Recieved my first Mantis today :-D

[Theo A]

Pictures are coming, as soon as I see him out.

Tank is a 7 gallon AGA bow. hob pengiun filter and a 9watt bulb.
I've got about 10lbs of rock in there. I buried a pice of PVC with 45 deg ends under the rock for a "home", he will prolly throw it out of the tank, but I figured I'd try.

I'm excited!!!

 

[ReefMagic]

Where did you get him from, any idea what kind of mantis he/she is?

 

[Theo A]

TBS

Told me it was a spearer-darker green/drab olive color, with some orange leg parts.
He dissapeared into the rock yesterday and hasn't moved, so no pics yet.

 

[ReefMagic]

TBS, its not a spearer, its a Neogonodactylus Wennerae most likely. I go there to get LR, and they constantly have about 10 there all in seperate tanks.

Don't always believe them, My LFS tried to tell me that peacock mantis' were spearers. And I just sat there and nodded telling myself " idiot :nonono:

 

[Theo A]

is this good? Bad?

Are there some manti's (manti?) that are "better" than others?

 

[brekurboy1]

No mantis is better than another . . . it's just that certain mantis shrimp are more disirable for coloring or behavior. Usually spearers require a very deep sand bed to build their burrows and they don;t bash things open. People seem to enjoy seeing the bashing

Also I'm not a big fan of TBS ever since they basically ignored all my e-mails then they were rude to me when I asked about their mantis shrimp. Basically what happened was I asked them questions they couldn;t answer. Anyway. yeah if you got it from them I would say almost certainly that the shrimp is a basher specifically N. Wennerae. It is a rarity that they would get spearers.

 

[drock59]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=331687

Im no expert but im getting more and more interested in mantis shrimp and i thought this thread and the article inside are very helpful. i beleive that the spearers are most often not found on live rock but in the sand as brekurboy stated.

 

[liverock]

Rude?

Rude?

No mantis is better than another . . . it's just that certain mantis shrimp are more disirable for coloring or behavior. Usually spearers require a very deep sand bed to build their burrows and they don;t bash things open. People seem to enjoy seeing the bashing

Also I'm not a big fan of TBS ever since they basically ignored all my e-mails then they were rude to me when I asked about their mantis shrimp. Basically what happened was I asked them questions they couldn;t answer. Anyway. yeah if you got it from them I would say almost certainly that the shrimp is a basher specifically N. Wennerae. It is a rarity that they would get spearers.

I pointed you here and to Roy Caldwell as they are the experts on our mantis. We are live rock farmers, not scientists!

There is much more info here than I could ever give you, sorry you got the wrong impression!

TBS is Mark and I.....when I get an email like yours I send you where the answers are!

Thanks
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com

PS
Try answering 300 emails a day, pack orders, and answer a phone that never stops ringing....get my drift?

 

[Theo A]

Stupid light died on my tank today, so I couldn't get a picture.

Wondering what he might be eating. A snail dropped down his hole yesterday, saw it cracked open but not really eaten this AM. Also yesterday he shored up his hole, and dissapeared for the day. I havn't seen a molt, but he's back out today looking around.
I did dose iodine yesterday. He doesn't look any brighter, any way to tell if he molted or not???

What about food?

 

[crafty_50mitchell]

you might be a little too eager too see a molt. Ive got a n.wennerae also (which by the way I agree with the others notion that you have on also). He is probably either busy digging his tunnel system, or just getting used to his new environment. I can tell you also that n.wennerae (and most if not all mantis shrimps are diurnal (spelling guys?) which means time periods of 'outside' food hunting general activity in the morning and one in the afternoon (of coarse all relative to when you have your lighting set. I would suggest feeding yours a piece of krill every other day or similiar food so that you can try to keep your tank clean by maintaining some sort of snail population. Keep in mind that just because you see an emty shell does not necessarily mean that the snail is all eaten, mantis shrimp will stow leftovers which could potentially cause a nasty ammonia spike in your tank (especially in a smaller system this is more detremental and can come quickly). Ok thats my two or three cents, Im very new at keeping a stomotopod also, just have been doing as much research into their fascinating behavior and biology as I can get away with.
Cheers,
Brian