My Ultimate Multi Mantis System(s)

Thanks for the link...ill def be ordering from them :)

As far as your vids go. Excellent job. Ive been watching UFC since its UFC 1...and Joe Rogan is a great announcer. Keep them coming.

Isnt aussie stuff cheaper there tho? id imagine you get some crazy acans and acro's, scolly's ect...?
 
Dana42078 said:
Isnt aussie stuff cheaper there tho? id imagine you get some crazy acans and acro's, scolly's ect...?
Click to expand...

No.

We get the same scolly/acan etc you guys get (after all there both from the same place Lord Howe Island is popular for Acans).

By going to the larger websites such as Live Aquaria the difference is so large that it literally sends me red with rage, I mean it's not like I hate my LFS for selling things at high prices, that's just how it is can't blame them on the price for the industry within Australia, they need to put food on there tables etc.

It just really makes me wonder why -_- Lord Howe is Australia, the whole process of getting said coral from Lord Howe to mainland Aus should be MUCH cheaper then shipping it internationally. I get examples all the time "You might pay loads for mushrooms but we pay loads for acans!" That is not true.

Acans on Live Aquaria go from $30-$90 depending on the type/size, we pay that here!!!!!!!!!!!! But we also pay $$hundreds$$ to get Ric's Rhodact's that aren't half as nice as the U.S. ones...seeing Ric's for Pocket Change LITERALLY POCKET CHANGE for the price of 1 good Ric here I can literally get 10 far better quality (and larger) Ric's from the U.S.....it just rips my heart out ='[..... If I walked into a shop like that with those prices...

I'd literally take half the shop home...

Australian Marine Aquarium Keeping needs to have a Revolution something that literally reshapes it entirely...

Heart braking ='[
 
EDIT:

There was a thread on a local forum of 2 very nice tanks both journals.

One was a U.S. owned
The other was a local AUS owned

The purpose of the thread was to detail the difference in pricing and overall layout looks for the end result. The results were absolutely undeniably favored for the yanks tanks, I remember the final phrase of the thread.

"In the end, we (Australians) just cannot compete with them (Americans)".

So basically the Americans reef tank was much better with far nicer corals and the overall cost on the live stock was less then 1/4 of the Australians tank.....

I MUST find this thread!!!
 
We cant even get inverts imported here. Its a load of bullshit. I love my country. But as far as keeping reptiles and fish is just stupid.
 
Here is my DIY aquascaped tunnel system 'cooking' inside my Live Food tank (essentially just getting used to water over it etc.) I'll leave it in this tank for a few days / week.

Not the best pics but mostly because that tank isn't really kept 'clean' so water splash, salt creep etc was all a distraction but I wiped away what I could to get what I got in the pics =) as you can see some crabs have already inhabited the tunnel system, obviously this is going to be very temporary for them as its primary owner/inhabitant will have a field day laying down the law.









NOTE: Even though you can see the split in the pipe along the base in this pic, it was because I didn't push it in fully (they do join neatly hiding the seam) having said that, the reason that the 2 entrance and exit points in the base have 45degree upward facing holes is because I intend to partially bury this whole thing essentially also helping to hide all the bases 'flaws' if there are any.



Remember that this is clean/brand new, in time and through algae it will only become more natural looking as the time/algae will help cover up minor floors and encrust the whole tunnel as one.

More to come!
 
Feedings for tonight and those captured on camera =D

-----------------------------------
STAND A - 50mm to 100mm species
-----------------------------------

Eve - G.smithii (took the food very swiftly could not capture on camera).

Adam - G.smithii (molting, no show).

Nicole - G.ternatensis




Shockwave - G.falcatus (took the food very swiftly could not capture on camera).

Rocky - G.graphurus Really ripped into the prawn meat sending chunks flying it was all so swift that I couldn't get the camera to focus fast enough to get any better pics.



Stay tuned for more, STAND B inc.
 
continuing...

------------------------------------
STAND B - 100mm to 200mm species
------------------------------------

Minnie - G.graphurus Again she was to swift to be capture on camera and all I got was her holding the food in her cavity, but its something at least =D.


Maximus - G.graphurus



Tintin - G.ternatensis (took the food very swiftly could not capture on camera).

The Kraken - O.scyllarus



The Juggernaut - O.scyllarus



------------------------------------
STAND C - large spearing species
------------------------------------

Morgoth (molting, no show).
The Leviathan (molting, no show).

Another evening down and bellies filled with prawn meat.

The crew is content for now and the captain gets to rest =).

More to come (as always =P).
 
Man, maybe i should feed mine more. I dont give them anywhere near as much as you give you small ones. Can they really eat all that?
 
Ehudd said:
Man, maybe i should feed mine more. I dont give them anywhere near as much as you give you small ones. Can they really eat all that?
Click to expand...

They do not frequently eat all of it, when food is not eaten it is discarded out of the cavity/burrow and floats around in the water column awaiting my removal, Rocky, Minnie, The Kraken & The Juggernaut all consumed every last bit given.

These animals have been observed at having ferocious appetites in the wild a stomatopod has been observed eating multiple small feedings up to 5times in 1 day however if the animal acquires are large portion of food (perhaps its own size if not larger) it won't eat again that day or for longer, either way there appetites are big and considering there ability to consume nigh on any creature that dare swims past, its just a feast everyday.

