Identification help please

S

schmuttis

New member
I just got my first shipment of live rock from TBS yesterday and could use some help figuring out what the follow are.

I have two of these guys. Both are dark gray and about 1 1/2" long. I see no stripes on them. The first one I found in the bottom of a bag in sandy water the second is in a large hole in my rock. At first I thought he was a really big worm since the water was very cloudy. We sieved the water and him out of the bag. As I was working through the mix to extract him, there was a loud popping sound. So I thought it might be a pistol shrimp but the picture I saw out on TBS has yellow stripes on it. I had to take this picture holding a flashlight in one hand and the camera in the other so I apologize for the fuzziness. Might you be able to tell me what he is?

2007-03-16liverock_36.jpg


Also I would like to know what the following is too. To me it looks like a big glump of clear glue. It's in the middle of this pictures.

2007-03-16liverock_06.jpg


Also in that picture is what I think is a dead sponge on the top left. Is that correct? I just wanted to make sure before I removed it. Nothing smelled bad when we put it in.

We're new to this so appreciate all help and suggestions.

Thanks.
 
it is a mantis almost positive ,very common in TBS rock, you need to get him out before the rock goes in the display unless its going to be a mantis only tank DONT KILL HIM people will buy him from you
 
Re: Identification help please

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9490844#post9490844 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by schmuttis
I just got my first shipment of live rock from TBS yesterday and could use some help figuring out what the follow are.

I have two of these guys. Both are dark gray and about 1 1/2" long. I see no stripes on them. The first one I found in the bottom of a bag in sandy water the second is in a large hole in my rock. At first I thought he was a really big worm since the water was very cloudy. We sieved the water and him out of the bag. As I was working through the mix to extract him, there was a loud popping sound. So I thought it might be a pistol shrimp but the picture I saw out on TBS has yellow stripes on it. I had to take this picture holding a flashlight in one hand and the camera in the other so I apologize for the fuzziness. Might you be able to tell me what he is?

2007-03-16liverock_36.jpg


Also I would like to know what the following is too. To me it looks like a big glump of clear glue. It's in the middle of this pictures.

2007-03-16liverock_06.jpg


Also in that picture is what I think is a dead sponge on the top left. Is that correct? I just wanted to make sure before I removed it. Nothing smelled bad when we put it in.

We're new to this so appreciate all help and suggestions.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Is a pistol shrimp...pistols look like baby Maine lobsters...mantis have no claws.....and your spongers are fine...if you ever suspect one of being bad, use you nose, you will find out real fast....general rule is leave everything alone unless the is a reason to mess with them....as I remove the sponges that I know will not make it in your tank when I harvest it....also pistols come in green also, like yours...the ones with the red stripes are less common....

also...on sponges...trying to remove a sponge that is healthy usually results in damage to it, and then sponge degeneration.....which is a bad thing....best to leave all sponges alone unless they change in appearance and smell bad, then best way is to remove the whole rock and scrape them off....and usually they will regenerate...but sometimes messing with them is worse than leaving them alone....

Richard TBS:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:
 
Last edited:
ya thats true, the more i look at the picture and seeing that huge claw, its got to be a pistol shrimp. Can you get more pics of it?
 
I can definitely tell you that they are not mantis shrimp. Did you notice the "they"? Yes, we have two of them in the same hole now. I saw an even larger mantis shrimp on another rock and he definitely looks different. If I can get some pictures of both, I'll post them so you can see the difference too. Now my next biggest problem is that we not loose power in this ice storm.
 
I just happened to be getting ready to test my water for ammonia when I heard all this clicking. I looked up at the tank and here the mantis shrimp was trying to get into the hole with the pistol shrimp. I was lucky enough to get one decent picture of the mantis shrimp and here are two new ones of the pistol shrimp.

Pistol shrimp:

2007-03-16PistolShrimp_02.jpg


2007-03-16PistolShrimp_03.jpg


Mantis shrimp:

2007-03-16Mantis.jpg
 
Just a thought...Mantis seem to be a VERY common hitchhiker in TBS rock. That suggests to me that they live in pretty high numbers on the reef.

I think the "Mantis is bad....take it out" mantra all depends on what ELSE you intend to keep in your tank. In my experience, their preferred food would be crabs (hermits included). I have personally seen these mantis go after a fish of equivalent size (unsuccessfully). I don't think they could take out a larger fish.

Anyway...food for thought. If you can keep them, they are very entertaining.
 
I think I have one or two possibly still in my TBS tank,p hear them popping like crazy but never see them. I guess since I get hermits and nassarius for free, its not that huge of a deal. More diversity to the tank? I have a bicolor blenny who loves exploring the holes and caves in my rock, and several times when he goes into a hole I hear the popping like crazy and he comes out fine.
 
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