australian mantis shrimp id?

kyliegirl

New member
I finally foudn the culprit of the clicks in my tank, I knew it was a mantis shrimp in there but it didnt seem to do too much harm, finally this morning while feeding the clowns I spotted the little bugger and his home.

My only problem is i cant take a photo because hes so small, barely more than 1 cm across.

the little guy has long antennas which are white and black/green striped all the way. his body is bright green with a white marking near the head and possibly some darker green markings around his head. I only had a quick glimpse but ive never seen anything like this one.

My attempt to try to capture him failed.

sorry i cant get a photo :(
 
The striped antennules suggest a Haptosquilla, but that is about as far as I can take it from the description.

Roy
 
Most Haptosquilla species are coloy polymorphic and black, brown, green and tan are common background colors.

Roy
 
they seem very shy considering this is the first time in 6 months ive ever seen it. I knew it was there, i did searches every night and couldnt spot him and when im not looking he shows up!

I dont know how it survived through my major tank dramas, but he did.
I think its fine to stay in the tank, it hasnt done anything bad yet and i think its been keeping some crabs at bay, pity hes too small to take on some of the sneaky big ones.

beautiful guy from what i seen ^_^ I just wish hed show his face more :(
 
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