got chow
New member
After searching for a couple weeks, I finally found a beautiful 4" male peacock mantis at my LFS, Tropical Paradise. I told Eddie about 2 months ago that if he sees a nice peacock mantis, buy it for me at any price and I will get it off his hands. Well he got one in 2 days ago and I went down there to buy it at a great price... $20!!! It is absolutely beautiful, albeit a bit of a wimp. We threw a chromis and an astrea in there and he paid no attention to either one.
Well, I bought him despite him having a slight crack on his shell which I hope will be gone by the next molt. It is on the right side of his head, which you can see in the pictures. I also bought an acrylic tank which I drilled with a bulkhead, added a modified durso standpipe on the back of the tank to quiet the thing down, and plumbed it to my main 125 gal reef. The tank is lit with a 32 watt PC, which is probably a bit too much light for the mantis but when he comes out, he looks real good under that smartlight.
When I first put him in, he didn't seem all that scared, sitting out in the open for a couple hours and not hiding immediately. He isn't hiding too much at all now actually. I also added a small hermit, an astrea and a turbo snail, all of which he hasn't attacked. After seeing that, I added a small 1" false perc which he seems to pay no attention to either. He likes krill from chopsticks and I've fed him some of that.
OK, enough BS, here are the pics:
Well, I bought him despite him having a slight crack on his shell which I hope will be gone by the next molt. It is on the right side of his head, which you can see in the pictures. I also bought an acrylic tank which I drilled with a bulkhead, added a modified durso standpipe on the back of the tank to quiet the thing down, and plumbed it to my main 125 gal reef. The tank is lit with a 32 watt PC, which is probably a bit too much light for the mantis but when he comes out, he looks real good under that smartlight.
When I first put him in, he didn't seem all that scared, sitting out in the open for a couple hours and not hiding immediately. He isn't hiding too much at all now actually. I also added a small hermit, an astrea and a turbo snail, all of which he hasn't attacked. After seeing that, I added a small 1" false perc which he seems to pay no attention to either. He likes krill from chopsticks and I've fed him some of that.
OK, enough BS, here are the pics:
