hi all

K

kubbur

New member
so i saw a picture and an article about the pistol shrimp a few months ago and from that i learned about the mantis shrimp, from there i began to read about them, or more about stomatopods, how they evolved and so on
after that i went to read about different sub catagories and about a month ago i came to the conclution that i really wanted the Odontodactylus scyllarus and i found a 140L(yes we use liters in iceland) acrylic tank, and with the sump its about 230 liters (should be enough for a mantis right ?)

i went to every single petstore in iceland and there is only one that is willing to order a mantis for me, what confused me for a long time was that on the site from the petstore is a picture of what i belive to be a od. scyllarus but the name says otherwise, nothing wrong with that (false advertising) but the name they gave it, they call it Squilla sp. and to my knowledge is the species that the japaneese hunt and eat

i really want the od.scyllarus and im a bit lost on how to get it since the trip is a bit long
what should i do ?
 
Hello kubbur, and welcome to Reef Central. :beer:

140L should be fine for a Peacock mantis. As for the mislabeled "peacock" mantis, there could be a few reasons that happens. The website may actually have a peacock mantis shrimp and mislabeled the species name through lack of knowledge. I know of a website that sells mantis shrimp collected in Florida but they mislabeled the genus and species name. So the picture is correct, but the identification is incorrect.

Or they could of just popped the picture of the peacock mantis shrimp on there to attract customers. What website is it by the way? I am asking because there are some website out there that you do not definitely want to order from.

If you ask your LFS to order it for you, would you have to pay before it arrives? I know if I order something through my LFS, I do not pay them until it arrives and I take it home. There are plenty of other interesting and colorful mantis shrimp you can purchase if you are note dead set on getting a peacock mantis.

Good luck on getting your mantis shrimp, and I hope you enjoy your stay here on Reef Central :)
 
Your avg LFS will 99% of the time label the stomatopod they have either "Peacock Mantis" even when it is not that species.

They do this because its the most commonly known mantis shrimp.

They do this because its the most colorful known mantis shrimp. (Hence they can "justify" an Increased price)

They do this because they lack knowledge.

My LFS are terrible with mantis shrimps they have a few prices Green Mantis ($40) Brown Mantis ($30) Peacock Mantis ($80) and even then they don't often know what they get in for example they will call a G.graphurus a Peacock or a G.falcatus a Peacock or virtually any mantis they get in that has more then 1 color...they will call a Peacock.

The only mantis I ever got from a LFS was a hitchhiker, I specifically saw it whilst browsing over there coral and told the guys I want that piece of coral (them not knowing that it had a mantis hosting in its LR).

Besides that I always use private collectors, there legit, there intelligent, they actually are out to impress you cause there the guys fighting for business, when my local collector caught my male L.mac Leviathan, he called / text me everyday (even though I didn't ask him too) and even after he captured the animal, it was very reassuring and impressive I let him know that he will soon be hunting for 10+ unique individuals to which his response was "SWEEET!".
 
kubbur said:
What about sites like http://ibluewater.com/ ?
Click to expand...
way overpriced, try watching bluezoo they'v had some good deals lately but they don't last long, i got a real nice g.ternatensis for $29+$35 shipping from them, just for comparison ibluewater charged me $50 for a g.t of lesser quality(coloring) and another $50 for " gaurentied overnite shipping" when the package showed up 3 days late ibluewater still refused to refund my shipping costs so i would not recomend them, they wer very helpfull at first but once they had my money and my mantis was lost in the mail i was told "good luck geting a refund"
 
Welcome to the club bro. When are you trying to get your hands on one and how long has the tank been up for? You’re in for a wild ride. My 40 breeder is set up for the mantis a large Smithii (4"+ inches hehehe we use inches hehehe) all other animals in this tank are just incidental. My buddies have stopped asking me “why don’t you put more fish in that tank?”
 
hahaha, i put sea in the tank about 2 months ago and until yesterday it has been "empty", there are some bristleworms and pods in it and yesterday i bought a molly and a red legged crab to make it more stable, i've been looking for a mantis the whole 2 months because i know its hard to get specific animals to iceland
its really hard just getting turbo snails here
when i get a mantis ill move the crab and the molly over to the sump
 
