well I am now the humble slave of a mantis! I picked him up last night and after putting the finishing touches on his new home, I acclimated him and in he went. right under the rocks. As always, I was quite worried about my new master. He is about 1.5" long smasher and upon initial inspection appears to be a Gonodactylus chiragra from the pictures on Dr. roy's site. This is actually unfortunate, as I thought he was a wennerea when I saw him at the LFS. His new home is only a ten gallon tank that I'm sure he's cursing me for already! He begged me not to take his picture last night after all his traveling and such(actually he threatened to break my camera). He wanted to look his best for his first internet appearance. after wetting myself, I decided now was a good time to shut off the light and go to bed! As with all my new friends my fiance was already trying to name him last night. such wonderful gems as Manny etc. After already being threatened for trying to take a picture I wasn't about to try to actually name him! I suggested quietly that we may want to wait until he lets us know what he likes to be called, and promptly rolled over and went to sleep hoping that Mr. Mantis sir, would not kill her in the night. For our indiscretions last night, Mr. mantis sir, luckily decided that death was not a good punishment as I had yet to feed him. He rather decided to turn off my alarm clock during the night! I awoke groggily at my appointed time anyway and went to directly to my masters residence. I turned on the light, found him still asleep and went about my morning business. after about five minutes I returned to find him in a MUCH better mood about 3/4 of the way out of his new home. I could see him snickering at the groggy look in my eyes. Seeing his improved mood I went to get the camera hoping he felt more photogenic this morning. When I got back to the tank his snickering had turned into an evil chuckle. He had turned around in his hole and started to kick sand out of two sides of his rock! The ensuing cloud of sand mixed with the microbubbles from the skimmer had turned his tank into a cloudy fog through which my camera could not hope to focus. My eyes could though and I could clearly see him flipping me the raptorial appendage! Hoping to ease his wrath I decided to make an offering of food. On my way out the door to work I dropped in two reef carnivore pellets and a small black turbo snail. Thinking it was a picture bribe, he stayed steadfast as I exited stage left.
Hopefully I will be graced with the opportunity to take his picture this evening and get a positive ID. Maybe he'll even tell me his name, although I'm sure he will still require me to call him "master sir"
this is the image he most resembles on Dr. Roy's list:
Hopefully I will be graced with the opportunity to take his picture this evening and get a positive ID. Maybe he'll even tell me his name, although I'm sure he will still require me to call him "master sir"
this is the image he most resembles on Dr. Roy's list:
