Yet another mantis to add to my crew!

[Kharn]

isnt it better to remove the skin of infected areas?

so that the mantis wont eat it?

I've never heard of that before, either way I removed what I could and got something more then I bargained for =) one of its dactyls!

Arm of the New Peacock its nearly 2inchs long closed, As large as some of my other stomatopods, bigger completely then 1 of my others (small G.smithii)


The Hammer extended.


The Spike exposed.


Damage on the part of the hammer that makes contact with the intended target, notice the red exoskeleton is gone exposing the layer below it, almost light a peanut.


By the looks of the arm specifically the tip that makes contact during a smashing action, it seems that this peacock was well due for a molt.

 

[Kharn]

A couple more pieces of shell that I managed to collect.





The mandibles are much longer then I thought.




More to come =)

 

[Kharn]

An interesting thing happened last night something that I have yet to witness before but, this peacock took a LONG TIME to fully complete its molt, it only looks to of just finished this morning making it last over 24hours total, whether it got half way through it and stopped to recoup or something else is beyond me but either way I awoke to see even more shell in its container, from the distance I had thought the worst thinking that it died but it was just its shell it really good condition (by that I mean basically 1 piece).

So the Juggernaut lives to fight another day!

Legs of the Juggernaut.


Swimmerets of the Juggernaut.


The Juggernauts old Abdomen.


The Juggernauts old Telson + Abdomen.



The Juggernauts old Telson + Abdomen + Carapace.


Shell Rot on the Abdomen.


Shell Rot on the Telson (more advanced).


Soon (hopefully today) Morgoth & Leviathan will be OUT of the temp tank and into there final resting places in STAND C that way I can release Juggernaut and give it full open space of the Temp Tank till STAND B is ready (next weekend hopefully).

More to come

 

[TundraGuy]

Ok that's just amazing. Did you put it back in for him ho eat it?

 

[Kharn]

Ok that's just amazing. Did you put it back in for him ho eat it?

No I did not, it didn't seem interested in wanting to eat it and it had already been in there for a few hours also now that it is out and on my table who knows what has been over it (in the air) so I don't want to risk contamination.

 

[Kharn]

Finally got Morgoth out of his half of the Temp Tank which meant that I could now release the Juggernaut from its confines and allow it MUCH more space, so far its digging about in the sand.

The Juggernaut!






Started to dig here



More to come =)

 

[Kharn]

You can see from the last 2 images kind of that the shell rot that was once on the Juggernauts Telson has receded quite a bit but still looks to be there maybe a couple more molts and it will all be gone =)

 

[TundraGuy]

Too cool. How's the other peacock? Is it still in the jail cell?

 

[Kharn]

Too cool. How's the other peacock? Is it still in the jail cell?

Yes, the Kraken is still in its cell but not to stop it killing things, to (hopefully) stop the Juggernaut trying to kill it, lol but its been in there for a couple weeks now with no ill effects and I am easily able to feed it.

Either way! :spin3:

All stomatopods will be in there own individual unique homes this coming weekend.

There long journey is almost over and they can breath easy as they no longer have to interlock eyes with each other! Basically all the stomatopods in the sump can see each other but are protected via plastic containers (as shown when Rocky punched out of his....) these keep them...for the most part (rocky lol) safe from each other but they still "spar" charging the plastic at the same time and striking/rebounding off it harmlessly, however I can imagine the stress of it all since all they want to do is fight.

Once they get there own (much larger) space they should become more inquisitive rather then on guard all the time.

I will slowly add things to the stands over time like I intend to add Reactors to help keep the algae down in each stand along with the HOB overflows getting done by LifeReef so I can get rid of the PolyPipe and get a solid 110% overflow system happening rather then get paranoid over blockages etc.

You have been a good follower (not saying others haven't) but you seem to post what you think rather then admire without public comment, its been a great support to my self esteem, so thanks :wave:

Stay tuned, more to come as it happens!

 

[Kharn]

People should remember or know that I only got into stomatopods in October last year and prior to that I hadn't kept a fish tank in 10yrs let alone a saltwater one (my first saltwater tank was a complete fail back when I was 14 lol...which scared me enough to not go back till Oct last year lol). This is how far I have come (far more then any other project I have done, specially for an aquarium) in such a short time with a creature that I MAY SEEM to know a lot about but everyday/time I see them I notice different/new things.

 

[TundraGuy]

Yea and I smell good to.
Soon the drains really got you paranoid? I figured this would happen. Can't drill them for a second hole one tank at a time you should not be shocking the cycle to bad just stage the drilling project out over a 2 week period one tank per stand per week. Cheaper the hang ons. The staber systems off limits with the per amount of sand in them.

 

[Kharn]

Yea and I smell good to.
Soon the drains really got you paranoid? I figured this would happen. Can't drill them for a second hole one tank at a time you should not be shocking the cycle to bad just stage the drilling project out over a 2 week period one tank per stand per week. Cheaper the hang ons. The staber systems off limits with the per amount of sand in them.

I am just going to do what I am 110% confident with basically get a bunch of HOB overflows made specifically to my needs done by LifeReef, there not going to be as large (inner box) as my current one, about half the size of my current one (and the inner box is going to be BLACK to match the sides and rear rather then clear).

More then confident with the HOB overflows done by LifeReef as I have run one since oct last year with 0 problems! But for the mean time those foot valves should do the trick.

 

[TundraGuy]

I am with you 100% on this idea. But the overflows are going to generate bubbles. How will you take care of this? How about some hang on cheap fuges modified as bubble traps the returns on these could be made like flat slides to direct flow from the drains into the tank. Bam someone's mind just got blown! More money but worth not having bubbles

 

[Kharn]

I am with you 100% on this idea. But the overflows are going to generate bubbles. How will you take care of this? How about some hang on cheap fuges modified as bubble traps the returns on these could be made like flat slides to direct flow from the drains into the tank. Bam someone's mind just got blown! More money but worth not having bubbles

Haven't decided on this yet but one thing that I can do is add to the output end of the Overflow a slide in the tube itself, basically taking one of the Deltec HOB skimmer slides and sticking it in the end of the pipe, those slides are designed for exactly what your talking about and I am 110% positive you can buy them alone just got to search!

I recon I'll try that before anything else since its very simple.