FYI from my observation

[3days3nights]

I've had a beautiful peakcock mantis since the early days of my first mini-reef. 2 years ago to be precise, and she was of course a hitchhiker that earned my respect for her ingeniuse curiosity, and after many attempts i finally caught her only to loose her again in another tank. Don't ask me how this happened.
Basically wanted to say that for a large part I am sceptical about the breaking glass myth. I have heard it about pistol shrimp also. The mantis attack is with a crash of water creating an air pocket it's so quick, i've seen fish swim fast enough to make a repeating crack sound through the tank. But that's just me thinking in reason, maybe a ten gallon aquarium. The glass is so thick in larger tanks.
Was watching a study on mantis shrimp a few weeks back, talking about their eyes being the most advanced of any organism on Earth. Each being bipolar and containing a central nerve processor larger than their actual brain, to make the signals simpler for the brain to understand. Also being able to see infrared and UV light, among our color spectrum. They can also recognise the face of those that feed them etc. I've been told not to do this, but I feed mine from my hand. She knows when the food is dead, and that she can gently take it from my fingertips.

Oh and on that study of the mantis, they showed it breaking a peice of glass, which itself was less than the thickness of a CD.

 

[brekurboy1]

Are you sure that the mantis shrimp you got is a peacock mantis?
How big is it?
Does it have green/blue/red coloring?

Does it look like this?
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics/gawura_backside.htm

Peacock Mantis shrimp can definitely break glass. Read around in this category. I'm fairly sure a large, angry O.S. can punch a hole straight through 1/4" of glass.

 

[Gonodactylus]

A large O. scyllarus or Hemisquilla californiensis can definitely break the glass in a standard 20 gal glass tank. When you get up to glass for a 100 gal tank - 8 mm or thicker, I doubt that they can shatter it, but they can chip the edges when trying to dig in a corner.

The earliest reports of stomatopods breaking out of aquaria can probably be traced back to a Scientific American article that I wrote back in the 70's. I had a very large O. scyllarus that shattered the face-plate of one of the old Instant Ocean refrigerated aquaria. The glass was double glazed.

As for the glass-breaking sequence in "Fastest Claw in the West", it was indeed very thin. The sequence was not shot to show the power of the stomatopod. We did it for a special effect that was never used. The producers like the glass breaking and decided to use it for the credits.

Roy

 

[3days3nights]

YUP it's a peacock. Not very large though, about 4 inches. The coloration is all in check. As a juvenile i had no idea what it was, was mostly brown from the head back, at least of what i could see of it back then. He/she was originally 2 inches when i first discovered this miniature dragon terrorizing my tank at nighttime.

Yeah been reading and watching some videos, and I guess they can break the glass. Just hard to believe, but I guess it's not all about the muscle size or the hard claws, since i could never think of cracking the glass with anything less than my fist. Maybe in the subsonic ultra radioactive snap they do, provided from the flux capacitor by our boys at Back to the Future.

Is a peacock rare or sumthing, why did you think it might not have been from what i said ?

 

[Gonodactylus]

I think there was surprise at it being an O. scyllarus because they are burrowers and usually do not occur in rock cavities. That doesn't mean that it doesn't happen, but it is not where you would usually find them.

The key to the power of the strike is speed. It is the fastest known appendicular movement.

ROy

 

[brekurboy1]

E = 0.5*m*v^2

E = energy
m = mass
v = velocity

the claw doesn't have very much in the department of 'm' but there's a lot of 'v' behind it giving enough 'E' to do damage

. . . what a nerd

 

[3days3nights]

Just another example of how i should keep my mouth shut about things i really don't know too much about. Have been reading alot up on the mantis, now i don't know for sure what she really is. Not to mention a good look at those claws, i bet she could smash my aquarium up if she wanted to.
So i'm not sure if she's a peacock. I assumed so because she has a blue head with green body for the most part. In a relatively dull tank, she stands out, but again i've never seen her whole body out from her little cave. She does also make burrows though that she seems to share with an "unidentified damsel" and a large shrimp goby on occasion. Ive seen her next to this damsel fish that is the same length as her, and she cares less about him. Mayeb that's because i feed her krill every few nights by my hand ever since she was a little booger.
Otherwise i'll try to trap her sometime soon and place her in my frag system in a quarantined acrylic section made just for the oddball items i pick up from work.
also she is with alot of invertebrates - many snails, scarlett and red leg hermits. She never bothers them even if i haven't seen or fed her for weeks.

 

[Dexter1334]

I have two mantis in a 10 gal glass aquarium. I don't worry about them breaking the glass. They have no reason to. They have their gravel, PVC caves and some rocks and seem very happy. They always poke their heads out and look around whenever I come into the room. I think the possibility of them actually breaking the glass is greatly exagerated and if it was a real concern their would be some first hand accounts.