My New Odontodactylus havanensis

[rwhhunt]

Hello All,
Well I had been going through a dry spell and completely mantisless for over a month now after the passing of my favorite little sea creature Boris the Peacock Mantis Shrimp who died of Old age I believe over the Thanksgiving holidays... She was approx 6" and around 5-6 years old I believe...
I have been naggin my LFS to pick me up a mantis, which are suprisingly rare here in the Atlanta region...
Well Finally I get the phone call and pick up my new little buddy...
I believe it a SHE Odontodactylus havanensis! It is interesting to see a recent post by Dr Roy about the availability of one of these guys on ebay and the interactive and active mentality of this species! I paid $25 for her.
I just upgraded my 5 gallon hex tank to a Oceanic Biocube 8 which has 8.9 gallons of capacity. I transfered my 7 lbs of Live rock that had been in the 5 gal for 2.5 years, and then added 13 lbs of dry aragonite to the Biocube and inoculated it with several scoops of live sand for the existing tank. I started the tank with half live Nutri-sea water and half artificial DI water. I am also running Purigen and lots of bioballs. I added two nice pieces of corals, a large neon Purple and Green Zoo rock and a quad-head Pink Radial Hammer coral (the LFS called it a radial flower coral, but looks like a mix between a hammer and frogspawn), either way it is looks very nice. I added my, as of now, unnamed new Mantis to the tank last night and has been quite active and almost spastic in exploring her new environment.
Since she is only approx 3.5 cm, I am looking forward to a good relationship with this guy as she grows to her expected 7cm adult size.
Dr Roy had mentioned the use of a flat piece of LR and some rubble. I have numerous pieces of LR that could be excavated under and there are smal chunks of black gravel/rubble that can be used to cover her entrance. Please let me know if there are any other suggestions for the system...

New Tank:

I think it is a female:

Pink Uropods:

Just introduced into the tank:

 

[rwhhunt]

Just took some new pics, she is very curious and active, and not shy at all. When I come up to the tnak to take a pic, she comes out and up to the glass...

Here she is exploring her new habitat.

My new Zoo Colony

Here she is checking me out:

My new "Pink Flower coral"

 

[archer8681]

Very nice mantis! grats!

 

[Gonodactylus]

I would add some pieces of shell about .5 - 1 inch in diameter. They find it easier to it such pieces in place.

This is a female. It is a bit tricky to tell O. havanensis from some of the the other Odonotactylus, but the red spot in the center of the antennal scale is unique to this species. Also, keep and eye out for eggs. This female appears to have some sternal cement gland development.

Finally, get yourself a piece of polaroid so you can see the red polarized uropods.

Roy

 

[rwhhunt]

Thank you Dr Roy!! She is very active and I am very pleased with her thus far, and we've only been interacting for a couple hours!
I will keep a lookout for eggs, she will carry them with her right?
Where can I find a piece of polariod? Just like polarized sunglasses, or polarized film? does it have to have any special parameters?
Thanks

 

[Gonodactylus]

They usually seal up when the lay their eggs and I doubt that she would lay until she has a burrow (unless she is too close and can't stop the process. I doubt that because looking at her and the amount of algae that has grown on her uropod setae, she has been in captivity for some time without a good burrow.

A cheap pair of polaroid sunglasses will do or you can pay a bit more and get a polaroid filter for a camera. Cheap ones are about $15. You can also order filters and filter sheet from places like Edmund Scientific. My favorite way to demonstrate polarized displays in stomatopods is to take a piece of polaroid sheet, cut a circle out of it (about 4 inch diameter) and pin it to a handle so that you can rapidly spin it. THen have someone look through the disk at the stomatopod as they spin the polaroid. The polarized parts of the stomatopod will flicker dramatically.

Roy

 

[seahorsedreams]

That's your mantis tank! Mine would have that torn up in 2.7 seconds flat! And he would start with the bottom piece like a kid pulling the bottom can out from a huge pyramid type display at a grocery store.

Awesome looking chick you have there!

 

[Ms. K]

Did you get it at Athens Aquarium?

 

[rwhhunt]

Yeah, i have been bugging the guys at Athens Aquarium (now know as "Aquarium Outfitters") on Hawthorne to get me another mantis for many months now...and they finally got this guy in! They also got me my original OS, Boris, a couple years back. They called me Thursday night to inform me that the got a TINY mantis in about 1/2 inch, and they had no where to put him... so I had to go pick it up that night for only $15... I ended up giving it to my friend who is a mantis owner to put in his new 5G tank... still waiting to ID him, but I think it is the smallest little wennerea or viridis of all time!

 

[Ms. K]

AHHHH!!! I'd been asking them to give me a call, too. lol. Justin knows me, but I don't think many of the newer employees know me by name...by face, definitely..but not by name. Oh well, I'm picking up a peacock this weekend.