Found a Mantis

Pez Vela

New member
I am not going to even ask for an ID because this guy is only 3/8" - 1/2" long. He is bright green. I have had my tank setup for over two years and I just now found him. Does anyone know how long it takes a Mantis to grow this size. The reason I ask is because if I just found him I need to know if there might be more in my tank with a mommy mantis lurking around somewhere?

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Let me ease your worries: You will never get a mantis baby to survive in your tank without special care unless it is incredibly well established and a few thousand gallons :D (ok, maybe 250 is the absolute lowest with chance of a surviver, and that is incredibly unlikely) That is probably adult size, (haptosquillid maybe) or just very young. You can throw it back in your tank. It will do very little harm. I doubt that it could do more than kill a very tiny snail (very, very tiny) or steal some fish food. Maybe in a few years it could take out a nassarius :D But seriously, it can take a year for a gonodactylid just out of larvae to grow an inch. Target feed it and it will probably be too tame to take down anything. Maybe a snail here and there. Feed it a piece of food 1/2 to 2/3 its size every other day to twice a week. Shouldn't be a problem, and if it becomes one it should be used enough to you to make it a bit easier to catch. Now for a ID I'm just taking a first guess glance, but maybe G. viridis.
 
The little guy looks very similar to my T. spinosocarinatus, especially from what I can see of his telson and uropod. I am not an expert though so I would take that opinion with a grain of salt.
 
pea brain got it all. definitely not a problem. maybe you could consider setting up a tank just for the mantis? they really are very cool.
 
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