My Ultimate Multi Mantis System(s)

[Kharn]

Odd things always happened within these stands, new strange creatures show themselves (then go missing likely consumed by a stomatopod), windows appear deep down in the depths of the spearer sand beds and then disappear as quickly as they appeared, waken up at night to the sound of a large smasher hitting the glass and sometimes...a second shot and an already recorded predation...

Something weird is at work within STAND C and it's not exactly 'polite'...but both The Leviathan & Morgoth have now been witnessed eating the tail only of their live prey and then releasing them still alive back into the water column...a rather dark nature of the creature to let the fish suffer slowly...



Take 2 coming up of Morgoth & this fish in High Speed ...

 

[Kharn]

Ok so...this is how it went down...lol

The fish was re-offered to Morgoth who had no interest in it so much as to at first have his eyes out watching the fish and camera and then slowly started to close up his burrow for a nights rest...not interested, so the fish already mortally wounded went to the next...ironically not the Leviathan (it's to easy for him...) so I gave it to the Juggernaut thinking he may be interested in some fish again but it would seem that he is to fat :X and by that I mean to slow...he showed interest but was trying to pounce on the fish waiting for opportune moments, I didn't have time to wait for the sake of the fish missing a portion of its body...so I removed it and offered it to...the Kraken.

Wwho showed me and the camera that a smasher stomatopod certainly can and will bring down dexterous fish...whilst this fish is mortally wounded the Kraken paid no heed to opportunism and shot straight at the fish from across the tank at great speeds and pounded it a few times upon meeting until finally he could wrap his greedy little maxilipeds around the fish to hold it and give it some serious 'ground n pound' typical wrestler style xD...once the kraken was capable of grappling with the fish, it was all over, some serious shots were laid down and the fish in return could only gasp and wiggle.

Took the smaller O.scyllarus some time to get the fish back into his den, which allowed me to capture a lot of the action on camera , vid to come, it's long as he sat outside for a good 10mins chasing for about 5mins then grappling and pounding before finally going into his den.

 

[Kharn]

What an evening of excitement in the Ultimate Multi Mantis System! Who'd of thought 1 fish could go so far first Morgoth has his fill, then the Juggernaut got some much needed exercise (phat *** -_-) and finally the Kraken who showed how fit he is, charged down the fish and brought it down.

I still believe that Minos is not ready for live food but was very tempted to offer the fish to him...maybe next time if there is a 3rd time ...here is a small teaser pic of what just happened between the Kraken & this fish, with the Kraken standing triumphant over his victim.



Vid to come

 

[Kharn]

Here is the video it is a little longer the most vids I have made public.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/S-AuTI0Slp0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hope you enjoy

 

[Kharn]

The Ultimate Multi Mantis System...is in deep mourning today :sad1:...

We lost an irreplaceable crew member and quite literally my first mate aboard the journey so far...

My dear friend, Wayne, passed away :sad1:... he and I were partners at arms in this endeavor of ours to make popular the often demonized stomatopods, without Wayne I am at a deep set back... without Wayne I simply would not be where I am today for the clear simple fact...Wayne built the stands the tanks sit upon, the idea of going vertical and stacking, the perfect and I mean utterly perfect craftsmanship of welding and the unflinching confidence in his own works strength and style.

For all our faults we all have our own demons and guardians and I am not talking "spiritual religion stuff, Wayne nor I do not believe in it", he did what none of us on here could do for the simple fact that we are all still here...:sad1:...he took his own life at the young age of 34, I do not know why...and as I said, we ALL have our own demons and guardians the only person that knows is you.

Such commitment he gave towards our cause that the only reason he didn't want to be made public during his course was his own choice and because of this I have no clear picture of him other then at work with STAND C welding where you can only see him in his welding gear accurately placing together STAND C.

The next video will be based around Wayne and what he has done for me, my stomatopods and general stomatopod publicity around the world to further remember him my next large spearer (they were his favorites and I still have 2 vacant spots for large spearers) will be called Wayne.

This is Wayne at work on STAND C due to his shy nature he didn't want to be captured and put online or actively play a part in the online side of things.


Rest in peace Wayne you might of gone early but through the sheer and clear growing publicity for the stomatopods Wayne will equally be remembered for his sheer dedication towards the stomatopods.

 

[Kharn]

Here are a few pictures of 2 inhabitants that i haven't provided many pics of lately, let these pictures confirm that both Minnie & Maximus are well and thriving, their compartments use to be barren rock structures but now they wonder in lush green gardens of macro algae...

MINNIE - G.graphurus



MAXIMUS - G.graphurus



More to come as I am about to plop a fist sized crab in with none other then...The Juggernaut...

 

[Kharn]

Took a few pics of the Juggernaut (O.scyllarus)




Video inc (just had to charge the battery to the camera because it was really low...).

 

[Kharn]

A Few more pictures from this evening...the last large crab that I had within the live food tank seemed to of succumbed to something already I am not sure but I offered its carcass to the Juggernaut (O.scyllarus) who refused it so I broke of both claws and offered 1 each to Maximus & Minnie (G.graphurus) then gave the rest to the Kraken (O.scyllarus) if the legs are still attached after the Kraken is finished I will break them off and offer them to the small inhabitants of STAND A.


MINNIE (G.GRAPHURUS) - Here she is sneaking up on her crab claw at first sheer peers out from the entrance of her cavity and then she darts out the rear side of the rock and goes under it due to the large cave she has excavated beneath it, from here she shot forth towards the claw and swiftly collected it and disappeared beneath her rocky home.



