technoshaman
Reefer
Awesome looking mantis - I am getting a new yellow spearer from the LFS on monday - have kept a few smashers in the past.
Anyone up for an ID (lots o pics)?
- Thread starter DensityMan
- Start date
DensityMan
Active member
Natybug, MBvash, Techno: Thanks for the kudos (and interest) 
Techno: Good luck with the new spearer (someday I will venture in that direction as well). Spearers are especially interestering (I think) though a bit costlier to feed 'naturally.'
Update from Day 5:
The 'last' of the major importations of LR was today and the mandatory reorganization of every other piece in the tank (save for the piece Tim has already chosen to live under/in). Tim's been busy. He now has tunnels under his home to 4 entrances. He has been chipping away at the underside of his home and then bulldozing the chips and sand out from underneath. It's been a blast listening and watching; also been enjoying explaining what's happening to my very interested cube-mates in the office.
Added a 50w heater (to prevent nighttime temp swings) and an AquaClear PowerHead 101 for additional circulation.
Ordered the 20" 96w Corallife Aqualight (for $97) today and hope that it gets here quickly. The little CSL retro-kit I am using would've fit perfectly on top of a 2.5 gallon, it just isn't nearly big enough or bright enough to cover the 10g.
Here's what his tank looks like today (w/ flash to compensate for lack of light):
The tank is already teeming with pod-life (I think I got lucky on one piece of fresher LR - or my home tank is doing MUCH better than I thought and the pods just hide from me while in that tank).
Added a few newly split-off polyps, baby-shrooms and some red-turf algae clippings as well (another reason I want the new lighting to show up quickly). The Xenia aren't happy at all currently, but both stands survived the weekend and I am confident they will last until the light arrives as well.
A pic of one of the new polyps (with a bonus for the keen observer):
Another tankmate that stowed away on a piece of LR. The red duster-worms are my favorite little find... they were getting 'lost' in my 'larger' tank though, so here they are in the 10g.
Now the only new thing I have nticed regarding Tim is that he is getting harder and harder to photograph. He just doesn't go out into the open any longer. Hopefully that will change with time, but can anyone confirm or deny that?
Stay tuned for more later...
Techno: Good luck with the new spearer (someday I will venture in that direction as well). Spearers are especially interestering (I think) though a bit costlier to feed 'naturally.'
Update from Day 5:
The 'last' of the major importations of LR was today and the mandatory reorganization of every other piece in the tank (save for the piece Tim has already chosen to live under/in). Tim's been busy. He now has tunnels under his home to 4 entrances. He has been chipping away at the underside of his home and then bulldozing the chips and sand out from underneath. It's been a blast listening and watching; also been enjoying explaining what's happening to my very interested cube-mates in the office.
Added a 50w heater (to prevent nighttime temp swings) and an AquaClear PowerHead 101 for additional circulation.
Ordered the 20" 96w Corallife Aqualight (for $97) today and hope that it gets here quickly. The little CSL retro-kit I am using would've fit perfectly on top of a 2.5 gallon, it just isn't nearly big enough or bright enough to cover the 10g.
Here's what his tank looks like today (w/ flash to compensate for lack of light):
The tank is already teeming with pod-life (I think I got lucky on one piece of fresher LR - or my home tank is doing MUCH better than I thought and the pods just hide from me while in that tank).
Added a few newly split-off polyps, baby-shrooms and some red-turf algae clippings as well (another reason I want the new lighting to show up quickly). The Xenia aren't happy at all currently, but both stands survived the weekend and I am confident they will last until the light arrives as well.
A pic of one of the new polyps (with a bonus for the keen observer):
Another tankmate that stowed away on a piece of LR. The red duster-worms are my favorite little find... they were getting 'lost' in my 'larger' tank though, so here they are in the 10g.
Now the only new thing I have nticed regarding Tim is that he is getting harder and harder to photograph. He just doesn't go out into the open any longer. Hopefully that will change with time, but can anyone confirm or deny that?
Stay tuned for more later...
Last edited:
DensityMan
Active member
Not sure he'll ever be done "decorating" his new digs.
The hole in the rock that I ws so happy he decided to live in? Two days ago he boarded it up and dug a new opening in the sand nearby.
Today he opened the closed entrance again and has been hanging out there. :lol:
Since reopening this hole in the rock he has also started to expel some stringy 'goo' for lack of a better term. He's been diving in to the hole head-first and then turn on the engines, ejecting a strem of what looks like tube-snail-streamers. Do I need to help him keep the burrow clean by directing some more water flow his way? Or will he do this periodically and be happy?
