Breeding of Gonodactylellus viridis

[theunfocusedone]

Recently I acquired one of the specimens from Stomatopod.com and he is currently making his home in a 3g picotope that has been set up for more the half a year. Though he is still shy, he is slowly becoming more active and when feeding (usually feeder shrimp as he seems unable to break shell at the moment which worries me to an extent) he is an absolute joy to watch. I have grown extremely fond of him, so with my ambitious mind getting the best of me I have decide to possibly take the action to attempt to breed these little guys.
My plan is pretty straight forward. I plan to get a long 20g tank n either use hob filtration, or if i have the money and the time, create a sump and fuge for it that will be either in the tank, or behind it.
After setting it up, cycling it and what not I will create with the lr in the tank two piles at opposite ends of the tank. I will then segregate the two sides, probably simply with a drilled piece of Plexiglases in the middle. I will then add the G. Viridis to the opposite ends of the tank and allow them to get used to their surroundings over the course of a week or two. After they get used to the tank, I will remove the block and see if they interact at all. I will continually monitor as I don't want fights and possibly death to result. This is all just a possibility at the moment and wouldn't happened till at least summer.
I'm trying to do as much research as possibly now so I know the best way to do this, or if should even do it at all. So my questions are as followed:
Has anyone ever attempted this?
Is their a better method I should use?
Any other suggestions would be appreciated, I will keep you all updated on its progress.

For those interested in what my current mantis looks like:
http://www.stomatopod.com/proddetail.php?prod=G.V.4
I love him to death already. His name is Osiris .

 

[Pea-brain]

A male and female will likely mate upon introduction. After the mating they should be separated. After the female makes an egg sack it will likely take about a month to hatch. The larvae are photopositive and will gather around light sources. they are also highly cannibalistic. They should be separated as soon as possible. It can take a month or more to settle out of the planktonic, and it can be nearly impossible to get them to eat. Expect to lose most. Once they settle it will taker about a year to become even 1 inch long.

Almost all attempts to keep 2 smashers together have failed. They will become aggressive soon after mating in most cases. The smallest tank you could keep 2 in safely without them killing eachother would be about a 50 gallon (Dr. Roy once recommended a 50 gallon to keep 2 N. wennerae)

Dan

 

[theunfocusedone]

Thanks for the info, I think I'm deff going to give breeding a try.
What would I feed the little mantises?
Im getting really really really small piece of like krill n such

 

[Pea-brain]

No, they must be fed live micro foods such as rotifiers and baby artemia. They will not recognize non living foods. Dr. Roy suggested keeping each in small cup, feeding once a day and doing a large water change an hour after every feeding-like 50-90%

Dan

 

[justinl]

I might suggest initial feeding of a mix of rotifer and copepods (culture your own). Copepods are just much more nutritious than rotifers and it may help (it's never been done in a home aquarium before)... it's something Ive wanted to experiment with but wont be able to get around to until this summer.

 

[tlalok]

Rotifers arent bad at all if you gut load them. they are like little living grocery bags.

 

[Gonodactylus]

G. viridis is a mate guarding species. They only pair and stay together in a cavity when the female is ready to lay eggs. You can tell this by monitoring her sternal cement glands (ventral thorax). When they are white and appear packed with material, she will probably mate. You cannot just put them in contact and expect them to mate. If you do, you will almost certainly see aggression.

Roy

 

[Altpers0na]

this is true in humans also..


sorry , had to be said..