Marine Depot Live?

[Death Shrimp99]

I'm thinking about ordering an O. scyllarus from Marine Depot Live because Stomatopod.com hasent had anything for like more than a month now and I'm getting tired of waiting. Has anyone here had experience ordering a mantis from them before or anything experience with them at all? I'm kinda sketchy about getting one from them because it says "Mantis Clown / Peacock Shrimp - Odontodactylus scyllarus" but the picture shown definitely looks nothing like this species. But I do like that they have them in 3 different sizes and also that they give you a choice of one from Indonesia or Sri Lanka which brings me to my other question: Does anyone(Dr. Roy Caldwell?) know if there are any significant differences between O.s. from Indonesia and Sri Lanka such as coloration or behavior?
Here is a link to what I'm taking about:
O. scyllarus at MarineDepotLive

Thanks.

- Vinnie

 

[Gonodactylus]

The species shown is Gonodactylaceus graphurus or G. glabrous. It is not O. scyllarus. In the past, exporters from Sri Lanka supplied many O. scyllarus to European markets. My guess is that the large, over-priced animals are probably O. scyllarus. Behaviorally, O. scyllarus from throughout the Indo-Pacific are the same.

I should note that a year ago a Canadian aquarist received an O. japonicus from Sri Lanka. I have been trying to get hold of one of these guys for years. If anyone gets one, please let me know.

Roy

 

[kdblove_99]

Have you called or emailed stomatopod.com? I have had excellent customer service with them!

 

[Death Shrimp99]

I emailed them on May 25(4 weeks ago) asking basically when they will be ready to for ordering and they replied with this:

Helo Vinnie,


We will be applying the new updates after receipt and setup of our new systems. Proclear Systems should have them to us this coming week. The issue we currently have is that our photo station has been moved to our new facility, but we cannot move our stock yet because Proclear delayed our system build by 2 weeks. So now our photo/shipping department is at the new facility while our stock remains at the old site.


Our apologies in the delays, but we will be up and running very soon. If not, I will do what I can for you. What size do you seek? Right now we have about 8 peacock. Ranging from 3 1/2"-5".


Thank you for your patience Vinnie,


Billy Bachman
Stomatopod.com

I ordered the O.s. from Marinedepotlive yesterday so we'll see what they give me; I'll post pictures.

 

[Death Shrimp99]

I got him at 1:00 today. This was my first experience ordering livestock. He came in a styrofoam box in a cardboard box; in it was lots of styrofoam to keep it from moving and a small ice pack. He was in a bag in a bag in a bag in a bag. I was relieved to see that he was moving around in the bag. I acclimated him for about an hour using the float method. When I put the bag in the tank my lionfish and hawkfish in the tank next to it went over to check him out; I wonder if they are going to be looking at eachother through the glass a lot.

As soon as I put him in he went into the burrow I aquascaped for him and started kicking sand out of it and moving around some of the shells that I put in.

He was labeled as " Mantis Clown / Peacock Shrimp - Odontodactylus scyllarus - Medium (Sri Lanka)" He is definitely an O.s. and I estimated that he is about 4 inches long.

Here are some pics:

 

[Guygettnby]

that tank is way too small for a 4in peacock. you need at least 20g tank. just figured i would let you know.

 

[kdblove_99]

nice pick up

 

[garc19]

nice peacock. I have a 65 gallon reef for my peacock. The peacock and three damsels are the only non coral live stock.