ID and Mantis sighting at LFS in Los Angeles.

[Fuegan]

I rescued this specimen from a tank with a very large dark green smasher...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v623/Yraen/mantis.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v623/Yraen/mantis2.jpg

I am not sure what species it is. It is currently in my 12 Gallon setup digging up clams and hoarding snails in its burrow.

It looks a little beat up. Any ideas on what I can do to help in that area would also be of great help to me... It accepted mysis from an eyedropper I had and ate some pods it saw when burrowing. It stashed all the clams it dug up in its hole and stole a couple of snails off the glass.

The LFS I got this mantis from had a dark green mantis that was about three to four inches long im guessing... for $12.50. Its in Santa Monica, PM me for info if you would like the LFS information.

 

[Fuegofish777]

i belive you have a Haptosquilla stoliura. the pics on the ID page dont show the color of yours, but mine was much greener than the pics, very simialr to the color pattern on its back. same tail and antenna to ( i know thats not the name but you know what i mean). HTH

 

[Gonodactylus]

Similar to H. stoliura, but there are enough differences to make me suspect that this is a differnet species. There are more than a dozen species of Haptosquilla and many of them are very similar.

Roy

 

[Fuegan]

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate the help.

That leads me to believe the mantis I have is close to full grown. Thats good, s/he is a reasonable size for the aquarium I have.

I have a spray bar setup on a powerhead. The powerhead is at the water level. Do Mantis often climb out of aquaria?