Small Mantis male, need ID!

[Timmy]

Hello, itÃ"šÃ‚´s me again.

I found a new mantis in life rocks from Bali. He is 2.5 cm tall.
First i thought it is a G. viridis, then i take a look at the telson and see that it is a little bit different to G. viridis.
I hope you can help me Dr. Roy

Here are the pics.
Meral spots

Telson

It's a male.

 

[Gonodactylus]

It looks like G. viridis. This species is quite variable. The red tint to the border of the meral spot and the polarized uropod are typical of G. v.

Roy

 

[Timmy]

Thank you Dr. Roy,

now i know that i have a G. viridis male and a female.
Is it possible to keep them together in a tank or is it better to seperate them? I know it's very difficult to keep mantis together, but i wanna try to have babies and rearing them.

I have another G. viridis female and she is in the cavity with some eggs for two weeks.

For that, i have bulid 40 small tanks to seperate the larvae.
I have rotifers, brine shrimp, coppeopods and some Selco's like Selco Plus, Roti Selco Alg.

I hope you can give me some infos!

Thanks
Timmy

 

[Gonodactylus]

G. viridis is a mate-guarding species. When the female is receptive, the male and female will share a cavity until the female spawns. The male then leaves and usually will not try to re-enter the cavity unless he cannot find another one. Sometimes males and females will mate without pairing. Given that females can store sperm for at least three months (but not across a molt), I would mate the pair and then remove the male. One copulation is sufficient for the female to lay fertilized eggs.

Once the eggs hatch (3 weeks), the larvae will remain with the female in her cavity for about a week. They will molt twice. When they molt a third time to the 4th stadial stage, they will be almost out of yolk. Immediately after this molt the larvae will become photo-positive and will leave the cavity. It is easy at this point to attract them to the wall of the aquarium using a flashlight in a darkened room. Suck them up with a turkey baster and keep one per small container. Add food and change the water daily. The larvae will molt four or five more times. After about 3 to 4 weeks depending on temperature, they will be about 7 mm long and will molt to a postlarvae and settle to the bottom. When they reach this size, it is good to have a bit of sand and gravel on the bottom to facilitate settling - but only add the sand at the end.

Good luck.

Roy

 

[Timmy]

Thanks for the infos.
I will report whether it has worked.
One last question. How tall are the larvae when they become photo-positive? I hope bigger than 1 mm, because i have the small tanks in a big tank for better water quality and have some 1mm holes in each small tank. So i can change water quickly and remove old food.

 

[Gonodactylus]

They are around 2-2.5 mm, so you should be O.K.

Roy

 

[goblinsharkman]

Geez Timmy, I must say I love your mantis shrimp