He is QUICK when he wants to be as well. Just as I was writing this he shot like a bullet from his hole to snap at a stomatella snail 6 inches away. (he hit it, but the snail let go and richocheted off the glass). Too much fun.
No chalk bass (yet), which is good... water just leveled out today. So I did a 1 gallon change and will have to check to see if the chalk bass come in today.
The hole in the rock that I ws so happy he decided to live in? Two days ago he boarded it up and dug a new opening in the sand nearby.
Today he opened the closed entrance again and has been hanging out there. :lol:
Since reopening this hole in the rock he has also started to expel some stringy 'goo' for lack of a better term. He's been diving in to the hole head-first and then turn on the engines, ejecting a strem of what looks like tube-snail-streamers. Do I need to help him keep the burrow clean by directing some more water flow his way? Or will he do this periodically and be happy?
He is QUICK when he wants to be as well. Just as I was writing this he shot like a bullet from his hole to snap at a stomatella snail 6 inches away.
(he hit it, but the snail let go and richocheted off the glass). Too much fun.No chalk bass (yet), which is good... water just leveled out today. So I did a 1 gallon change and will have to check to see if the chalk bass come in today.
Algae Blenny
New member
Looks Great
DensityMan
Active member
Thanks for the info, Joetbs, and for the kudos, Algae Blenny.
Feedig shouldn't be a problem at all... still 'nursing' a sun-coral (orange Tubestrea sp.) back to health so there is an over-abundance of food if anything.
You and I must be feeding different types of 'silversides' or you have a really big chalk bass! :eek1: The silversides I feed at work are about the same size as the biggest chalk bass I have seen (how big is yours?).
Update on Tim: Haven't seen or heard anything from him since Saturday. I am going on the assumption that he has molted since he 'boarded' up the rock-way entrance to his home Friday night or Saturday. Also because if he is gone there's nothing I can do for him. /shrug Parameters have all been 0's (until my test last night which had 'trace' Ammo readings), temp and lighting steady. Assuming he has shed, how long will he hole-up for?
Thanks again all,
Feedig shouldn't be a problem at all... still 'nursing' a sun-coral (orange Tubestrea sp.) back to health so there is an over-abundance of food if anything.
You and I must be feeding different types of 'silversides' or you have a really big chalk bass! :eek1: The silversides I feed at work are about the same size as the biggest chalk bass I have seen (how big is yours?).
Update on Tim: Haven't seen or heard anything from him since Saturday. I am going on the assumption that he has molted since he 'boarded' up the rock-way entrance to his home Friday night or Saturday. Also because if he is gone there's nothing I can do for him. /shrug Parameters have all been 0's (until my test last night which had 'trace' Ammo readings), temp and lighting steady. Assuming he has shed, how long will he hole-up for?
Thanks again all,
RedStar265
New member
sweet mantis tank man...
DensityMan
Active member
Thanks RedStar, may be looking for a new mantis though...
Been five days with no sign of Tim. Even while searching the tank today for a fish that I thought had jumped. Turned every rock in the place upside down and all around this morning and realized I hadn't scared him up, so then I searched his rock and burrows. Aside from one tomb-like enclosure I have no idea where he may have wound up. The 'tomb-like' enclosure was created behind the wall he normally seals off at night. I figure if he had coccooned himself up inside that space though, he would have to be curled up pretty tight. I'm more inclined to think that enclosure was his food hide-away.
There area a couple tunnels or holes he may yet be hiding in that I can't see into, but it does seem like an awfully long time to not hear anything from him...
Been five days with no sign of Tim. Even while searching the tank today for a fish that I thought had jumped. Turned every rock in the place upside down and all around this morning and realized I hadn't scared him up, so then I searched his rock and burrows. Aside from one tomb-like enclosure I have no idea where he may have wound up. The 'tomb-like' enclosure was created behind the wall he normally seals off at night. I figure if he had coccooned himself up inside that space though, he would have to be curled up pretty tight. I'm more inclined to think that enclosure was his food hide-away.
There area a couple tunnels or holes he may yet be hiding in that I can't see into, but it does seem like an awfully long time to not hear anything from him...
technoshaman
Reefer
I would let him be - the thing with a mantis you would be surprised how long they can stay hidden. My old peacock would stay hidden for a week at a time when molting (I obviously didnt disturb him he was a good 10" long!). The smaller ones are quite adept at hiding in a rock for proglonged periods of time - I'd just wait to see what happens for another few days.
I have never lost one of the smaller mantis shrimp and have taken care of 5 or six different ones in the past two years - the only mantis I lost was my peacock to a bad molt or low oxygen - never figured out which.
