Sleeping Mantis in a ball...Tank pic too

[Winged Ocean]

I thought this was a cute picture of my newly acquired mantis. I happened to get this picture during the night when I was changing light fixtures (yeah, I had a brainstorm in the middle of the night and had to act on it, and annoy my shrimp for a minute. LOL..ever have those moments?)
Anyway, as you can see, it is upside down and rolled up in a ball sleeping in this small hole. It has moved to several different holes in the past few days I have had it. Not sure if this is normal or if it is trying out locations before signing the lease to one nice place with a good view.
And here is its new home.

This is a 5gl acrylic tank. It has one piece of live rock, and a piece of base rock that I had stashed away in the closet waiting for a reason to be used. It has great holes running through it and has a cave formation at the bottom. Worked out great for a mantis tank.
This tank was purchased at WalMart, but is a poorly designed tank for cleaning. I will have to look into ways of cleaning the acrylic with a magnet scraper of some sort so as my little mantis can't get me.
I haven't identified him yet, but now with the much improved lighting I will be able to get better pics to post for an ID if I can figure it out for myself.
Hope you like. Thanks for looking.

 

[Gonodactylus]

One correction. This posture is actually a defensive position that N. wennerae use to defend themselves. The armored tail is used as a shied while they are still free to strike.

Roy

 

[Winged Ocean]

Oh ok. Hmm, only thing he has to be defensive about is a hermit crab. LOL..I still thinks it cute though the way he was laying there.

 

[Winged Ocean]

Roy, after you making me aware that this is a defensive posture I began to watch the mantis and noticed that yes, everytime he became spooked it would back into a rock and ball up.
He's seems quite edgy. I hope he will come to relax and enjoy his new home.

 

[Agu]

Winged Ocean,

My N. Wennerae is in the same tank, got mine used for $10 before I knew Wally World carried them. Yes they're a pita to clean. Being acrylic (plasic ?) I'm not sure what magnet cleaner to use.


Relaced the regular bulb with an All Glass 10w 6500K PC. I also have a flower anemone, zooanthids, two large turbos,and Florida Ricordia in the tank.

Agu

 

[Winged Ocean]

After I purchased this tank, I realized the hood doesn't come off except for the light fixture. Well, too lazy to go back to the store and return it, I kept it. It looks nice atleast. I couldn't understand the company making a tank like this because even freshwater tanks need to be scraped of algae on the glass. This design makes it extrememly difficult.
I might throw a large turbo in there to see if it can maintain the algae growth, and if not, look into a magnet scaper for acrylics.