Mantis ID?

phurst

phurst

Richmond Reefer
Yes, another ID thread :)

A local reef club member gave me this guy yesterday. he found him in his overflow. He's now happily residing in my 12 gal nano on my desk at work. I looked through the ID page stickied in this forum, but I got the 1000 yard stare after looking for a while.

Here he is if anyone would be willing to take a stab at IDing him (her?)

HPIM3757.jpg
 
I love the colors -- quite spectacular, actually.

I'm not sure what it is, but I can tell you what it isn't. It's not a Neogonodactylus species because of the telson (tail). Any idea where it's from? That might help a lot. Also if you could look at the inside of the smashing apendages, are there colored spots there?

My "wild guess" would be G. smithii.

Dan
 
Dan,

I think you are generalizing the Neogonodactylus wennerae/bredini telson teeth to all Neogonodactylus species. In fact, this is a Neogonodactylus curacaoensis which has very sharp telson teeth as do many other species in this genus. Aside from the telson, the sure give away as to this species' identity is the orange area between the eyes.

Roy
 
Awesome! Thanks DR. Roy!

He's been smashing away all morning. Either making himself a nice home, or going to town on some hitch hiking stomatella.

I thought he was quite attractive personaly.
 
He is very nice.

Hope he is not in a glass tank!

Watched one the other day Destroy a Snail.
It was impressive to say the least.
 
Okay, I was told will/can break glass tanks. Just don't want you to come home to the old fashion wet floor.
 
Ah the tank is at work, so a wet floor is not my problem :)

Nah, I don't think he's big enough to cause any damage.
 
N. curacaoensis doesnt get big enough for you to have to worry about smashed glass.

man some reefer GAVE an N. curacaoensis to you? yeesh, some people get all the luck. take care of the guy, he's a pretty rare species in the trade.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11077594#post11077594 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by justinl


man some reefer GAVE an N. curacaoensis to you? yeesh, some people get all the luck. take care of the guy, he's a pretty rare species in the trade.
Click to expand...

Well, I traded a few zoas for it, but yeah, more or less. I had never considered keeping a mantis before, but I'm quite taken with the little guy. I plan on taking very good care of him.

I assume since he will stay relatively small, I should feed him small bits of meaty food, instead of buying crabs and snails for him?
 
a mantis diet should consist mainly of a variety of frozen foods. pick three. they arent picky and most of their food can be found in the grocery aisle... krill, shrimp, scallop, clam, etc etc etc. feed once every two days. remove uneaten food (youll figure out along the way just how much a mantis will eat at a time).

but you cant JUST feed frozens. at least twice a month, you should feed live hard shelled stuff... small snails, hermits or crabs (crab vs mantis is my fave show). if you dont, they might lose their rapts.
 
^
First time you toss in a gorilla crab, you will be BEGGING people for unwanted hitchhiker crabs.

Lucky guy you are, I have only ween one of those and I am still kicking myself years later for not buying it on the spot.
 
So, seeing as this guy is a smasher, and pretty small, what are the thoughts on keeping a fish in a 12G nano with him?
 
fish and small smashers are a gamble... if you go for it, keep the mantis well fed (without compromising water quality) and stick to a fast fish that will stick to the water column. a damsel would be a good cheap choice.
 
That is a nice looking N. Curacaoensis, looks just like the one I bought a few months ago. Probably the coolest mantis I've ever kept.

I tried keeping fish with mine, because he was tiny (an inch long at the time) and very timid, and I figured that he wouldn't attack anything that was bigger or atleast the same size as him. I bought a yellow clown goby thinking everything would be all good, and hoped that the fish would make him a little more confident in coming out into the open more often. Well it half worked... The mantis comes out into the open all of the time now... but that was after he ate the Goby.

You might be able to keep fish with him, but I would stick with a fish that stays in the water column, like a chromis or Damsel. I think any fish that likes to perch on the sand or rockwork is going to be dinner for sure.
 
Yeah, mine is about 1-1/4" maybe just a hair over that, he has been eating well and is growing more in width than length. He has been steadily getting more aggressive and territorial. Yesterday he swam near the top of the tank just so he could attack the feeding stick I was holding, after a couple minutes he finally realized that there was food on the other end and grabbed it, hes a lil' glutton. Usually he'll "threaten" me if I'm being nosy and looking into his tank, which of course is one of the best parts of owning a mantis (i love the treat display). Are you using a nano-tank for mantis?
 
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