fixed-rite
New member
I've got mantis envy. :dance:
For all potential mantis keepers
- Thread starter Agu
- Start date
I've got mantis envy. :dance:
rtcpenguin
New member
These things sound cool.
I found a Mantis Shrimp in my 100 gal reef tank a few months ago. I decided to keep him and put him in my 18 gal refugium tank. It's done very well with no special care. I feed him occasionally various things and he eats well. He'll grab a piece of food and take it into a small cave and then come back out and grab another one etc... He seems to hoard his food and then hides there to eat. He's molted a couple times now and has changed color. He's gone from an ugly brown to more of a greenish now. I like him. He's fun. I also have a couple snails with him. (I asked Ron about them awhile back and he thought they were probably predators so I put them in there with the Mantis) They all are co existing very well. I keep my algae growing in there for my algae eating fish and it all works out fine. Everyone's happy. My Mantis hasn't broken a thing.
I've had one for about 3 years...he was a hithhiker on some live rock. When I saw him the first time he was only about 2 inches long and I thought I'd lose every fish in the tank. Tried trapping him, without success, so I figured I'd have to take the consequences. Anyway he hasn't harmed any of the fish but I have lost the occasional snail and can't keep any crabs.
I pulled my tank down about 5 weeks ago, anyway to cut a long story short I found the mantis, now close to 4 inches long and transferred him with the 3 fish I intend setting up in my new 180 gal reef into a temporary 20 gal Q Tank. He is a real personality..he's set himself up in a barnacle cluster, plugging the holes with small snail shells and at feeding time he pops his head out to see whats for dinner. The fish wrestle with the food and ol'torpedo comes up from the bottom and grabs the food and scuttles away. The other fish aren't in the least bothered by him...one of them is an Orchid dottyback smaller than ol' torpedo.
I'm gonna keep him in the Q Tank, no way would I get rid of him. He looks great, purple claws and black body...he moves really quick and studies my every move when I go near the tank. They are worth their own tank. People are blown away by his antics.
I pulled my tank down about 5 weeks ago, anyway to cut a long story short I found the mantis, now close to 4 inches long and transferred him with the 3 fish I intend setting up in my new 180 gal reef into a temporary 20 gal Q Tank. He is a real personality..he's set himself up in a barnacle cluster, plugging the holes with small snail shells and at feeding time he pops his head out to see whats for dinner. The fish wrestle with the food and ol'torpedo comes up from the bottom and grabs the food and scuttles away. The other fish aren't in the least bothered by him...one of them is an Orchid dottyback smaller than ol' torpedo.
I'm gonna keep him in the Q Tank, no way would I get rid of him. He looks great, purple claws and black body...he moves really quick and studies my every move when I go near the tank. They are worth their own tank. People are blown away by his antics.
That's awesome Gazpep! Sounds like your's is entertaining as mine. I didn't know they could get so large! I might end up having to give mine a bigger aquarium someday then, because I have mine in an 18 gal tall. What color is yours and what color was he when you first discovered him?
I wouldn't want mine in my main tank, because I really like my crabs, shrimps and snails. I didn't know he'd co exist with as small a fish as a little Dottyback though. That's nice to know.
I wonder if mine is lonely for company other than snails....
It sounds like your's has been trained and tamed as well as mine. Mine watches my movements around the tank and knows exactly when it's dinner time. I love the little guy! I just hope he's happy.
I wouldn't want mine in my main tank, because I really like my crabs, shrimps and snails. I didn't know he'd co exist with as small a fish as a little Dottyback though. That's nice to know.
I wonder if mine is lonely for company other than snails....
It sounds like your's has been trained and tamed as well as mine. Mine watches my movements around the tank and knows exactly when it's dinner time. I love the little guy! I just hope he's happy.
Yeah SaCe, they are great critters and I think as far as predatory instincts are concerned it's the spearers that are a problem for fish. Smashers obviously prey on snails, crabs and I guess other shrimp. I haven't attempted to keep other shrimp in the same tank...but I do know that ol' Torpedo likes brine shrimp and chopped raw prawn. Funny thing though the other day I dropped some cooked prawn outside his barnacle cave...he scuttled out and carried it back into the cave, anyway 10 seconds later out goes the cooked prawn like it was thrown out....he obviously didn't like it and threw it out. It looked real funny like he was cranky that we tried to give him cooked instead of raw.
Getting back to co-habiting with fish, I really thought that the Dottyback could get hurt by the Mantis as he is constantly poking about the rockwork and maybe the Mantis may whack him if he got too close but it hasn't happened, even in the confines of a 75 litre tank.
He has always had luminous midnight blue claws ( I though purple but my wife just clarified the colour). The body is basically black and I think has been that colour from the beginning as far as I can recall.
Once I transfer the fish from the Q Tank to my new 180 g reef I will keep him either in the Q Tank or maybe in another one just set up for him.
Getting back to co-habiting with fish, I really thought that the Dottyback could get hurt by the Mantis as he is constantly poking about the rockwork and maybe the Mantis may whack him if he got too close but it hasn't happened, even in the confines of a 75 litre tank.
He has always had luminous midnight blue claws ( I though purple but my wife just clarified the colour). The body is basically black and I think has been that colour from the beginning as far as I can recall.
Once I transfer the fish from the Q Tank to my new 180 g reef I will keep him either in the Q Tank or maybe in another one just set up for him.
