My Ultimate Multi Mantis System(s)

This is always such an awesome thread to look at... Exciting videos of pretty much the most awesome invertebrates on Earth, fantastic photography, etc. It's all rubbing off on me, which is definitely a good thing...

I cannot but get over the amazing power of the large spearers...
 
Thank you all for the comments =)

Been a few days since I uploaded anything so I thought I would throw out some pics I got today of a rather shy and unique inhabitant =D

This is my Female G.T. still as of yet unnamed I got her off a fellow reefer a couple months back, she has been hosting under an Acan encrusted piece of Rock (exactly like Rocky), its very easy for me to distinguish between the male and female in the tank due to her having golden/orange eyes and him having silver/metallic eyes, since the eyes are often the first thing seen.







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Finally on a non stomatopod related matter, I got this picture of my most favorite of corals (since I only have mushies / zoas) its the 'Supermaniacus Rhodactis!' ;D I love these and literally want to litter the bottom of all the tanks in STAND A and the top tank of STAND B (where this female G.T. is) this is the mushie I plan on using as my 'base coral' with only a few patches left for other higher grade mushies (1-3 spaces per compartment for the higher grade stuff).



More to come =D
 
Bit of a teaser here.

A portion to of my first homemade burrow system, this part is a portion where the stomatopod will hopefully poke hi head out of, rite beside the flat plateau which will be supporting a really nice Ric =).

Sorry for poor quality it was taken on a "HD" video cam corder.


Still 1 more coat to do on them all then there done and good to set / soak for a week or 2 before going into the display!
 
There was an influx of videos for today so there are a few =) (since I haven't really uploaded anything lately...)

Managed to get a batch of Live Food again today and in the process filmed those that fell to stomatopods.

Up first is my all star small guy!

Rocky - G.graphurus, I gave him a real test today and a potential real threat, a yabbie/crawdad almost the same size as himself, its claws are far more advanced then the shrimp he got a week back...nonetheless Rocky swiftly showed his dominance over this unwanted intruder.
<iframe width="800" height="600" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tdRxrA7nqjM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The Result & Victor - Rocky!


Maximus/Minnie - G.graphurus, Up next is a rather comical feed, watch what happens...
<iframe width="800" height="600" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3rwVYqyJe7U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The Juggernaut - O.scyllarus Didn't take him long to over come his crawdad (I gave him the biggest one being a touch under 3inchs long), there is one part in the video where he hits it so hard (and I slowed it down) that he not only cracks the crawdads head open but it...EXPLODES open and all the internals just spew out which you can see clearly floating about the tank after that hit (the yellowy/golden stuff), imagine what it would do to your finger (being that the crawdad was easily as thick as my finger) except the crawdad has more armor then our fingers too....amazing.
<iframe width="800" height="600" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9HGX7YZbEN4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Morgoth - L.sulcata, this guy was hungry today! A true pig taking 2 fish in the space of a few hours....however I should thank him after all he did finally rid me of my last annoying humbug (Humbugs pick on other Live Food essentially killing / stressing them out).
<iframe width="800" height="600" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SFZMb26eVSU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="800" height="600" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3o_McBVGGDY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

More to come as I haven't tempted The Leviathan yet and have another one of them funky eel looking fish to offer
 
Non Stomatopod Related Matter...

But nonetheless a great way to cap off a day off filming and photography! :dance:

The Sunset this evening was abnormally nice

Taken from my backyards Verandah.
 
Latest Test Movie which I made this evening =)

<iframe width="800" height="600" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RS_TwEHukJQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hope you enjoyed!
 
I've become hopelessly afflicted with the bug after seeing an L. maculata at a public aquarium here, and I simply must have one...

What would you consider as the minimum safe depth of sand for them to burrow in? I have a custom tank at work that might be perfect, as it is similar in design to your spearers' tanks.
 
Eel Freak said:
I've become hopelessly afflicted with the bug after seeing an L. maculata at a public aquarium here, and I simply must have one...

What would you consider as the minimum safe depth of sand for them to burrow in? I have a custom tank at work that might be perfect, as it is similar in design to your spearers' tanks.
Click to expand...

