Hello Everyone!
My little mantis (IDed by description as most likely being N. Wennerae) has gone through its first molt in my tank, and has emerged as a shade of gray (he was previously neon green). The colors stand out wonderfully with the new 50/50 mini compact light I purchased. He (She?) looks to be about 12mm long, but I don't put much trust in my ability to measure in mm by guessing.
The mantis has dug out a series of tunnels underneath the live rock (4lbs, really branchy, and placed on the center of the 5 gallon minibow). The nice part about the branchyness of the rock is that I can see through the crevasses and will occasionally catch the mantis moving about the rock. What's really cool is that two of his main hangouts are easy to view from the right side of the aquarium, and a third overhang he's started spending time underneath is completely visible! As much as I feel the urge to throw all sorts of fun critters in the tank, I think I might prefer to NOT have a crowded environment and to avoid conflict (AKA Fraidy Cat Syndrome).
I'm thinking about adding more LR and putting in corals, but don't want to decrease the visibility of the mantis' activities. It would be really cool to fill the tank completely with branchy LR and then to put some more critters in the tank. I would assume that by flushing the thing out with brancy rock that the inhabitants wouldn't get as much exposure to each other but that I could still arrange the rock such that much of the tank activity would be visible (IE my making "caves" or enclosed areas right up against the tank walls so it can be viewed.)
On a side note, the hermit crab in my tank molted before the mantis did. I didn't know that hermits molted until I saw the molt floating about, and the single hermit crab I have was brighter than ever. He seemed to be lauding it over the mantis, which I assume to be the reason my mantis decided it was time to play catch-up.
Thanks for viewing!
My little mantis (IDed by description as most likely being N. Wennerae) has gone through its first molt in my tank, and has emerged as a shade of gray (he was previously neon green). The colors stand out wonderfully with the new 50/50 mini compact light I purchased. He (She?) looks to be about 12mm long, but I don't put much trust in my ability to measure in mm by guessing.
The mantis has dug out a series of tunnels underneath the live rock (4lbs, really branchy, and placed on the center of the 5 gallon minibow). The nice part about the branchyness of the rock is that I can see through the crevasses and will occasionally catch the mantis moving about the rock. What's really cool is that two of his main hangouts are easy to view from the right side of the aquarium, and a third overhang he's started spending time underneath is completely visible! As much as I feel the urge to throw all sorts of fun critters in the tank, I think I might prefer to NOT have a crowded environment and to avoid conflict (AKA Fraidy Cat Syndrome).
I'm thinking about adding more LR and putting in corals, but don't want to decrease the visibility of the mantis' activities. It would be really cool to fill the tank completely with branchy LR and then to put some more critters in the tank. I would assume that by flushing the thing out with brancy rock that the inhabitants wouldn't get as much exposure to each other but that I could still arrange the rock such that much of the tank activity would be visible (IE my making "caves" or enclosed areas right up against the tank walls so it can be viewed.)
On a side note, the hermit crab in my tank molted before the mantis did. I didn't know that hermits molted until I saw the molt floating about, and the single hermit crab I have was brighter than ever. He seemed to be lauding it over the mantis, which I assume to be the reason my mantis decided it was time to play catch-up.
Thanks for viewing!