EDIT: Also sometimes what is not eaten by the stomatopod is cleaned up by hermits and crabs that are food for the stomatopod but also clean up after it =)
 
Took a few photos tonight of my crew members (just the smashers) my spearers still seem to be dormant making it over a full month since last seen.

Good news is that after over a week or 2 of hiding Adam has come out and is back to his usual curious and interactive self.

STAND A

ADAM - G.smithii




EVE - G.smithii


ROCKY - G.graphurus





More to come =D
 
Here is that DIY tunnel system with crabs crawling all over it and through it and a fat fish nestling beneath the plateaus for cover, they treat it as a safe haven but in reality...its going to be anything but a safe haven for those inhabitants...



More to come =D
 
A catalyst of nice images with good emotions in them just happened...

Essentially the catalyst to it was Rocky however a couple other members from the STAND A crew got involved hence making it a chain reaction of photography! =D

So as I said Rocky kick started it, How ? He was being naughty and smashing in a few of those filter feeding tiny shrimp that inhabit live rock/coral (in his case his Acan encrusted home). His tapping made me turn an acknowledge his actions and since he was in full view and in a state of attack I thought why not move in and capture it on camera.

Unfortunately like a child, as soon as Rocky realized I was watching with the camera, he jerked back and went defensive/innocent almost looking sad in a sense that he knew he was caught.


As I said there was a chain reaction of photography and directly beneath above his compartment is Nicole (G.ternatensis) as I reared up after taking the pictures of Rocky (as I need to lay/kneel to get them) I might of spooked or 'offended' Nicole, this in term made her (for the first time) come out of her burrow and stand all aggressive or as I call it 'flippin' me the bird!' Either way she held true to the posture enough for me to get a few pics (taking the best 1 only) which again boosted my confidence in that she will be an open and interactive animal when she gets larger =D.


To finish this chain reaction of nice photographs, as I once again reared up from leaning forward/crouching to capture Nicole in her compartment I must of spooked or offended Eve (G.smithii) as her compartment is directly above Nicole so I guess my big head suddenly appearing spooked her to come rite out and again 'flippin' me the bird!'


So all in all it was a rather comical capture for me each stomatopod inline and each time I essentially raised my head, there was one rite in my face trying to taunt me off =)
 
Tomorrow =) is the test day!

I plan on putting the DIY aquascaped tunnel into the compartment with Rocky to see if it all works out well (I am a bit nervous about the sides/width of it overall...as I made it a rather tight fit, the layers of rubble on the sides is what will prevent it from fitting, so if I 'shave' a smooth long piece off each side (since you won't see the sides anyway due to them meeting the sides of the compartment) it will fit then (as I measured it prior to putting the substrate on it).

Either way I hope it fits and if it does I will temporarily shift all my corallimorphs in STAND A to the compartment of Rocky and scatter them about on the plateaus and around the compartment, to get an idea of what it will be like when the real corallimorphs get here!

EDIT: I am confident that it is now harmless to marine inhabitants, seeing all the crabs currently residing over it and the fish taking cover in it has confirmed it, it is literally covered in crabs rite now lol all the crabs in the tank are hosting on it, they don't really have anywhere else anyway so it's a good sign none the less.
 
I just put the DIY aquascaped tunnel into the compartment of Rocky my smallest G.graphurus I am so glad it fit but it only JUST fits....lol I have essentially buried the entire bottom portion of the tunnel leaving only the vertical parts showing, so far its looking good =D just waiting for the water to be not so cloudy so I can start taking pics =)

P.S. I removed Rocky from the compartment before doing all this as I didn't want to be hit he almost got me as I removed his Acan rock (he was stuck to its underside) and as he moved in on me I swiftly removed the rock from the water and he decided to hop off.

The good thing about these small compartments is that they clear up FAST.

almost good for pics now as opposed to nigh on not being able to see through at start of this post xD
 
Here are some pics of the DIY aquascaped tunnel in place within the compartment of my smallest G.graphurus, Rocky.




Regrettably Rocky has yet to inhabit it...you can see a fraction of him in each pic, he is under the lower left plateau, in its upper corner, he has been poking around there for a while getting used to the completely new surroundings.

I put a crab in there with him to tease him about and perhaps show him the way into the tunnel system, a.k.a chase the crab in and follow etc then realizing the tunnel should make for a great home! :lol2:
 
Here is Rocky (G.graphurus) all upset that I turned his world upside down in the space of 10mins...

When he/if he takes up residence in the tunnel, is when I will start putting coral in the compartment (at least what mushies/ric's I currently have) just to see what it will look like :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
How can I reinforce a kitchen cabinet to support say a 90 gal tank?
Replies
16
Views
278
Philip
P
M
How everything change and keeps changing
Replies
19
Views
417
MCReef1420
M
Itchy Trigger
Heaters for Sump and for Storage Tanks
Replies
2
Views
126
aquaman67
aquaman67
D
Can 1" Quartz Countertop support 3 inch tank overhang past stand on both sides????
Replies
8
Views
549
T Diddy
T Diddy
H
Need sanity check on Deep Sand Bed Cleaning
Replies
3
Views
216
wvned
wvned
Back
Top