Where to Buy Mantis Shrimp Online

purdueav8r

purdueav8r

New member
Hi everybody. I've been lurking in the mantis shrimp forum for close to 5 years now & am hoping to be starting up my tank sometime this year (finally.) I have noticed that a ton of people seem to ask over & over again where they can buy mantis shrimp online.

I've been keeping a list of places & the species I've seen for sale there. I'm sure this list is far from comprehensive or complete, & I'm sure that the various sites have on occasion offered for sale more species than I've listed, but I thought it might be helpful to post a list of places people can order stomatodpods online.

If you guys have other websites you know of to add, please do so! I know I ocasionally find O. scyllarus for sale in my LFS, but I've never seen another species besides that one locally, & it's not one I'm inclined to purchase so I'll likely be making my eventual purchase online. Other folks might be in the same position as I am... So, without further ado, the list:

http://www.tbsaltwater.com/ordering/pricelist.html
N. wennerae

http://aquarium-fish.liveaquaria.com/search?p=Q&lbc=liveaquaria&uid=444165833&ts=custom&w=mantis shrimp&af=cat1:marineinverts&isort=score&method=and&ts=results
O. scyllarus
Lime Green Mantis Shrimp (Gonodactylaceus spp., no specific species given, assorted by description)


http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productlist.asp?did=2&cid=84

L. maculata
G. ternatensis
G. viridis
O. scyllarus
G. smithii
G. chiraga


http://www.ibluewater.com/invertebrates.html

G. chiraga
O. scyllarus
L. maculata


http://www.fishsupplyunderwater.com/coral---inverts-shrimp-mantis-shrimp.html
O. scyllarus


https://www.marinesgardens.com/index.php?cPath=3_58&osCsid=3150f27c3eeab5d565a94fcfa413fa86

P. ciliata
G. falcatus
O. scyllarus

http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/index.php?cPath=31

P. ciliata
N. curacaoensis
N. oerstedii
O. havanensis

http://www.bluestaraqua.com/Shrimp-Crab-Etc/View-all-products.html

O. scyllarus

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/cat/infoL3/24198/category.web

O. scyllarus
G. smithii
G. chiraga
G. glabrous/graphurus

http://phishybusiness.com/peacock-mantis-shrimp.html

O. scyllarus
 
alot of what you have listed is not acurate, these sites have the animals listed on their site but they are not in stock and have not been for months, i called one of them to ask about the mintises and an hour later they wer all listed as out of stock on the site, presonaly i belive they list them on the site just so they come up in the search results of someone searching for a mantis in hopes that youl buy somthing else from them. the old bait and switch.
 
it might be better to list only what you know is in stock and request that anyone making additions include a date and posibly update the post if they find out that it's been sold.
this would be helpfull to anyone looking for a specific species and save them time sifting through the sites with nothing in stock
 
he also said where to buy not where is in stock..so this is great help cause you never know who will have some or not..
 
The idea was more like what gozermantis said... General ideas about where to look, even if not in stock. People can see what's in stock at that exact moment in time & can possibly sign up for notification emails when their preferred species is in stock again. I guess I was thinking that if a site has had a species in stock at one point in time, they will possibly have the ability to obtain it again.

I know I've not had much look looking in my local LFS's. They tend to have nothing but Peacocks (if they have any at all), & that's not really a species I'm interested in acquiring. So, most likely my mantis will be coming from an online source. I thought others might appreciate a list of places where they could check availability. It's a place to start, at least. If your guys' LFS's are anything like mine, asking for a mantis, much less a specific species, isn't likely to get you very far.

And I'm a she. :)
 
I did search & found nothing like my post. I was just trying to be helpful. I'm very sorry, I apologize. I wish I could delete the thread, sorry for the clutter.
 
huh, been away from RC for a while, but seems more and more posts have become people being unnecessarily dickish... Thanks to the original poster, I remember having to look for quite some time when I was in the market for a mantis, i'm sure this'll help someone.
 
Hey Bluemon..just noticed your sig. You have pics of those pico setups? I'd love to chk them out...tricky lil thing youre trying to pull off in such small tanks.
 
I do agree, maybe we should consider a sticky for one of these. I dont think it was a dick move either, and I seem to remember answering this question a couple times myself.

It isnt bad to list the sites & let the buyer actually do some leg work to the sites or make some phone calls. We cant always tell who has what in stock & in some cases mantis are even seasonal in collection. Expecting a member here to keep track of what is in stock where is like expecting one of us to come over & take care of the tank too.
 
I made the post about 2 weeks ago. I don't mind a second, this one is much fuller than mine was as well.

We should get this stickied.

Also, I asked a mod about posting links to websites that weren't sponsors, and he never said I couldn't nor did he close my thread so I don't think it's a problem.
 
khowst said:
It isnt bad to list the sites & let the buyer actually do some leg work to the sites or make some phone calls. We cant always tell who has what in stock & in some cases mantis are even seasonal in collection. Expecting a member here to keep track of what is in stock where is like expecting one of us to come over & take care of the tank too.
Click to expand...

given stocking lists change daily i would think it would be kinda idiotic to put new posts daily on who has what in stock.....the heads up when something odd pops up somewhere is great though.....if someone is grumbling cause the list has ppl that dont have them in stock all the time and you have to sift through all the sites to find something maybe that person should rethink getting into saltwater tanks....if that lil bit of legwork/homework is to trying for you than your gonna fail miserably with a saltwater tank cause your gonna get bored with it cause its to much work........
 
Thank you for this! While I'm not currently in the market, it's nice to see some new websites I hadn't previously found. I do find it strange though that there are not more sites and even local places that deal with Mantis Shrimp. I find them to be amazingly interesting. Guess we're all a "niche" group eh?
 
Yeah mantis are a bit of a niche group.

Alot of the cool points mantis lose is from the bad rep that bad people give them.

We've all seen it 'omg there was a mantis in my live rock & it killed everything in my tank..... even ate the magnet algae cleaner! I know my 400ppm nitrates didnt do it, it could only be a mantis!'

That and the ever popular 'dont buy a mantis, they will crack a 600gal glass tank.'

Bad part is the few of us that actually enjoy them know the contrary and that they can in fact be one of the most interesting tank occupants in the hobby.
 
Yeah, I seem to have the problem of everything I like in this hobby is the rare, or "niche" stuff. Such as the goby shrimp combos, etc. Such is life. lol.

I've never understood the "zomg it can breakz ze glass!!"

My only problem would be I would want at the very least Zoa's in the tank. We all know where that leads...
 
rattler_mt said:
given stocking lists change daily i would think it would be kinda idiotic to put new posts daily on who has what in stock.....the heads up when something odd pops up somewhere is great though.....if someone is grumbling cause the list has ppl that dont have them in stock all the time and you have to sift through all the sites to find something maybe that person should rethink getting into saltwater tanks....if that lil bit of legwork/homework is to trying for you than your gonna fail miserably with a saltwater tank cause your gonna get bored with it cause its to much work........
Click to expand...

i'd say whats idiotic is making a statment like that about somone you don't even know and who's experience level you have no clue about.
claiming that someone will fail misserably becouse of one opinion that differs from yours shows a huge amount of ignorance and arogance if you ask me.
i've been in this hobby for 30+ years and all my current equipment is bought and paid for by the frags i sell and the peapole who buy from me say i have the nicest tanks theyv ever seen, i'm not about to rethink it now
 
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