Dragonscales
New member
I have read in several places that a fw dip is effective for getting mantis shrimp out of lr. I plan on doing it with all the lr I buy before it goes into my tank.
I am so glad this thread exists!
I have recently discovered I am the proud and scared owner of a mantis!!! Mine is a lime green with light teal claws/arms. He completely freaked me out the first time I spotted him about 2 weeks ago. I have had nothing added to my tank for months so he has been in there for awhile...and he's close to 3 inches long from what I can tell.
Long story short, I 'think' I have him trapped in a piece of LR that I quickly removed and put in my qt. I have yet to see him peek out and I am not 100% sure he's really in there.
Long story short, I may just keep him in the qt if he comes out of hiding...but I don't want to dip that piece of LR in fw to be sure...because it's a beauty and I don't want to kill all the life on it.
Wish me luck! I really hope he's out of the main tank. I have lost some crabs and at least 3 turban snails...and those suckers are huge...so I am sad...I have 4 fish (I only have a 72gal bowfront) and they seem to be okay.
I will keep you all posted if I catch him!
Thanks again..
Lisa
I have recently discovered I am the proud and scared owner of a mantis!!! Mine is a lime green with light teal claws/arms. He completely freaked me out the first time I spotted him about 2 weeks ago. I have had nothing added to my tank for months so he has been in there for awhile...and he's close to 3 inches long from what I can tell.
Long story short, I 'think' I have him trapped in a piece of LR that I quickly removed and put in my qt. I have yet to see him peek out and I am not 100% sure he's really in there.
Long story short, I may just keep him in the qt if he comes out of hiding...but I don't want to dip that piece of LR in fw to be sure...because it's a beauty and I don't want to kill all the life on it.
Wish me luck! I really hope he's out of the main tank. I have lost some crabs and at least 3 turban snails...and those suckers are huge...so I am sad...I have 4 fish (I only have a 72gal bowfront) and they seem to be okay.
I will keep you all posted if I catch him!
Thanks again..
Lisa
If I recall correctly, flourescence in certian mantis shrimp are a recently discovered phenomon....I've never seen one except in the pictures in the article, of which you've evidentally seen also.
For those that dont' know...here's the link
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/index.htm
For those that dont' know...here's the link
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/index.htm
rtcpenguin
New member
Probably. They definitely eat peppermint shrimp.askwhy26 said:
mightymouse
New member
for those of you who want rid of them try this http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3964&N=2004+113169 its a trap from doctors foster and smith never tryed it but it seems nice and is only 16 dollars
terryhendrixson
New member
i have a new 220 gal. reef tank also a mantis (hitchhiker) .my question is can or will he kill my starfish which are disappearing?
ReefDweller13
New member
Can mantis shrimp change color with age?
ReefDweller13
New member
Yes a mantis shrimp would eat your starfish like it was thanksgiving...
I had one in my 55 gal reef and the first thing I thought of is man this will be expensive if he does what I read. so i got to work on figuring out how to get him out of the rock. well it actually turned out to be qiut easy. I took my syphon hose not the large part. just the hose about 1\2". and put it in front of his hole and started to syphon a little water out. once the water was flowing I put my thumb over the end to stop the water and sat there and waited tell he got very curois and started to push a rock up the hose. when I notice he was about an inch from his hole I let my thumb go and sucked him into a bucket.
I know keep him in my acrylic frag tank and feed him brine shrimp and mysis. and he or she loves it and I really enjoy having him very fun pet to watch
I know keep him in my acrylic frag tank and feed him brine shrimp and mysis. and he or she loves it and I really enjoy having him very fun pet to watch
Can anyone tell me about the molting habits of my Mantis Shrimp (Thor)? All I know about Thor is he's an awesome creature that I bought about a month ago and keep in a small acrylic tank with a single piece of live rock. He's a "smasher" and is about 3" long.
He spends most of his time banging away at a small hole in the middle of the rock which now seems quite large. Every night he bulldozes rocks and debris from inside his buurriow and plugs up the hole completely. The next morning he's out waiting for his breakfast of brine shrimp or small snail. I've actually trained him to perch on top of his rock and eat the brine shrimp directly from a small pipette as I sqeeze it out slowly!
Last week he went into his burrow and wasn't seen for 5 days. Getting worried I poked at the opening a bit until some of the sand/rock fell away exposing the burrow. Thor came out right away, ate a bit of brine shrimp then slammed the door shut on me! We haven't seen him for a week now and I'm again fretting about his/her welfare. I don't want to disturb him any more in case this is normal molting behaviour.
Can anyone tell me if this is normal??
Thanks/Larry
He spends most of his time banging away at a small hole in the middle of the rock which now seems quite large. Every night he bulldozes rocks and debris from inside his buurriow and plugs up the hole completely. The next morning he's out waiting for his breakfast of brine shrimp or small snail. I've actually trained him to perch on top of his rock and eat the brine shrimp directly from a small pipette as I sqeeze it out slowly!
Last week he went into his burrow and wasn't seen for 5 days. Getting worried I poked at the opening a bit until some of the sand/rock fell away exposing the burrow. Thor came out right away, ate a bit of brine shrimp then slammed the door shut on me! We haven't seen him for a week now and I'm again fretting about his/her welfare. I don't want to disturb him any more in case this is normal molting behaviour.
Can anyone tell me if this is normal??
Thanks/Larry
Similar threads
