I am now a member of the club! Meet "Google"

[ninjafish]

Hi everyone. I have been searching for a small smasher for a long time. Luckily, a friend of mine was present when a hitchhiking mantis was found in a LR shipment at the LFS. He grabbed him for me and it went into the tank yesterday. I was hoping to call him "Ike" (because my wife told me we are not naming our child that when it is born), but he really looks more like a Google than an Ike.

Some of you may have followed the thread on my 2gal cube and I am currently using it as a species tank. Just Google, his corals, and some snails and hermits should he get hungry. His hasn't ventured out of his cave much yet but from comparing photos, I think he might be a n. wenn. When I get a better photo I will post it so you can help me with an ID.

Cheers,

- Chad

 

[AttackDonut]

That's a nice shot you have there, what kind of camera?

 

[ninjafish]

Thank you, it was really the only shot I could take because he is camped out in his cave. The cave is located in the dark spot you see in the base of my rockwork in my avatar picture.
I used a 3.2 megapixel Fuji Finepix digital. It is an older camera but still takes pretty good shots. I used a photo editing program just to crop the photo and make it small enough to upload here. I usually use the program to do automatic contrast and lighting adjustments but for some reason it kept blacking the mantis out completely when I tried.?


- Chad

 

[AttackDonut]

Nice camera.

BTW, your video is nice, but you taste in music SUCKS!

 

[ninjafish]

Hahaaha

Why doesn't anyone believe me...? It was just the chorus... it fit with the theme of the tank. That's all... I swear. I never listen to that song...

(bugger)

- Chad

 

[Gonodactylus]

Gonodactylus smithii

 

[ninjafish]

Thanks for the ID! I don't think that mine has "meral spots" on its raptorial appendages. Do all smithii's? I will try and get a better picture for you.

- Chad

 

[Gonodactylus]

Using photoshop, I adjusted the image and I'm pretty sure I can see purple meral spots with thin white rings around them. That can only be G. smithii or G. acutirostris.

Roy

 

[ninjafish]

Roy,
That is awesome! I guess I was still too excited to notice .
Do you think that a smithii is a good choice for this tank? I know it isn't a lot of space. I am planning on switching over to a 10" or 12" cube but would like to wait a while first if possible...
Thanks for your help,

- Chad

 

[ninjafish]

Just wanted to let everyone know that Roy was bang on with his ID. The mantis came out today - sorry no camera - and sure enough, bright purple meral spots with white edges. Nice work. Don't know how I missed it earlier...

Four tiny hermit crabs that I put in the tank on the weekend have already been reduced to broken shells. Also, Google ate half a piece of krill yesterday. I have three trocus snails that are as big around as a nickel. My question is: can the mantis smash through these snail shells or are they too big?
The mantis is 2" long.

Thanks,

- Chad

 

[ninjafish]

Today was a great day for Ike/Google (still deciding on the name).
He was out of his cave exploring a bit and gave me some pretty good pictures. He also took another piece of krill and drug a snail into his lair.

Surveying his kingdom:

Hey snail, look out behind you...

The only bad thing that happened is when he tried to swim down my return bulkhead. These things have tenacity! He must have fought against that 100+ gph current for about 10mins before being blown back out.

The lesson that I learned is that I need to find a mesh to cover that bulkhead with quick! If the power ever goes off and the power stops - he'd be down that tube in a second... right to the impellor :eek1: .

What do you think of him?

- Chad

 

[DensityMan]

Beautiful shots and mantis.

 

[ninjafish]

Thanks,
By the way, the adventures of TIm were the first exposure I had to the world of mantis's! And here almost a year later I;ve got one of my own!

- Chad

 

[Gandy]

very cool

 

[rwhhunt]

Great Looking Mantis! I really like the colorful reef environment! Have you fed that guy any live foods??

 

[ninjafish]

Thanks!
He went through 4 tiny tiny hermits in the first 48 hours but since then hasn't bothered with the snails in the tank. They are trochus snails about the diamter of a nickle and the mantis is about two inches long. Are these snails too big for him to tackle? I have fed him two pieces of krill since I got him - maybe he is just holding out for the easy food...
What do you think, should I hold off the feedings for a week and see if he goes after the snails? I don't want him to lose his dactyls from lack of use.

- Chad

 

[rwhhunt]

Not to jinxs myself, but I only feed live every couple weeks or so, and over the past 8 months, my peacock has yet to lose a club...

 

[ninjafish]

Thanks for your experience
And are you feeding it at all between the live feedings? I am wondering if the snails I have are just too big for it...

- Chad

 

[rwhhunt]

yea, i feed frozen vitamin enriched krill and pieces of frozen gulf shrimp from the grocery every couple days