My Ultimate Multi Mantis System(s)

[Islandoftiki]

Picture Update
Also there was a bit of a "molt fest" recently with nigh on every crew member under going the rigorous task, all came out alive and some have grown since last being seen.

Isn't that interesting. My O. Scyllarus molted last week, immediately followed by my G. Ternatensis who just came out of molt today.

What regulates molt cycles?

 

[Kharn]

I think it is a few things but I know of what that I am mostly certain on.

Food Intake - The more food the animal takes in the shorter the period between molts, slower growth.

Lunar Cycles - Read that either on hear or some where on the net but I am not 110% on it, I don't think anyone knows EXACTLY what makes them molt.

Chain Reactions - When 1 molts others will usually begin to do so as well specifically if in the same system(s) like when 1 of my STAND B species molts basically the rest follow suit.

 

[Kharn]

The Juggernaut's New Home...is nearly complete!


Over the past couple of weeks I have very slowly made progress with this large PVC burrow system but today I finally came to the point where I am happy with how it looks (minus a few very small touch ups here n there).






After a quick touch up the whole thing will go out into the sun to bake for a good day and then into the Live Food Tank to cure and let loose bits and loose glue come off, initially the first couple days of 'curing' creates a large slimy stringy substance that comes off the DIY burrow however it has proven to be totally harmless as nothing has ever shown signs of illness, once this loose glue has disappeared it will be good for it's permanent resting place in Juggernauts tank.

The bottom portion where there is basically no substrate and glue on the PVC is all going to be buried within the substrate so I saw no reason to waste glue, substrate & effort on this area, also due to the size of this structure it needs to be assembled inside the aquarium, so the zip ties need to be cut off then reapplied in side the tank.

More to come

 

[zogg513]

WOAH WOAH WOAH. Loving the Game of Thrones references!

 

[Kharn]

WOAH WOAH WOAH. Loving the Game of Thrones references!

Finally :fun4:

 

[Kharn]

Got a few nice pics of Juggy to share, now that Juggy has recovered from the recent molt the large O.scyllarus has once again begun to frequently forage out of the cavity and in plain view of the camera.

Take note of the current burrow that Juggy has and the much larger and more elaborate one that is about to come...(in above images).





To test Juggy after the molt (having waited about 2weeks already) I placed a large hand sized crab into the tank as well and...things went as they usually do when a large Stomatopod faces off against a crab...

More to come inc. footage

 

[uny2bld]

Followed this over from the Shrimp Forum

That last pic is awesome!

 

[Kharn]

They are all amazing pics too me I took maybe 30+ pics of the Juggernaut of all of them those 3 were the only good ones

 

[Kharn]

Your pics are really sick!

Thanks :rollface: really can't wait to get these new filtration systems running so I can upgrade the O.scyllarus tanks (specifically my largest specimens tank). I'm keen to see how the larger O.scyllarus goes with my DIY burrow (which all other species have so far loved).

The O.scyllarus in the picture is to get the PVC DIY burrow that I recently posted pictures of and it's almooost done :fun4:

 

[Kharn]

They return to the amateur film making world as I am more keen then ever to expand my knowledge and skill on film making, really keen on learning how to get motion footage into other videos...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/caMpy9GJ3Zo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hope you enjoyed

 

[Kharn]

Short Special on Juggy (O.scyllarus) my largest Smasher, take note of that last 'pummel' and the damage it did O_O...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/peoAfyJW850" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hope you enjoy! :lol:

 

[Kharn]

Here are a few random shots I took the other day

Morgoth (L.sulcata)
Been a while since he has seen some action but very soon the spearers will rise from their burrows in yet another massacre, my brother and I plan on going for some live prey tomorrow after work .


'Box' Crab
What Stomatopod could cause such devastation to a crab much larger then my fist...that is some serious damage something the crab under went in mere seconds...there is one that could...


The Juggernaut (O.scyllarus)
Only he could cause the damage above in such short time, only he could possibly break one of my aquariums and it is only this 1 that I fear far above all others, the power and lack of fear makes it a very nervous creature to put ones hand in the tank with...


The Juggernaut (O.scyllarus)
I love the Telson it's such a beautiful piece of work, I think I read or heard somewhere that a possible reason for the Stomatopods having such vivid coloration might be due to their intense eye sight.


Torch Coral
Times are tough for corals like LPS, the systems just aren't coping with coral life aside the mushrooms, with the very very soon to be added major upgrade I hope to literally change all this and give the corals, stomatopods & systems themselves overall FAR healthier, all I need is 3 HOB Overflows done by Jeff @ LifeReef (quality is insanity that's why I buy from half way around the world).


Well more to come as usual

 

[Kharn]

Remember that flathead from a while back, the aussie one I posted a pic of it's face sticking out of the sand...it's safe to say that when I saw it's head once again sticking out of the sand (but this time in the Leviathans compartment) I knew that there was going to be NOTHING else but that head...


These 2 creatures (L.maculata & Flatheads) would actually come across each other quite often in the wild since they both frequently habit the same areas...sandy/muddy banks with nothing else really about.

