Growth

[jsn150]

The mantis shrimp i have now is about 2 - 2 1/2 in long. I was curious as to how long it would take for him to reach full grown size on a steady diet.

 

[abrahamcho]

What kind? Anyways it is going to a very long time.

 

[justinl]

Do you know what species it is? Or can you get a good pic so we can try to ID it?

hard to say without knowing what it is. some mantids never exceed 3 inches, some can get over a foot long.

 

[jsn150]

sorry guys he is a peacock mantis shrimp

 

[DanInSD]

As with most (all?) crustaceans, stomatopods keep on growing throughout their lives. In order to molt, they need to expand. Over time, the molts get farther and farther apart, until they eventually stop (being polite here).

So, it's a matter of what you call "full size". Yours is certainly "young". I'm sure Dr. Roy can chime in on stats like "time to sexual maturity". Mine is currently about five inches long and has grown perhaps an inch in the last year. Extrapolating backwards, I would suppose that she is perhaps three years old? She is certainly "well fed" by any reasonable definition.

Dan

 

[justinl]

Agreed with Dan. a 2 inch peacock is young. keep water quality up, feed properly and you should be able to keep your lovely around for at least a few years.

 

[jsn150]

Yea I have him in a 24 gallon nano with about 20 or so pounds of rock there is a small powerhead in there also to keep up the water flow. I do water changes every other week if not every week. I have been feeding him bits of squid, shrimp (from the grocery store), misid shrimp and the occasional hermit or snail. I just gave him a fiddler crab the other day and he devoured it in no time flat. He gets fed about 5 times a week and seems to be happy with that. Let me know what you think of my feeding habits (is this a good diet or no)????

 

[DanInSD]

I feed every other day. Your variety is good.

Dan

 

[jsn150]

Thanks Dan good to know he is on the right path!

 

[richofoz]

Have you had him very long? Has he moulted since you've had him?
I've kept mantis' for a bit and have kept spiders and scorpions for years and it can be quite amazing to watch the moulting process.
Nothing really seems to happen on the outside, but then they'll disapear for a week or maybe two and come out looking quite different. Usually the younger the specimen the more noticable the difference in size, and sometimes color.
My mantis eat their shed skin i their den so i've never been able to save one, but I have kept several spider and scorpion skins.
They come off in pretty much one piece so if your careful you can pose the skin in the position you want it and slowly dry it out.
The end result is a hollow skin that looks exactly like the real thing.
Perfect for freaking people out! Or just a cool mantle piece display...

Rich...

 

[jsn150]

I have had him for about 3 months now and I'm not sure if he has molted or not. He did go missing for about a week and came out looking brighter (or it could have just been my imagination that he looked brighter) but he seems to be doing okay.