It's a clubber, not a spearer!

violet21chewy

New member
I got a mantis that I got from Gulfview and I had asked if it was a clubber or a spearer and was told it was a spearer. Being new to mantis shrimp I was not familiar with their physical appearance. So I set up a glass ten gallon tank with live rock, crushed coral and pvc pipe. Since I thought it was a spearer I thought it should be ok. The mantis was shipped dry so I just put him in the tank and he disappeared. I have only been able to get glimpses of it and after about a month finally got a good enough look to realize that it has clubber appendages. It has been eating silversides so that was another reason I though it was a spearer for so long. Now I plan to get an acrylic tank for it and was wondering how stressed I'm going to make it by changing it's home. Is there some way I can identify the sex and what kind it might be if it's from Gulfview? It is quite pretty, green body with red spots and orange appendages. Thanks everyone!
 
Chances are 99/100 that this animal will not crack, let alone break your 10 gallon glass tank. I would leave it alone. On the other hand, neither would I test fate by teasing the animal and trying to get it to strike through the glass.

All this hype about needing acrylic tanks for even small gonodactylids is getting out of hand. If I didn't know better, I would say it was started by the acrylic tank makers of the world. (How do I know better - because I probably started much of it in a 1976 article in Scientific American.) I am probably one of the few people who has ever had a tank broken by a stomatopod and I have kept literally thousands of them. The only disasters were at the dactyls of three species, Odontodactylus scyllarus, Hemisquilla ensigera and Gonodactylus chiragra. The H.e. that broke a tank was 11 inches long. The several O. s were all over 6 in. Only the G.c was smaller, about 4 inches.

Let me repeat, if you are keeping a 3 inch Neogonodactylus from the Caribbean, don't worry about your glass. It will hold up just fine.

Roy
 
Thank you!!! I've been so paranoid since I found out it was a clubber that I haven't gotten too close to the tank. Was afraid it would come at me! Well since it is only about 2 inches I won't worry about moving him. He/she has made themselves quite comfortable.
 
i have a 3" peacock that loves to smash limpets that are on my glass (7-bowfront). i was scared at first, but it doesn't really seem to have that strong of an attack. i've *thought* about letting it smash a finger just to see how strong it really is.
 
Would it be rude if I said I dare you" LOL. I go into the tank with a hemostat. I need to scrape the glass but too scared to stick my hand in there.:D
 
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