Juvenile Peacock colors?

[moosen34]

Hey guys. This is my first post here and I just got my first tank ever with my first mantis last night!

I'm really excited about having my new mantis but I am a bit confused right now. I want to ID my mantis. I had a friend of mine transport it to me last night from a fish store that he found it at. The guy told him that it was a juvenile peacock, which is what I wanted, so i expected to get a peacock colored mantis, but when I saw him, I didn't see what I expected.

First off, he is a smasher so that's right, but his back is mostly brown, but at the end of his scales they are blue-ish green, resembling peacock colors. His legs are yellowish with some orange-ish red color by his body. His smashers are mostly blue and the featherish markings coming off his face are yellow.

The more I look at peacock colors, the more I don't think that it is one but I still hope that it is. i want to take some pictures but it's hard to get any good ones with him in the tank. I will keep trying to take pics but can someone tell me if mantis shrimp change colors when they mature? specifically someone who has had a baby or juvenile peacock what their's looked like when they had it.

I will try to take some pictures today. Thanks guys

 

[mattyice]

if his smashers are mostly blue im guessing it could be a smithii, if you could get a pic im sure we could get a deffinate ID, also i guarentee its not a peacock from your description, just be sure to keep your levels perfect with stomatopods, if it is a peacock then if its levels arent perfect it can increase its chances of shell disease from my understanding!
how big is the mantis shrimp you have?

 

[moosen34]

I didn't think it was a peacock. As of now, it is probably about 2.5" long. I'll do my best to get some good pictures of his colors but he's being a little shy right now getting used to his new envirnoment. He's still cute though

 

[mattyice]

then it is most likely a smithii if its shy, most of them are, peacocks are far from shy, i put mine in his new tank today and he was roaming everywhere and already has eaten 2 snails and a camel shrimp

 

[moosen34]

BTW... what do you mean by "levels"? do you mean the temperature of the tank and the level of salt in the water? Thanks

 

[mattyice]

nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia levels should all be a 0ppm, also the specific gravity should be between 1.023 and 1.025 and i keep my temp at 79 day and night, those are as perfect as conditions as you could get in an aquarium and keep them stable as possible

 

[Hutton]

smithiis in general are not shy, they do roam around alot, and there are other mantis shrimp with blue smashers, so just because it has blue smashers doesnt mean its a smithii

 

[mattyice]

i never sais that it was a smithii for sure i said it could be but we would need a pic for a deffinate ID, also the reason why i said they are shy is because everyone that i have heard about said they are shy

 

[moosen34]

I keep trying to get pics of him but I can't get a good one. I don't think that he's really that shy. He was just still eating a feeder that I put in there for him. He's actually on his second of the day right now! Musta been hungry during the shipping. I am looking around at pictures trying to identify him and the closest I've gotten is Neogonodactylus curacaoensis
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthro...raca/royslist/species.php?name=n_curacaoensis
but i definitely could be wrong. His eyes don't look like that and his antennae are bright orange. Once he's done with this second feeder and he's out and about, I should be able to get a good picture of him

 

[mattyice]

it could be that speciman from your description, they are very small though reaching a maximum size of only 2"

 

[Hutton]

now the species in the link is a shy one. very colorful though. if you can get a clear pic im sure someone on here will be able to identify it.

 

[moosen34]

Well I guess I SUCK at taking pictures because all of the pics that I take are coming out blurry as hell. Here they are though. I saw a "green rock mantis shrimp" on ebay and it looks a lot like mine. Check him out. Sorry for the crappy pics. I put the blurry pic of him up front in there so you can see his stompers. They are more green than blue now that I got better looks at him

 

[moosen34]

argh... why aren't my pictures posting? copy and past works

 

[Uriel]

Just upload your pictures to your gallery...


-Uriel

 

[moosen34]

Thanks Uriel. They're in my gallery now

Let's see if this works

 

[moosen34]

I guess my pics suck too much huh?