Mantis Shrimp ID

[petenick]

Yesterday I went and bought a nice little rock from a local store with two mushrooms and a few small anemones on it (not aiptasia). I took it home and was acclimating it, admiring my new mushrooms. I peered into a hole and I saw something look back at me! I knew from the eyes that it was a mantis shrimp. I used an older tank and water from an existing tank and put the rock in it to try and coax him out but that didn't work. Today I temperature matched some fresh water in a bucket and dunked the rock in. He came flying out of his burrow, and I scooped him up and into the tank he went. I am having a little trouble ID'ing it. I think it is a green mantis shrimp but I am unsure. He is about 2" long. Would a 5.5 gallon tank be fitting? I would be putting acrylic in the bottom under the sand bed just to be safe. Here are a few pictures of him, if anyone wants to confirm or change my ID of a green mantis shrimp:

 

[Pea-brain]

lol green mantis shrimp isn't an ID, it's a description

What you have there is a haptosquilla trispinosa. It will stay quite small, and will rarely leave its burrow. Most snails are probably safe with it as long as it is well fed. Feed it once every 2-3 days with a frozen meaty food. Soak in selcon or similar food supplement once a week.

BTW the acrylic is totally unecessary A 5.5 would be perfect.

Dan

 

[petenick]

I apologize for the poor ID, I was using the common name found on Dr. Roy's list for Gonodactylellus viridis.
Thank you very much for the quick response. One more question, should I be stuffing the food into an empty shell?

 

[Pea-brain]

No problem, just that green mantis could describe nearly every common mantis hitch hiker from G. smithii, N. wennerae, and even P. ciliata (though it doesn't really hitch hike) The meat is fine outside a snail shell. Generally with larger species losing raptorial appendages from lack of excersice is a big worry but it isn't too common in smaller species. Maybe a small SW ghost shrimp or a nass snail a month would be more than enough of a workout IMO. Besides, they will likely spend a bit of time killing amphipods and the like on your live rock.

Dan

 

[petenick]

Understood. Thank you once again.

 

[Gonodactylus]

The green animal that came out of the rock is definitely not Haptosquilla trispinosa. It is a gonodactylid, not a protosquillid. From these photos I can't id it. Try to get a shot of the tail from above and behind. Also, what color are the meral spots. I assume they are white or neutral.

Roy

 

[petenick]

This is the best shot i have right now, I will try to get behind the tank for some better ones.

The meral spots are very difficult to see. I will use better lighting to try for a better side picture.

 

[petenick]

Here are a few more pictures. The plastic the tank is made out of makes it difficult to get perfectly clear pictures.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Going to see the meral spot. Dump it out on several clean paper towels and roll it up cigar style with just the tip of the eyes looking out the end. Then you can hold the animal firmly against the table while you use a pencil to gently push the raptorial appendage aside to look at the meral spot on the upper, inner surface.

Roy

 

[soapple91]

looks alot like a chiragra

Jonathan

 

[gholland]

The H. trispinosa has red and yellow striped antennules (this mantis doesn't) and a very flat telson with three prominent, hemispherical bosses or "bumps" on it... look closely at the burrow that is blocked up by a tail in this pic by Dr. Roy and you'll see what I mean:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthro...alacostraca/royslist/images/h_trispinosa3.jpg

 

[Pea-brain]

I know, the iridescent blue on the maxipellids threw me for a spin though and in the first pic the antennae look kinda yellow....

Sorry bought that.

Dan

 

[petenick]

He displayed a bit in the tank, and I saw his meral spots. They are white, and look like they have a slight bit of red around the edges. Does this help? It was too quick for me to get a picture, and I haven't had time to get him out and identify his meral spots per Dr. Roy's suggestion. I will be doing that this evening for confirmation of the meral spot color. He is very feisty! I used a wood skewer to move the sand around a bit in the tank and he aggressively smacked it a few times. He has settled into a tunnel made of PVC that I had laying around.

 

[Gonodactylus]

I'm pretty sure it is a Gonodactylellus viridis. This is a common shallow water gonodactylid found in Indonesia and Thailand.

Roy