Just got one!!

[Leviathan_XE]

Don't know if it was luck or what. Just headed off to the the lfs (that's Roozen's for all those in my neck of the woods) for your standard clean-up crew replenishing trip. I scour the the tanks for anything worth while or the occasional can't pass up deal, like I normally do. It always takes me like an 1hr even if I'm going in for just a turbo! And to my surprise while looking into a small in-tank well and I see a beautiful mantis staring back at me. My excitement quckly subsided upon my realization that I had no clue to what species it was and I already had a tank set up for a N.wennerae or G.smithii(which was looking close to impossible to find). Fghting the urge to impulse buy I moved on. Nothing...nothing...nothi....wait a minute. Double-take! In the last well in the last tank another set of eyes stared back at me. Is that what I....? I tapped on the glass and got the meral spread I was looking for....a smithii! Awesome! He's acclimating as I type will try to find the digi cam for pics, have no clue on the sex yet! But he/she looks very similar to Tim the supermantis. Ah, and after using Dr. Roy's list,which is very helpful, the other mantis turns out to be a beautiful G.platysoma. I was told 30 bucks for the platy, it's still there for anyone to grab. Well those who shop at Roozen's in Maryland.

 

[New2This]

Good deal man, glad to hear you have one. I know what you mean when it comes spending a lot of time in the LFS. I spend so much time at the one I go to I have access to anything I want to use now. They know I'll be back. Get us some pics!

 

[DensityMan]

Congratulations on acquiring your new maste... er... uh... 'pet.'

You'll be amazed at the antics for certain.

 

[Hutton]

finaly some one else got a smithii! you will realy like him. mine is very active. can you post some pics?

 

[Hutton]

sorry for the double post but for some odd reason i always see a G. platysoma and smithii in the same store. i think its kind of odd...

 

[Leviathan_XE]

Thanks guys, I know I'm WAY late in responding but I wanted to post pics of the little sucker. Anyway here's Dann's home a 5 gal mini-bow

left side:

right side:

And the man himself:

hanging around:

 

[Leviathan_XE]

Oh yeah, i went back to the same lfs about 3 weeks later only to see the G.platysoma sill there! I couldn't help it I had to rescue her. She was SO awesome! I guess being in the store so long left her with very little fear of people. She was constantly strutting around out in the open.

Sadly she was found dead this morning, I'm leaning towards old age as the cause. She was huge when I got her, and all other parameters checked out. Nevertheless she will be missed.

 

[dragonforce]

I love my male g.platy he is molting right now and should be done in the next few days, I am excited about the color morph he will probably do.

 

[Fish'InMN]

What all do you have running on/in the MiniBow, Leviathan_XE? I'm looking to set up a species tank soon, hopefully I'll have similar luck!

Good pictures, as well!

 

[Leviathan_XE]

Fish'InMN I wanted something simple, so just an aqua-clear 20 for the filter with media still in place and a coralife 50/50 screw-in pc bulb, 20 watts.

 

[ReefGeekster]

careful of the glass heater, someone else on this site had their mantis break the glass heater killing itself.

 

[Leviathan_XE]

Thx for the tip ReefGeekster, I read that same post myself. The thermometer is a Hydor that claims to be shatter proof. At first I was still a little leary but all he does is just hang out on the top like a perch and watches me! Nosey little sucker!

 

[DensityMan]

Just upgraded Tim's tank (thanks Scalare!) with one of these...

Tim wreaked havoc on my nerves trying to break open the heater. I think it must've seemed like one monster of a meal.

Beautiful smithii/pics above BTW!

 

[Leviathan_XE]

Thanks for the tip Density! Now I know what to pick up the instant Dann starts to think that the heater is a mega-meal. Just out of curiosity, how often have you seen a smithii with the same coloration as Tim? I noticed that Dr. Roy commented that this particular color morph is fairly rare. I know I lucked up just to find a smithii period, but I'm starting to feel a little like a won the lottery or something. There's only 4 members that I know of that have a smithii. You, myself, Hutton, and Wiggawam(whose mantis has the same coloration). Not sure what color Hutton's is. And has Tim's coloration varied at all between molts?

 

[DensityMan]

Tim's color has stayed constant, save that he's gotten more colorful with age.

I can't really tell above, but does your smithii, Dann, also have the red stripes on his back?

ps - Tim asked if he could borrow one of Dann's eyes... you know... just for a little bit. *GRIN*

 

[Hutton]

mine has not stayed to constant, mine has green with some visible purple blended in to it. mine has the red lines but they arent as visible as tims is. they are more of an orangish than red.

 

[JBrown]

I have a Smitthi that looks almost exactly the same I will try to get some pics of him next time he's out