 

[Kharn]

My missus, brother & I all went down for a netting this arvo after work and caught a bundle of things, trevally, whiting, mullet, scats & bream. It was a good haul much like the crab one a few days ago, however today when I released all the live fish into their tank, I forgot about the very large crabs I have in their intended for the Juggernaut.

Instantly there was chaos as a large mud crab first rose from the sand and grabbed hold of a whiting, the fish luckily escaped and I quickly scooped up the crab and removed it to another safe compartment in the system. Then the large box crabs came out and they to went straight for fish, one of the trevally was caught and crushed instantly then consumed, I swiftly removed all the large box crabs.

Finally the sand crab came out (before this the sandy was fighting off the muddy and boxes but was itself to fast for them), I have left the sand crab with the fish mostly because the crab itself is 50% disarmed because of the Juggernaut smashing off (completely) one of the 2 pincers on 1 of the 2 claws making that claw useless for grabbing, it is trying to get things irregardless.

I'm about to offer the Mullet to Minos (L.colemani) the Leviathan is yet to show himself since consuming that Flathead.

 

[Kharn]

Well I looked at the lone mullet I captured and thought that it might just be a little too large for Minos so I inevitably chose against it (although I started to regret it when I noticed how keen he was for the fish I did give him...).

The little Trevally didn't last long and this time I decided to record it in HD 1080p instead of HS making it much less stressful on me worrying whether I will miss the strike or not .

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/gWD4D2wpVtY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

So the only logical choice for the mullet now is the only spearer who has yet to have tasted fish (in almost a month)...he is starving and it's about time he gets his share of the nutrients, obviously Morgoth hasn't been seen for sometime in a video but that is about to change :rollface:...

 

[Kharn]

Well Morgoth proved to shy for the mullet last night and rather then just cave in and offer something smaller, I denied him food altogether, I am next to positive that tonight he will take the mullet.

Today my brother and I went for another cast mostly because the weather was so good today, even though it was raining yesterday whilst we fished, we still caught over a dozen fish. However today was another event altogether....

This time there was much more fish at least 2-3 dozen along with 3 large sand crabs each sandy was caught in the cast net 1 after the other...which made us laugh a bit seeing as we were casting into mud not sand.

All in all the live food system is now well and truly choc full, overstocked easily but well none of these fish will live much longer due to the spearers.

FTS


Mullet


Glassy


"Trevally"


Whiting


Bream


Scat


Sand Crab


Sometimes (due to reasons beyond my knowledge) a fish will perish in the live food tank, whether it was injured during capture, injured in the live food tank, sick/illness, or just stress from over crowding. Either way NOTHING goes to waste...nutrients for the stomatopods is also nutrients for their food such as the crabs, this afternoon I found a whiting dead in the live food tank with its tail partially consumed by the smaller crabs in that tank, I swiftly removed the corpse and placed it into the large aggressive crab tank, where a box crab grabbed it before it got a chance to hit the bottom, it's surprising to see how fast a crab can consume a large body of food.


As you can see every stomatopod is covered with the choice of live food, from small smashers to large spearer.

I'll be busy tonight :lol2: more to come....MUCH more

 

[Maleci]

Nice man. Wish I could find some of the less common species. I'd love some of the less common spearers and maybe a mud based species.

 

[Kharn]

Nice man. Wish I could find some of the less common species. I'd love some of the less common spearers and maybe a mud based species.

It's just a sheer matter of luck since all 3 of mine were lucky...

Morgoth (L.sulcata) I thought was an L.maculata and purchased under that name.

Zuzu (Mutant G.smithii Strain) I knew was unique upon purchase but I didn't know just how rare until I heard from Dr. Caldwell, again that was just a lucky find from a random wanting to get rid of a stomatopod he'd found in his tank.

Minos (L.colemani) I thought he was just "some different lysiosquillid" however after I got him home and took close up photos (specifically of his wide set eyes and twin pair of horns) I found out how rare he is, perhaps the rarest just because it's never been recorded anywhere in the world besides the South Eastern most coast of QLD and North Eastern most coast of NSW (basically the border).

So basically it's all just dumb luck :beachbum:

 

[Kharn]

Speaking of Minos I just captured 3 great clips of him hunting another fish, this spearers appetite is incredible!

They are all in High Speed and the first one shows him exiting the burrow to stalk the fish, before flipping to return to his burrow. The following is him striking the fish but missing and (for the first time that I have ever witnessed) spearing his own dactyl ...for a good 30seconds he struggled to pull himself free...of himself, lol. Eventually he popped back up with his appendages sitting normally and both tips still in tact. Finally on the 3rd strike he nailed the fish rite on the button, or rather, the eye ball .

Footage inc.

 

[Maleci]

Sweet! Yeah I think I'm going to take some trips before the summer is out here. FL you only need a fishing license to collect most fish/inverts so might try to get L. glabriuscula and trying to collect a C. dubia talking with different wildlife agencies on the east coast to see where I could legally collect one without TONS of paperwork. Might actually look for a job in FL purely to be closer to a beach for collection. Can't wait to see the new videos