Best weekend ever!!

[dragonforce]

sorry for some reason, my post didn't go through.

Here is the post:

Thursday, I get a call from a lfs, telling me they have a mantis for me to go look at. I go on friday, and its a smithii! I go up to los angeles to visit my girlfriend, and on saturday we go to some lfs, and I find a cilata! 2 mantids, I have been looking for show up in one weekend. I feel like I should go buy a lottery ticket!

 

[dragonforce]

I just got back from coral oasis in irvine california and guess what, another smithii and it's a male and my other is a female. What do I need to do in order to see this interaction?

 

[Pea-brain]

120 gallon tank. Mantises, even male/females of same species are very territorial. Just too big of a risk to keep in same tank.....

 

[dragonforce]

Pea-brain, I plan on keeping them in a 10g with a divider, would i be able to open the divider now and then?

 

[Pea-brain]

After they do what they do, you will want to remove one into his own side. However he will stay with the female for a short amount of time before a fight breaks out and they will try to kill eachother. that is a problem, and it will be hard to remove them because of all the live rock they can hide in and stuff. If you really wanna see'm "do it" then I would get a seperate ten gallon, fill it up, put a lid and divider in/on it, and put one of the mantises on each side of the clear divider. look for signs of mating (don't ask me what they look like) and if you see them remove barrier and prepare to intefere if things get violent. At least that is what I would do. But remember I am far from an expert, so I could be wrong

 

[justinl]

the problem with G smithii is that they are an aggressive species. they'll fight before they ever deciede to mate. you'll probably see fighting... and that's just about the only interaction you'd see i think.

If youre really ste on trying it, i can't stop you, but i do encourage a much larger tank for them to run from eachother.

 

[Gonodactylus]

G. smithii will often mate when they encounter another individual of the opposite sex. In fact, they are one of the few Gonodactylids that will mate at times when the female is not receptive.

I would not leave them permanently in a divided tank unless I was very sure that they could not get through or over the divider. G. smithii are intertidal beasts and will climb out of the water to move from one tide pool to another. They will also climb out of the water to go over a divider, so make sure that it is at least a couple of inches out of the water and/or slick so that the animal can't climb on it.

G. smithii introductions between a male and a female usually do not start out aggressively unless the animals are startled of one is defending a cavity. This is a species that does not pair but mates in the open. The best way to stage a mating is with a neutral arena where both animals are held for several minutes and then allowed to interact. Have a net handy to break up a fight, but you wil probably not lose them. However, do not repeat the introduction very often. They will remember with whom they mated and will not want to repeat the process too soon.

Roy

 

[Pea-brain]

Interesting.....If I remember correctly stomatopods remember others by smell? I think I've read that you can make them esentially "forget" by givng the chemoreceptors a FW dip. Does that mean that certain cells hold the information in the antennae and when the smell is encountered again the cells "recognize" it and send a signal to the brain? So would that mean that the cells probably have a lifespan of about a month? Or maybe they just forget or something? Thanks!

 

[Gonodactylus]

The receptor cells are on hairs arranged in a comb on the second (shortest) of the three flagella of the antennule. They can de destroyed by a fresh water dip and regenerate in about five days. Presumably they send raw information on odors to the brain which then processes it.

Roy

 

[dragonforce]

Lots of good information for me here dr roy. I need to make a choice on keeping a p ciliata next to the smithii in a 10g or putting another smithii next to the current one. Either the female smithii or the ciliata will have to go to my lady more than likely. I'm thinking of giving her the female smithii simply because it is very active and interesting.

 

[Gonodactylus]

G. smithii can store sperm for months (until they molt), so if you want her to lay eggs, mate her once and then move her. P. ciliata occur in the same habitat as G. smithii and they frequently encounter one another. Since they usually do not compete for the same cavities, they don't interact that much. Do not try to keep them together, but they should be alright in a divided tank as long as the divider functions properly.

Roy

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

haha i was at coral oasis on monday and i saw that mantis also but i couldnt tell if it was for sure a G. Smithii. but for 12 or 15 bucks it looked good it was about 3-4 inches right!?? up in the tanks on the "shelf"? good to know of another local mantis enthusiast! where do you live?

 

[dragonforce]

Thank you so much again for your replies Dr. Roy. It helps me out greatly.


For G.A.

I live in Laguna Niguel, Its about 2 1/2 inches long and was 12 bucks couldnt pass it up.

I now have
Female G.tern
Male G. smithii
female G. smithii
female p.ciliata

plus I have my 37g mixed reef with zoos to anems to sps.