Mantis ID Help +?

[jmurjr]

Hi I have a mantis in my tank. He is mostly white almost transparent with a little orange. Does this sound farmilar? Also he has been in with everything I hear the clicking all the time but my Anenome, clowns, wrasse, and damsel have all been fine. As well as my brain coral. Please help me to understand what he is and the dangers.

Also I was told with my next shipment of uncured rock to dip it in an overly saline solution and the mantis should come out of the rock is this true?

thanks
john

 

[Gonodactylus]

Without a picture or the specimen and knowing where it came from, I really can't help. If you can't get a picture, at least can you estimate size, say where it probably came from, and give more information on the color pattern, shape of the eyes, etc.

As for getting stomatopods out of live rock, it usually depends on the species. Some will bail almost immediately in either hypersaline or fresh water. Others will stick it out to the point of death. Generally, spearers and odontodactylids will flee very quickly. Also, subtidal species are more likely to leave than are intertidal species. We used to routinely have to remove every week 50 or so Neogonodactylus bredini from rubble. This is an intertidal species that frequently experiences exposures at low tide. It would often take several minutes of dipping the rock in fresh water, poking with a probe, shaking, etc. to get the animal out. Many died without exiting and I have seen many animals literally set on the shelf in a "dry" rock for over a day. They are tough and stubborn.

Roy

 

[nbeutler]

Roy is the expert on this topic, but it sounds like you might have a pistol shrimp to me. Are you sure its a mantis? If it is a pistol shrimp I'd consider getting a pair of shrimp golbies to go with it.... [Or you can catch it and send it to me?]

 

[Gonodactylus]

I assumed that it was a mantis shrimp. There certainly are lots of snapping shrimp that fit the general color description. However, I can also think of two or three small gonodactyloid smashing stomatopods from the Indo-Pacific that are clear to milky with orangish markings. Most are small - 1 1/2 inches, but they do live in rock cavities. I can't think of any from the Caribbean that fit this description.

Roy