My new O havanensis

[archer8681]

Well I just got him today, and he's beautiful!

Here's some pics, sorry for the bad quality. I'll try for more later

 

[Gonodactylus]

Nice animal with great color. It will take weeks for it complete a burrow, but you should see lots of activity after it settles in.

Roy

 

[archer8681]

He/she started a burrow almost immediately. Cool stuff.

What do you think about throwing in 3 blue damsels? yes, as food for when he decides to have one? I also grabbed a 50 lot of Onyx Nassarius Snails that I put in my main tank. If I threw a bunch in the nano, would he typically kill one, eat it then kill another? Or would he kill them all to hoard his food supply?

 

[beelzebob]

i put 2 damsels in my tank for my G.smithii and they're still goin strong.

i guess if they are a smasher they wont eat much fish. i donno if your s is a smasher or not, but if he is, your damsels could be there for a while.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Odontodactylus do not usually eat fish - or heavily armored snails. I would go without the fish until the burrow is finished. Until then, it is more hassle for the animal - and it has had enough in its life the past couple of weeks.

Roy

 

[DanInSD]

Dr. Roy, I would have expected Odontodactylus to relish snails (heavily armored or not). My O. scyllarus has demolished every snail in the tank, "armored" (astrea/turbo) or "not" (nerite). I have a relatively large hermit crab (about golf-ball sized with a thick shell) that was pummeled for nearly a full day before escaping (with all edges of the shell chiseled off -- rather amusing [for me, not the hermit!]).

Just curious.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Gonodactylus]

The small Odontodactylids such as O. havanensis, O. latirostris, and O. brevirostris only grow to about 6.5 cm and they all have relatively light, streamlined raptorial appendages. They are built more for speed than power and take a lot of small crabs, small shrimp, etc. While they eat small snails and hermits, they cannot handle the more robust ones like an O. scyllarus can.

This is partly scaling since small 6 cm O. scyllarus also cannot break really heavily armored prey, but it is also more than that since if you measure the same size O. s and O. h, the O. s has a more developed raptorial smashing dactyl.

Roy

 

[archer8681]

So for food for the O. h, small Nassarius Snails are no good then? What specific type of live prey would be best for him?

 

[DanInSD]

Dave, nerite snails have thinner shells than nassarius. Not sure about cerith snails. Astraea (and related turbo) snails have thicker shells for the same sized snails.

 

[archer8681]

Figures I just got in a 50 lot of the nassarius, and put them in my main tank to use to feed the mantis.

I guess my main tank just winds up with a bigger clean up crew. lol

I'll get some nerites.

Thanks

I fed him some clam earlier, he came out, attacked it, grabbed it, and ran back in. Was really cool!