Hi everyone.........

vtec3100

New member
Hi,

I'm new to this forum.......this is my 1st posting here........

I have got a friend whom like to keep peacock mantis.....
and today, he invited me to his place for some gathering.

Not surprisingly, I saw his marine tank...other than lionfish, only 1 peacock mantis.

I took a closer look, found something in redish-orange ball like thingy that the mantis was hugging on to it.....

she is like protecting that *ball*, keep hugging on it n turning it in all direction.....

Than i borrowed his PC n do a search on what's that *ball* thing.......found a picture that looks exactly the same as what i saw(picture attached)..........

can any mantis expert advise what is gong to happen next?
 
Eggs ?

Not an expert at all so take it for my .02 .... but that looks like a egg ball she is hanging onto.
 
Hi Vtec,

It's an egg bundle. It's supposed to be more in sort of a blanket than an actual ball and the mother will fan and turn it frequently to keep it aerated.

Depending on the mantis' time from being collected the eggs may or may not be fertile. According to Dr. Caldwell in an earlier post, it's extremely difficult to captively raise them because of requiring live food of specific sizes and the fact that they're cannabalistic.

Great picture though!

-Rogue
 
Hi Rogue,

SInce it very difficult to breed in captivity, do i need to throw away the eggs ? as I'm afriad it might pollute the water....
 
Hey Vtec,

I couldn't find the post but it was just from a few months ago. The person who's O. Scyllarus had eggs ended up eating them because they were non-fertile.

It's fine to leave them in there. If they're non-fertile she'll eat them to retain the nutrients, and if they are fertile they'll add to the natural zooplankton in the tank to feed filter feeders I suppose. Nothing to worry about though I don't think. Very cool to see though. :)

-R
 
its already a few days, its still holding on the eggs and not feeding..... , how long does the eggs hatch ?? does anyone knows ? :confused:
 
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