My peacock mantis

[Ding2daDong]

Just sharing a picture of my 5-6" peacock mantis shrimp. I feed him a mix of frozen foods and a crab/snail every so often.

Here he is in my sump, aka his home.

He only has two pvc tubes and some LR peices. I plan on putting crushed coral as a substrate and adding a bunch of little LR peices so he can cover his hole at night.

Thanks

-Matthew

 

[Sssnakemom31]

Very handsome!

Very handsome!

He looks like he really likes his home - and will love it more, I am certain, if he can "close his door" at night - LOL! I love mine doing their evening chores ... they are a hoot!

 

[Ding2daDong]

Re: Very handsome!

Re: Very handsome!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11745483#post11745483 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sssnakemom31
He looks like he really likes his home - and will love it more, I am certain, if he can "close his door" at night - LOL! I love mine doing their evening chores ... they are a hoot!

Thanks! He used to have sand and rocks but ever since I got rid of the DSB in the refugium he hasn't had any substrate.

Here is another picture of him thats a few months old.

I also have a few questions;

From these pictures can you tell if it is a male or female?

Also I have had this mantis shrimp for over 6 months and he/she has yet to molt. Is that bad?

Thanks

-Matthew

 

[Pea-brain]

From the coloration it is *probably* a female. It could be male though. Check the third set of walking legs. If you see 2 sticks (male parts) it is a male. If you see 2 spots (female parts) then it is a female. It may be hard to see the spots though.

As for molting-O. scyllarus has been known to not close its door during a molt. It could molt without the owner knowing potentially, but you'd probably notice something (it going a couple of weeks without eating or something). Another possibility is a parasitic snail that attaches to the underside of mantises and lives its life there. They do not allow the mantis to molt, and usually lead to their eventual deaths. This isn't likely, but it has happened to people before.

Dan