lots of teeny tiny mantis?

I have a bunch of teeny tiny mantis (or so the best I can ID from the mantis sites) crawling around my nano.

I wasn't entirely sure they were mantis until today when I saw 3 of them get too close to each other and from out of nowhere, these large pairs of pincers came out of each one and they started to fight!

I don't want an aggresive tank.

So, sorry if this is a dumb question, but should I be worried? I have no fish... so if I don't get a fish to eat them while they are still little, will they end up growing to full size? (Ok, sorry, I know you guys are dedicated to keeping these critters, but I'm just plain scared of ending up with a nano tank that I can't even put my hands in!)

The truth is, I already hear clicking at night, so I'm sure I have one adult somewhere. So far that one adult seems to be fairly harmless.. (althought I did see my lettuce nudibrach get dragged off into the crack of a rock... :( But other than corals, and the one lettuce nudi, I haven't had anything else that a mantis would want to attack)

Thanks for any advice you may have.

damsel
 
Here is the best picture I can get... they are tiny!

Unfortunately they are so quick with the relatively huge pincers that I can't get a photo with the pincers out. Funny how shocked I was to even see pincers! I guess they have them tucked under their body, so that normally I can't see them...

It could be something other than a mantis... but it definately isn't a copepod or an amphipod...

any ideas?
 
I really wish that picture were clearer. I can't tell what it is from that shot. Looks almost like an isopod to me? Have animals been dissappearing in your tank?

And to diverge breifly from the topic at hand. Hey sickboy, did you ever get another mantis?
 
Since you said they had big claws I would have to guess that you have some some of pistol shrimp. They click at night when mantis aren't active at night.
 
Hi Damsel,

From the picture I'd guess that they're not Mantises, and if they are then I've got them too. They look very much like one of the "pod" varieties that I've got in my tank.

By looks I don't believe they're mantises because they have 12 legs radiating from the body, 2 antennae like tails instead of the characteristic long tail and telson, and they don't have the elongated body of a mantis. This said if I do have the same animals in mine, and I could be wrong since I've only seen juvenile Mantises in pictures.

I think it'd be pretty cool if they were though... well, if you didn't plan on keeping in fish when they grow up. :)

hth!

-Rogue
 
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