I saw some guys talking about having the mantis alone for some time and feed it so it would get used to that so so it would leave other animals alone
 
gpx1200 said:
way overpriced, try watching bluezoo they'v had some good deals lately but they don't last long, i got a real nice g.ternatensis for $29+$35 shipping from them, just for comparison ibluewater charged me $50 for a g.t of lesser quality(coloring) and another $50 for " gaurentied overnite shipping" when the package showed up 3 days late ibluewater still refused to refund my shipping costs so i would not recomend them, they wer very helpfull at first but once they had my money and my mantis was lost in the mail i was told "good luck geting a refund"
Click to expand...
i guess i should point out that the 2 mantis in the package did survive the 3 day trip and are still alive and doing well so chances are good that one will make it to you intact as long as their packed well, if posible ask them to use oxygen in the shipping bag.
 
kubbur said:
I saw some guys talking about having the mantis alone for some time and feed it so it would get used to that so so it would leave other animals alone
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure most mid and top level swimming fish will be fine with a peacock. FWIW, I kept a scooter blenny (slow, bottom swimming fish) in the same tank as a G. ternatensis for about a year with no issues.

As for your CUC, you may have issues getting most normal members of CUC (hermits, snails, crabs) to coexist with your mantis shrimp. I hear my G. smithii pounding away on a hermit as I type this.
 
Lol I added 4 different times scooter blennys my mantis tanks and it always ends in hart break. the little guy puts up his sail to pretend hes bigger and the mantis takes that as a sign saying lets box. poor little scooters.

well this may have somthing to do with me only feeding my mantis CUC and nothing else. Keep it wild!
 
TundraGuy said:
Lol I added 4 different times scooter blennys my mantis tanks and it always ends in hart break. the little guy puts up his sail to pretend hes bigger and the mantis takes that as a sign saying lets box. poor little scooters.

well this may have somthing to do with me only feeding my mantis CUC and nothing else. Keep it wild!
Click to expand...

Did he eat them after he killed them? Or did he just let them float off? I remember the only time I have seen any life threatening issue was when my clownfish had a disagreement with tank space with my G. ternatensis. My G. ternatensis gave him a few hard hits and split the clown's tail straight down the middle. Mr clownfish was floating belly up with no signs of life. 15 minutes later, the clownfish recovered and you would of never known he was about dead not too long ago; other than the split tail.

I feed my mantis by hand quite often as well as leave a CUC in the tank for my mantis shrimp to eat when they feel like it. I guess it may possibly lower their aggression level. However, my G. ternatensis use to get quite aggressive when I cleaned the tank and decide to remodel the rocks. He would even swim up into the water column to attack my hand and chase me out the tank.
 
gpx1200 said:
way overpriced, try watching bluezoo they'v had some good deals lately but they don't last long, i got a real nice g.ternatensis for $29+$35 shipping from them, just for comparison ibluewater charged me $50 for a g.t of lesser quality(coloring) and another $50 for " gaurentied overnite shipping" when the package showed up 3 days late ibluewater still refused to refund my shipping costs so i would not recomend them, they wer very helpfull at first but once they had my money and my mantis was lost in the mail i was told "good luck geting a refund"
Click to expand...

while iblue may have higher prices they have some of the best quarentine procedures I have seen in the biz & customer service is top notch. I have shopped from bob before, recommend him and would shop from him again.

This is a get what you pay for hobby.
 
well as far as quarentine goes bob told me himself that bolth my mantis wer loose in a large tank of live rock with several others free to fight and damage each other and they had to be found before he could send me pics, not very good quarentine practices if you ask me.
" this is a get what you pay for hobby"
i did NOT! get the overnight shipping i paid for and if bob was a standup buisness man he would have refunded my money for shipping since it was gaurenteed overnight by the usps i'm shure he got the money back and it went straight to his pocket.
i have goten nicer specimens for better prices elswear and will never do buisness with ibluewater again
 
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