Can mantis lie dormant?

[robitreef]

Hobbyists: How long after your tank setup did it take you to discover a mantis? Is this an organism that could just suddenly emerge from live rock, that has been in a tank for about say 5 years?

 

[dwarfatize]

that seems like a long time. Usually people discover a mantis within the first 2 months.

 

[kmk2307]

robitreef,

I have never heard that stomatopods go dormant but I don't know how much is really know about their behavior. Do you think you have one in your tank? Mantis shrimp can come in with corals, algae, etc. as small juveniles hiding and can emerge lately. This happened to a friend of mine who bought a zoanthid rock which was nearly hollow w/ a mantis living inside.

Kevin

 

[robitreef]

I had thought I had heard a few pops, but I don't think it was anything. I have seen a lot of burrows in my sand under live rocks lately, but my bicolor dottyback has been doing some remodeling in my tank (I've seen him scoop up sand and spit it out of his mouth, much like a jawfish does). My Fiji damsel sometimes makes clicking noises when he is agitated, so that could have been what it was. I will have to count my fish when I get home tonight.

 

[Gonodactylus]

A juvenile (around 10 mm) could be expected to live 5 or 6 years, so it is not impossible. Stomatopods do not go dormant or diapause, they just grow slowly and live a long time.

Roy