Official Wack Thread

rams

rams

ramtheory
This thread is about the history and life of Wack the Mantis. Named by my kids which I think is perfect for what they can do. The story goes I was hanging out with a good friend one day at a LFS. For most of us the perfect place to kill time while the kids were at the in-laws hanging out, and the wife was at work. I was looking thru the coral tanks for eye catching zoas ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œmy favorite past time :Dââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ something caught my eye. Could it be? My friend quickly grabbed up the rock and did a fresh water dip and sure enough there it is a Mantis. Man they are fast and once we got it in a specimen container boy can they jump. Well never thought of having a mantis so a quick stop off at a local pet store which shall not be named. Wackââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s house was purchased a 2.5 gallon aquarium and a whisper ten.

67441wack_the_mantis_5.jpg


Well it was time to pick up the kids and stop by the in-laws. It was a cold night so brought it in. The kids couldnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t put the bag down they were so intrigued by this little guy and my stories of what they do when they get bigger. I told my middle child about how they like to wack at hermit shells and other inverts. So from then on he couldnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t stop calling it Wack. So the name has stuck with me and the kids even though the wife wants to call it Freddie. The funny part about this hobby in my household is anything that moves has a name. Kids, what can I say gotta love em! :D

67441wack_the_mantis_1.JPG
 
Picked up the wife she didnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t say a thing except what is it. The kids couldnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t stop talking about it so I figured no worries. Especially when I break out the tank. When I did I was baffled when she said "Oh" put it on the kitchen counter. Thinking to myself, What! :eek2: Must not of heard that right. :D
Kids went to bed and it was time to setup the tank. Nice thing about having systems already setup and a DSB tank downstairs wackââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s home was up in running within minutes of getting home. Through a couple frags in the tank after some live sand 2.5 gallons of tank water and Wack was home. Well thats my story of how I found Wack. As it gets more daring I hope to snap some better picks. I have Id it from: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthro...acostraca/royslist/species.php?name=g_smithii a Gonodactylus smithii
Wack is about an inch long and smaller than a green bean.

67441wack_residence.JPG


67441wack_the_mantis_3.jpg
 
Well on day two wife fed Wack a silver side with some tweezers. To our surprise once the fish oil was in the water it knew what was up. A whole silver side flashing away and man that little guy was out of its hole taking a look. Within seconds as quick as it could Wack took it's little fish head off. Couldn't tell how it happened but it was quick. Wife was saying Cool so now I am 100% sure Wack is here to stay. :D

finally got the Actinic bulb in for the fixture I purchased with a bad bulb for the Wack Tank. Never thought I would get back into nano tanks. But, hey when you got a good reason to a couple cool frags and an actinic bulb. A mantis tank is even cooler. :thumbsup:

67441wack_tank_shot.JPG


Thanks for taking a look updates to come!
 
I never thought people would keep these in their tanks on purpose. Then I saw your thread last night, and checked out the mantis forum. They are really cool. One day I may even dare, but a lot more research! Good luck with him. he is a real neat little guy.
 
All I can say is I am jealous...a beautiful specimen and so appropriate that our V.P. of Slash has a Mantis. :D
 
Well Steve after purchasing those tiny hermits the other day I threw them right in. I guess it is pretty bad when they are trying to climb the silicone to get out the next morning. :D Well thats nature and Wack is hungry. Wanted to let you know once the lights went out last night. Wack was out doing what a Mantis does best. Was watching a little TV last night before heading to bed. Kids finally went back to sleep after the storms. Was a late night as you could tell from the late posts. Started to hear what I thought was pea size hail on the windows. Got up looked out the front door what the? No rain, no wind, no hail. Started hearing the clicking sound. Oh ya, went over to see what was going on in the wackster tank. Boy, it was going to town couldn't break the shell but if I was that hermit. I would of had one heck of a headache in the morning.

This little shrimp is cool. Let me say they have no fear. :D Was moving some rocks around thinking what the? you should be hiding instead of swiming around. So, out came the tweezers from now on. :lol: After a few moves it was feeding time and boy was it ready. I love how interactive this little booger is. Like I said before, once that fish meat hits the water. This shrimp is out looking around "Whats up!" took a couple more pics tonight. Enjoy. :thumbsup:

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Thanks for the words, Chelsey, Rena, Jack, and Jeremy
Later
rams
 
Man I had wanted a "wack" for myself. But was afraid he would break the glass. I might go with an Arcrylic tank though.

Your Wack is totally cool looking dude!! Wack on man.
 
The wife and I were messing around with Freddie, aka Wack, aka BAMFS last night. It was feeding time so I busted out the camera for an update. I tell ya one of the neatest animals I have tried in this hobby. They are fun to watch, entertaining. Like a Tasmanian Puppy. Very interacting to where the wife and I say to ourselves at least once a week. What the heck is Freddie up to now? The reason for the name change is my wife just got me use to calling it Freddie. She likes the little guy so I can’t complain. We have even talked about updating his digs to a 6 gallon nano cube soon. Cool, it is hard to get away with stuff in this hobby without a complaint. :lol:

Here is a pic for starters more to come…..


Freddie04.jpg
 
Silver tweezers, really this is the only tool I use to interact with Freddie. When the wife decides she is tired of looking at all the different algae that grow in the tank. Freddie lets the tweezers have it. Smacking them as fast as it can making a tink sound. It is really comical how it likes the algae. Because really any other time the tweezers are in the tank it could care less. When you start plucking away Freddie goes nuts.

I like the algae especially after talking with capo and his experience with his. When the algae started covering the tank the mantis became more adventuresses leaving the rock it calls home.

I mainly feed Freddie pieces of silver side which they go nuts for.
Freddie08.jpg


Freddie09.jpg
 
Haha! Freddie is AWESOME! Glad to see you got some updated pics of him :) How big is he now?
 
nuevo casa ante freddie

nuevo casa ante freddie

I didn't realize till I just pulled up this old thread how big the little guy has gotten. Wow, like lookin at old photos of your dog when they were that cute and fun little pup. Now they just look at you anytime your in the room like they are so bored. Well its been a year since I spotted the little smasher. I told myself if the family accepted it as a pet and it lived past a year. I would update it's digs. Well Freddie aka Wack has just moved in to like a bachelor pad compared to the old casa. These little guys have so much character. When I placed the rock it utilizes as it's lair in the new tank. It was pretty cool how it reacted. I knocked with tweezers on it's door which is a shell it wedges in place at the entrance of the rock lair. After a few seconds of removing the shell and other junk they collect to seal off the hole. Fred popped it's head out of the rock. It took hours for it to come out and explorer. Popping it's head in and out of the rock like a gopher each eye looking around different ways in a 360s. If a mantis had an expression it was sure looking like what the heck. Well here are some updated pics of our family pet Freddie. Thanks for looking :thumbsup:


nuevo casa
Fred_00.jpg
 
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