L.mac's are unique in there size but they are a lot lazier then other stomatopods and are very goofy without sand.

My general theory about minimum depth of sand (for the animal to burrow in) would be at the very least as deep as the animal can get long (so in this case 400mm deep), this will allow the animal to at least for a majority of its life be able to position itself vertically like it does in the wild.

Again though its been recorded by many inc Dr. Caldwell that this species can thrive in a tank without sand (PVC burrow) however should it be left without the sand for long enough (know one really knows) then it will no longer to ever be able to build a burrow....
 
Ah. Okay. Cool. Thank you for the information!

If I recall correctly, the tank is at least 600mm deep, so that should not be of much concern. I will be using sand, as it is more natural...
 
Eel Freak said:
Ah. Okay. Cool. Thank you for the information!

If I recall correctly, the tank is at least 600mm deep, so that should not be of much concern. I will be using sand, as it is more natural...
Click to expand...

More is always best in the case of the large spearers however my old original tank was only 1200mmLx450mmWx450mmH and only had about 225mm sand bed depth, yet they thrived.

EDIT: One thing your going to make good sure of is if the tank can hold so much weight....one of the primary reasons my spearers tanks are extra thick glass (15mm - 18mm) is because there so deep yet holding so much sand...
 
Kharn said:
More is always best in the case of the large spearers however my old original tank was only 1200mmLx450mmWx450mmH and only had about 225mm sand bed depth, yet they thrived.

EDIT: One thing your going to make good sure of is if the tank can hold so much weight....one of the primary reasons my spearers tanks are extra thick glass (15mm - 18mm) is because there so deep yet holding so much sand...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads-up on that. I'll confirm with my dad, he's an engineer, but the way the tank is built, even with 13mm glass, it should hold the weight without issue... I definitely do not want a 10" L. maculata, lots of sand, and a ton of water spewing out onto my floor in the middle of the night!!
 
Eel Freak said:
Thanks for the heads-up on that. I'll confirm with my dad, he's an engineer, but the way the tank is built, even with 13mm glass, it should hold the weight without issue... I definitely do not want a 10" L. maculata, lots of sand, and a ton of water spewing out onto my floor in the middle of the night!!
Click to expand...

L.macs are very hardy!

You often see them for sale in Asia in live food markets where they have stuffed the poor animals (alive) into large 1.25ltr coke bottles, they remain alive in those bottles for a fair while (hence the preference for the sales people to keep them stored like that).

Also, Dr.Caldwell a while back had his large (or one of his large) tanks which housed L.macs and a deep sand bed, rupture and essentially start to fall apart. To knowledge Dr.Caldwell wasn't sure how the animals were (condition wise) due to the nature of the lack of water (he discovered the tank like this, he didn't witness it happening).

Nonetheless....after digging out (I think 150Lbs/kg's) of sand he found the pair of L.macs doing fine at the very very bottom of the tank in there burrow (where there was still water).

So its safe to say that L.maculata is a very hardy species.

I have NEVER had a problem with mine nor have I ever been in the position to feel such ways, I wouldn't be surprised that when/if my L.mac died, he died in the "onguard" position at his burrow, sitting there for a good week before I realized "Ok he hasn't moved in ages....." lol only to realize he is dead!

All in all there tough!
 
Jacwil said:
Do you have a full system shot? It would be neat to see the whole rack of tanks!
Click to expand...

I do have a pic which I put up earlier in the thread from when the tanks were initially setup and cycling.



Nothing to date yet (want to finish aquascaping)
 
So did you add another for Maximus? lol poor bloke I know how he feels when the wife reaches over and steals off your plate.
 
TundraGuy said:
So did you add another for Maximus? lol poor bloke I know how he feels when the wife reaches over and steals off your plate.
Click to expand...

haha actually no he got dead food...

My plan was to go through each 3 smashers since I only got 3 crawdads...

So Rocky being the smallest...
Maximus being the next medium sized...
The Juggernaut being the largest...(I'm still amazed at that hit which basically destroyed the crawdads head...)
 
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