakes.

So anyway, I know they're not National Geographic quality, but they were the first shots I have been able to get of him actually facing the camera.

Enjoy,

 

[ReefMagic]

From that first pic in the new post, he kinda looks like a neogonodactylus wennerae. they are commonly found on LR from the keys. But, I would say he would get big. What size tank are you keeping him in?

 

[DensityMan]

Rats...

He's in isolation within my 29g, but I would hate to have to dig him out later... think I'll start a 5g tank at work...

Always good to have an 'excuse' to set up a new tank I suppose...

Thanks again,

 

[RogueCorps]

Hey Density,

It looks like Gonodactylus Smithi. It's definitely not a O. Scyllarus (Peacock) mantis.

You've taken some great pics and you can clearly see the meral spots on the inside of the raptorial appendages. The black spots surrounded by white look just like this pic of G. Smithi here:
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics/smit2rc.htm

According to Dr. Roy, Gonodactyus are rarely larger than 3 inches, one of which being G. Chiragra which are pound for pound about the toughest. A five gallon would make a great home for it! Good luck with it...

-Rogue

 

[DensityMan]

You appear to be correct to my eyes, as well. That linked pic does indeed look very muck like her. Awesome.

A search didn't reveal too many details on any specific feeding needs and what-not so I'll just plan to stock it up with some other hitchhikers and feed the occasional krill.

Thanks!

 

[RogueCorps]

Wow, I think I got a correct I.D.! woohoo!

A good search would probably be within the mantis forum, "smithi" and set it for at least a year.

Doc Roy said that G. Smithi were about his favorite for personality. With it's small size be careful with feeding any snails or crabs that are too large for it to finish and degrade water quality. There have been a few threads about feeding and I think diversity is best. I feed a variety of frozen shrimp, squid, mussels, crab, dried krill, and fish. Dr. Roy also supplements with Zoe or Selcon soaked into dried krill.



-Rogue

 

[DensityMan]

Assuming a quick cycle (using water changed out from my 'main' reef today and LR from the same tank), 'Tim' will be leaving his isolation container high above the sandbed and will be living large in his brand new 10g 'nano-reef.

This is a first venture into both nano-reefing AND mantis-keeping for me so keep the good info flowing in here.

For what it's worth he seems to enjoy his current digs alright, save that the snails on the outside of his 'cage' annoy him by not cracking open when he snaps at them. I finally did see him claim a meal other than shrimp pellets. Last week he nabbed a tiny hitch-hiker (nerite-type) snail and really went to town on its shell. Took him a few minutes but he finally cracked it open... and then stuffed it into his hidey-hole. *sigh*

 

[DensityMan]

Using 'Natural Beach" pink and tan/white sand (from someplace exotic), a CustomSeaLife 36w lighting hood and a 32W NO 50/50 (both leftovers from past tanks). The filtration will be handled by a Top Fin mini HOB filter and a Whisper 201 power-head (plus of course the LR, seeded sand and plants).

Now I just have to figure out the best layout for both his 'comfort' and my viewing pleasure.

 

[Gonodactylus]

This is a somewhat unusual color morph of Gonodactylus smithii. I've seen a few from the Philippines like this. Interestingly, the same pattern with red intersegmental stripes and dark green body occurs in Gonodactylaceus ternatensis, but they are easy to tell apart by the color of the meral spots. G. smithii is purple and G. ternatensis is yellow. This male should not grow to more than 4 inches.

Gonodactylus

 

[natybug]

Woohooo!!! Rogue's ID is confirmed and he nailed it even with an unusual color morph. Way to go!

Glad to see you on Dr. C!

 

[DensityMan]

Thanks for the confirmation and additional information on 'Tim,' Gonodactylus!

Setup his new digs today (a day late because the first 10g sprung a leak from the bottom seal). His current isolation container is getting covered in film algae (since he keeps 'harrassing' the cleaning crew), but he is getting more active and daring. He tried to scare the lawnmower blenny away from his area yesterday.

Anyway, trying to make the transition as quick as possible. The sand was 'rinsed' in water from my more established reef and left to soak in about an inch of that water overnight. One pound of LR rubble and a 2 lb piece covered in coralline have come from the established tank as well as various plant clippings and a big ball of Chaet (for small critters and added 'filtration').