I have never lost one of the smaller mantis shrimp and have taken care of 5 or six different ones in the past two years - the only mantis I lost was my peacock to a bad molt or low oxygen - never figured out which.
DensityMan
Active member
Not doing anything drastic... just fearing the worst.
(Thanks for the encouraging words though)
He is a small guy after all... it's just weird hearing his tank so quiet...
(Thanks for the encouraging words though)
He is a small guy after all... it's just weird hearing his tank so quiet...
DensityMan
Active member
HE LIVES!!!
HE LIVES!!!
Still not making any noise, but he did finally open his 'door' and resume his rightful place in the center of the tank viewing his subjects...
Glad everyone was right and I was just being impatient.
I have to find a better food for him though. It's really difficult trying to 'hand-deliver' individual brine to him at the end of a long straw. (he ate 5 before I think he started packing them away)
HE LIVES!!!
Still not making any noise, but he did finally open his 'door' and resume his rightful place in the center of the tank viewing his subjects...
Glad everyone was right and I was just being impatient.
I have to find a better food for him though. It's really difficult trying to 'hand-deliver' individual brine to him at the end of a long straw.
(he ate 5 before I think he started packing them away)technoshaman
Reefer
Most of the smashers I've kept have taken frozen mysis or sometimes formula one frozen. My new spearer only will eat live food so far.
Told you he was ok.
Told you he was ok.
DensityMan
Active member
Where are the pics of this new spearer anyway???
(and yeah, you told me so...)
Trying to get the LFS to order Mysis... but until then plankton would be an okay substitute?
(and yeah, you told me so...)
Trying to get the LFS to order Mysis... but until then plankton would be an okay substitute?
technoshaman
Reefer
The mysis are larger and a bit chunkier - easier for them to grab and easier for you to find out where they are. I like the Piscine Energetics mysis - the ocean nutrition frozen mysis work well too.
May be able to get some pics of my new spearer today - he's pretty neat - so far not nearly as aggressive as a smasher.
May be able to get some pics of my new spearer today - he's pretty neat - so far not nearly as aggressive as a smasher.
DensityMan
Active member
Curse of curses...
I saw a green/red planaria (bad flatworm) in Tim's tank today. I immediately exterminated it and too a look around the tank...
I'm infested. Probably about 3 days from walking into a flatworm-farm... Just when everything else was golden. To top it off I have NO idea where they could have come from (I've been careful) and the only place I can think of is that I had a very tiny outbreak of them in my main tank about 4 mos back (just before I got Walter (the yellow wrasse)). The yellow wrasse obliterated them and I have never seen another in my tank, but I fear he may just be keeping them in check now.
Gah!
I saw a green/red planaria (bad flatworm) in Tim's tank today. I immediately exterminated it and too a look around the tank...
I'm infested. Probably about 3 days from walking into a flatworm-farm... Just when everything else was golden. To top it off I have NO idea where they could have come from (I've been careful) and the only place I can think of is that I had a very tiny outbreak of them in my main tank about 4 mos back (just before I got Walter (the yellow wrasse)). The yellow wrasse obliterated them and I have never seen another in my tank, but I fear he may just be keeping them in check now.
Gah!
lilswanwillow
New member
sooooo, updates?
ive been reading this post since the beginning, as i am getting a g. smithii and a 12 gallon eclipse on monday. i can hardly wait any longer!
DensityMan
Active member
Tim is alive and well (then again so is "Kryptonite"). He is reclusive, but I think that may be due, in part, to him being smaller than the tiny but active Sailfin Blenny (Emblemaria pandionis (?)). I can coax him out about an inch from his 'safety hole' with the feeding straw, but that's the only time I see him out all the way.
He's still a great resident and a model mantis. He builds a door every evening to close off his home around 4pm and opens it again in the morning around 10am. about every two weeks now he stays closed in for two or three days. I hope that is because he is molting and increasing in size, but I sure haven't noticed any growth yet.
He's still only about 1.25 inches in total length. He has kept his 'odd' coloration through his one confirmed molt. I'll try to grow another arm by Monday so I can snap a pic of him out feeding.
He's still a great resident and a model mantis. He builds a door every evening to close off his home around 4pm and opens it again in the morning around 10am. about every two weeks now he stays closed in for two or three days. I hope that is because he is molting and increasing in size, but I sure haven't noticed any growth yet.
He's still only about 1.25 inches in total length.
He has kept his 'odd' coloration through his one confirmed molt. I'll try to grow another arm by Monday so I can snap a pic of him out feeding.
Awesome. As soon as I get mine I'll get some pictures posted. I've been planning to somewhat mimic the design that Tim is in. I think you did a great job with it.
thanks for keeping us updated!
thanks for keeping us updated!
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