dr roy's recommended environment?

[danskim]

I am wondering what kind of environment you usually keep your mantis shrimp in?

 

[Gonodactylus]

Because this is a research operation, we try to use natural settings. Our animals are generally kept in conditions appropriate for the experiments or observations we are conducting. We almost never use LR or bright lighting. Burrows are pvc or vial, substrates are open and mixtures of sand and gravel. For large sprecies, we use canisters, skimmers and uv. I also believe in a fair amount of circulation, so we use a lot of powerheads. Because we can maintain our aquarium rooms from 60 to 80 degrees depending on the species, we don't use heaters. Lysiosquillids are kept in satellite tanks with about a foot of fine sand for them to burrow in.

Roy

 

[Uriel]

I was going to start a thread asking Dr. Rpy this, but it seems appropriate here instead...


Dr Roy,

I know that folks having G. Ternatensis upsets you, for the obvious reason of the destruction caused by their collection. Since I did buy one , and they live in live corals, would she appreciate a Coral to live in/around?

She hardly seems to care about having a burrow, though she seems to like that I blacked out one corner,so that she has a retreat. I am, however, thinking about buying a coral for her to live on/in? It would have to be pretty big for her to burrow into, but I will be moving her into the largest section of my mantis Hotel (or the second largest, depending on getting an O. Scyllarus).This will take her from a 12 gallon temp home to 20 gallons or so.

As an aside, if I were to house an O. Scyllarus in a divided tank, with 1 or 2 other mantis, would the enigmatic 'shell disease' that they are prone to get possibly spread to others or are they merely less hardy/less protected against it than others in the same environment.


Thanks for your time,


-Ron

 

[Gonodactylus]

I've kept G. t. with a variety of branching corals. They often seem content to live under rather than in them. There are a number of cultured species available. I certainly don't want to encouragae the purchase of mature coral heads from the field.

I have seen shell disease in only a few species and I can't say that it was caused by the same organisms. The three species I have seen it in are O. scyllarus, G. chiragra, and G. ternatensis, three of the very largest slow growing smashers. (Hemisquilla gets something similar, but it is caused by a different pathogen.)

Roy

 

[Uriel]

I was just going to buy a fetching coral from a shop here in the Bay Area, though I'm not sure where to look. As I am just a short jump away from you,here in S.F., I am hardly in a position to collect a coral (not that I would, even given the chance...).

Well, I guess that I'll have to take my chances with the shell disease.


On the subject of Molting...

I have enclosed an area that affords privacy, though there currently is no 'roof'. Will she molt behind her partition, or should I try and get her something to cover completely with. As I mentioned, she seems less concerned with security, and more concerned with being a pigglet. She loves fresh/frozen prawns, though, so at least it's not going to run me broke in snails feeding her.


-Ron

 

[Jacob D]

Uriel,

If you want a medium-large branching coral for your mantis to live in/under/around and don't have the setup for SPS then you might consider trying to find a coral skeleton. I have seen them for sale on ebay and other misc places. If you have some LR and a little lighting it will get overgrown w/ corraline algae and look pink, and you won't have to worry about lighting, flow, or paying $$$ for a nice mature sps colony.

Just somethin' to think about.

 

[oddball_from_ac]

how bout proper environment for a cilliata since im getting a now one from someone on a diff forum( you know who he is uriel)
dylan

 

[Jacob D]

or even one of the fake deco corals that the LFS sell.

 

[Gonodactylus]

P. ciliata live from the low intertidal to at least 50 m. They are burrowers in sandy, muddy bottoms. You find them on reef flats, grass beds and open mucky substrates. THey are not generally associated with a lot of live coral. I've over thought about planting a grass bed for one, but never got around to it. They do not do very well in fine, clean sand. They will spend most of their time shifting sand under rock and will be unable to stabilize it. If you can't put them into a substrate with some texture that will allow them to dig a burrow, the next best thing is a bent u-shaped tube. We often set up observation burrows by taking a 1 1/2" or 2" pvc conduit corner (available at any hardware or electrical store) and plaining off about a quarter of it. I then smear the inside of the tube with silicon cement and pack it with dry sand. When it sets up and you shake out the loose sand, it looks exactly like the inside of a burrow. I then place the cut side of the tube against the glass wall of a tall, thin aquarium and fill the aquarium with sand and gravel to the entrances. Some black plastic or tape covers over the side of the burrow, but allows you to look in when you want. We have filmed a lot of behavioral sequences this way.

Roy

 

[pisces77]

Dr. Roy, is research like this available to the public somewhere. On a site or in a book. It would be great to be able to learn the differences between mantis shrimp and where the are generally found without having to ask you the same questions for each variety. Is there a text you teach from that is available for purchase?

 

[Gonodactylus]

Nope, sorry. I often wish I could pull all of the questions and answers on this list and whip them into a book, but too many stomatopods, too little time.

There are a couple of reasonable books on the taxonomy of stomatopods, but they are both only for the Indo-Pacific or Australia and are very expensive (and hard to find). There is nothing very extensive available for the Caribbean or eastern Pacific except the primary literature..

Roy

 

[EMG]

Nope, sorry. I often wish I could pull all of the questions and answers on this list and whip them into a book, but too many stomatopods, too little time.

There are a couple of reasonable books on the taxonomy of stomatopods, but they are both only for the Indo-Pacific or Australia and are very expensive (and hard to find). There is nothing very extensive available for the Caribbean or eastern Pacific except the primary literature..

Roy

Sounds like a nice project for a couple graduate students looking for serious extra credit. Get to it.