MAXIMUS(G.GRAPHURUS) - The scent of crab meat on the waters sends this guy into a fearless frenzy he was much easier to catch on camera outside of his cavity due to his bold nature he slowly went forth and collected the claw whilst slowly returning to his cavity, I think he needs a bigger home...or longer home.




More to come as it happens

 

[lljdma06]

Kharn, I am very, very sorry for your loss.

L

 

[Kharn]

Kharn, I am very, very sorry for your loss.

L

Thanks for your kind words, I'm still stumped from the event :sad1:

Having said that life must go on and now I hope to strive even harder towards our goal so as he too can be remembered by so many others for what he did to effectively allow all this too happen....

 

[Kharn]

Well my PC took a nose dive ='[ and my operating system became corrupted...effectively what my mate did to save me a lot has now blown back on me....he gave me a "free" copy of Windows 7 Pro & the latest version of Office (this was 1 & 1/2 yrs ago) as noted on the invoice I found through payment (there was no cost or mention of Windows or Office on the invoice indicating illegal copies) at the time I was greatful because those 2 programs are very expensive.....but I had NO CD keys.....

Essentially my PC was wiped and rebuilt with Win 7 Pro that I got from work with a CD key...

Thankfully I kind of premeditated this kind of thing happening mostly because I am not real good with computers...I purchased one of those external hard drives with 4TB of space and bought it a few weeks after getting the actual PC so I stored allllll my pics and vids (now over 400GB worth) onto that so NOTHING of value (footage) was lost!

However I did loose my Video Editor (Avid, which is crap anyway but works for what I need) and my Photoshop 5 Extended Edition...

This major crash effectively happened rite before I was about to do a major update in pics and vids....so I'll be uploading a whole bunch of stuff very soon now that I am back on track .

External Hard Drive already paid for itself !

 

[Kharn]

EVE - G.SMITHII



NICOLE - G.TERNATENSIS


TINTIN - G.TERNATENSIS


ROCKY - G.GRAPHURUS



MEGATRON - G.CHIRAGRA


MINNIE - G.GRAPHURUS



MAXIMUS - G.GRAPHURUS


More to come...

 

[Kharn]

MINOS - L.COLEMANI


THE JUGGERNAUT - O.SCYLLARUS


THE LEVIATHAN - L.MACULATA

 

[Bluemon]

I am deeply sorry for your loss.

 

[Kharn]

I am deeply sorry for your loss.

Thanks for your kind words, these things are just shocking...I been to many funerals where a sick / old person has died and it was all kind of 'premeditated' in a sense that for weeks before it you find out they aren't going to make it...

Shocking when one day the guy you worked side by side with just up and vanishes with no warning no signs nothing...

 

[Kharn]

Video time ...

But first a nice snap shot I got of Megatron (G.chiragra) making his way across the front of his compartment, as I have said in the past, Megatrons compartment is the last in the line of STAND A before water returns to the filter, his compartment fluctuates in water level a lot so there is no DIY PVC burrow, instead he has a very natural compartment practically full of Live Rock (from all the other compartments) and a large cluster of macro algae.



Now for the videos ...all have 1080p HD capability & sound.

EVE - G.SMITHII - Boxing the crab into a corner and then just pounding it out until it submitted...
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tFXs3a14W5s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

NICOLE - G.TERNATENSIS - Tactical and nervous she chased down her crab all about until finally forcing it into submission.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iow8U3v7N7A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TINTIN - G.TERNATENSIS - Due to the crab being quite large I let Tintin gain his confidence with a few punches first, he then swiftly dominated the larger opponent.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cnY7IXaUzhE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

ROCKY - G.GRAPHURUS - For a second there it looks like he lost the crab...note the ending and large dent in the crabs carapace, that orange stuff is brainz ...
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/thUqt8Sh64o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

MAXIMUS - G.GRAPHURUS - The punch from hell...1 shot...1 kill, again note the distinct dent in the middle of the carapace of the crab, heck of a punch!
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VF_IaFl2OYg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

THE KRAKEN - O.SCYLLARUS - Instantly he dove for it and bashed the much smaller crab into oblivion.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KKExYWEXKw0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

THE KRAKEN - O.SCYLLARUS - When matched with a much larger opponent he prefers to sit back and pop off random shots from the safety of his cavity.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iMVrMjVV5mk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

THE JUGGERNAUT - O.SCYLLARUS - Home invasions are never taken kindly and in the end this crab paid the ultimate price...although not caught on camera the crab ceases to exist...
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bH7sH8gmjV0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hope you enjoyed, I know the stomatopods did!

More to come as always..........

 

[Jodah]

awesome vids as always! Perhaps I missed it elsewhere in the thread, but crabs are you feeding them?

 

[Kharn]

awesome vids as always! Perhaps I missed it elsewhere in the thread, but crabs are you feeding them?

A whole bunch of random crabs collected out the front when the tide is low....and I just got a hot tip from someone that lives locally about squid/octopus being quite abundant at night time low tides so I am thinking about doing a bit of a late night search soon hopefully I can snag some of them live for a big of interesting footage .

I really couldn't tell you the species of crabs...

 

[Kharn]

After 2 months of not going netting due to other commitments I finally got down to the water with my cast net and captured a dozen various fish 1 in particular is quite large and I have a distinct feeling that Leviathan is really going to enjoy it seeing as he hasn't tasted live food in a little while...same with Morgoth.

 

[Kharn]

good luck with your build! looking forward to seeing pictures!!

Are you referring to my upgrades ? I assume so..., thanks either way but the filtration for the most part will be hidden on stands directly behind the display stands and matching them in size.