spearers

kul976

New member
are all mantis of the spearer variety burrowers?
i'm really interested in keeping them but i see no point if
all they do is make a burrow in the mud and hide in it all day.
even though i don't see my OS that often.. at least he pokes his
head out and wanders around the tank somewhat..
 
No, there are a few spearers that live in cavities, but in general they are more secretive than are the burrowers. They are also hard to come by.

The fact is that burrowing is not the sole determinant of how much time an animal spends in the open. Pseudosquilla ciliata digs a u-shaped shallow burrow, but is the animal your are most like to seen out and about on most reef flats. They are usually well camoflauged and often go 20 meters or more away from their burrow to find food and mates. This is a species that I often recommend as a good aquarium animal. They are tough, change color to match their background, and will be seen cruising the tank. On the other hand, they will take small fish. They will also take small gonodactylids.

To continue on with the burrowing theme, one of the most common aquarium stomatopods is Odontodactylus scyllarus. In the field it lives in burrows on open rubble flats, yet it is often seen long distances from its burrow. The same is true of the temperate water Hemisquilla ensigera. I have followed them over a 100 m from their burrow. We frequently monitor foraging activity using underwater video and the three species that I just mentioned all make several long trips away from their burrow each day.

On the flip side, their are animals such as Echinosquilla that live only in solid rock or coral and which I have nerer seen out of their burrow. I suppose they come out once in a while to mate, but that is about it.

If you want a spearer that moves around the tank alot, I would recommend getting a Pseudosquilla ciliata.

Roy
 
I own a P ciliata and it's a really cool animal. Very different from o scyllarus. More feline and direct. More coordinated somehow. She comes out and roams around daily and once in a while I toss in a gold fish to watch her do her spear thang and its pretty awsome. Good thing is, they're fairly common so you may be able to find one. You may see L maculata or 'Tiger mantis' in the lfs sometime but steer clear. They come in from Hawaii and make boring aquarium pets.
 
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