Pictures of setup day:

The care package enroute...

The view from my office doorway...

A close up...

And lastly the view from above (pre-hood construction)...

I have to add a heater and a timer yet, but letting the water culture over-night before adding the rest tomorrow (and filling the tank the rest of the way since about 4 gallons of water spilled onto the hardwood during the initial setup in tank 'Doomsday')...

The current plan is that he will inhabit the tank alone (i.e. no fish or anything 'greater' than hitchhikng, small snails and a few tiny blue-legs. ), but I know eventually I will be tempted to add a few more lively tank-mates (should he fail to keep me entertained alone). Any tiny suggestions suitable for being a roomie to a G. Smithii measuring just over an inch currently with a possible adult length of four inches?



Thanks again all,

 

[DensityMan]

For example...

Anyone have any info on keeping G. Smithii (or Mantids in general) with a small (US quarter-sized) "Hell's Fire" or "Tree" anemone?

hehe... I do love playing with fire... :lol:

 

[DensityMan]

Just in case anyone is still reading (and if not then just for me to 'journal')...

Day two of the 10g Mantis/Nano tank is here and the tank looks just about the way I wanted it to. Trying to keep the tank fairly open (for viewing and hunting) while trying to make it look nice is an interesting challenge (for me).

Full shot:

Links to close-ups:

The Gardens Area (left side of tank) - for pod hiding / hunting grounds and nutrient 'export'

Gravel Pit / Obstacle Course (center of tank) - more pod-growth areas and a potential hidey-hole...

Smithii-ville - two pieces of LR (about 3.5 lbs total + 1 lb in the gravel/rubble) with many varying sizes of hole to hide in... looking for one more piece.


The shroom is in there because on one of the 'blueboard' pages I read that Smithii's enjoy living above/around what they called 'cartwheel corals' and then explained them as mushroom corals. I would like to know more about this mushroom/cartwheel coral. Is it a specific type of coralimorph? Is there any actual benefit to the mantis having these shrooms? What would be the best elevation to put the shrooms for the mantis to 'use' them?

Planning on putting more shrooms in and adding the 'Hell's Fire' / "tree" anemone (on top of the LR) as well. Also looking to add a bunch of tiny 'cleaners' for cleaning and munching.


As always your input and ideas are cherished, I'm still playing it by ear.

 

[natybug]

Looks VERY nice so far! You might consider some PVC pieces in there as pre-made dens or playgrounds. Can't help you with the tankmates idea; nothing lasts long with my mantis. Seems like if you put some stuff that's currently too big for Tim to take down he might just accept its presence even when he becomes big enough to do so. Of course, that's a calculated risk...

Good luck and PLEASE keep us posted!

Dawn

edit: BTW, after seeing Tim, I got on a waiting list for a G. smithi for my 5 gallon; the TBS hitchhiker it was set up for didn't make it.

 

[DensityMan]

Sorry to hear about your TBS mantis, but I do think you'll enjoy the antics of your future G. Smithii.

Added Tim to the tank today, early... was going to do the release on Monday, but got impatient because I could no longer see clearly into his isolation container in my home tank. It was just getting nasty in there and the nano-water tested 'clean' (slightest touch of Nitrite... 0 Ammo... touch of Nitrate).

First the updated floorplan of his new digs:

I added him at the edge of his territory in the gardens area to make him work at finding a home (as opposed to putting him close to the hole I wanted him in)

After spending some time searching under the Turf algae and rolling around in the rubble yard he settled into the hole I would have placed him at anyway.

It just couldn't have worked out better. That being said, I have to come in tomorrow to make certain that a stalk of the Xenia isn't melting down from the move... If it still looks bad tomorrow I'll cut it out and write it off as a loss rather than poison the tank.

 

[DensityMan]

Regarding tankmates: I have asked in a seperate thread about anyone that has kept Chaulk Bass with Mantids (especially very small mantids)...

I had forgotten all about my desire to add a chaulk bass to this Smithii-nano at it's inceptionuntil I saw an order sheet last night...

Then my research turns up that Chaulk Bass may eat "shrimp." Think that includes Mantis shrimp?

 

[MBvash]

Very cool mantis you got there! Keep updating.