Found a new mantis in my tank

macrosp

New member
I just found a new mantis in my tank.

The live rock is of unknown origin.

here is a picture though. Can anyone tell me what kind it is? and if it will do any major damage to my reef tank? I don't really want to take it out. It is awesome!

it is almost 2" long.

thanks
-jon

actually... i am having trouble uploading a picture. I will try again later
 
is that thing really purple? and .is that a piece of food in its arms?

from the looks of it it's a smasher (gonodactylus or similar)....it's got cylindrical looking eyes, that sharp-pointed rostrum that extends between the eyes (i think, it's sorta blurry), and the meral spot seems to be white and very prominent (Neogonodactylus wennerae?). doc caldwell might be able to type it to species.

i'd suggest moving it to its own tank...
 
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under a more blue light, it looks almost black. But under a 6.5k, it looks closer to a dark purple. It has green legs too:D

I don't really have another tank to put it in. I was thinking about my refugium, but I already have some crabs in there and I want to be able to see it. It won't attack coral right? I don't really mind it if gets my chromis (the only fish that swims near the mantis).

Yes, that is food in it's arms. I feed it everyday since I found it. Can you overfeed a mantis? It is just too cool to watch it strike.
 
coral

coral

no, i don't think it'll attack coral....one of my deceased mantis however, loved to move around stuff (in addition to striking misc objects), but it was quite a bit bigger than the one you showed.

i missed this question....i noticed that if i overfeed the things, they keep them in their burrows for awhile, then throw them out later, so i guess unless you want your water quality to suffer because of the rotting food particles, you probably should err on the side of caution...it also means they would be more likely to go for the occassional live prey you may need to feed them.

just my 2 cents.
 
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