cAPTURED mANTIS pIC

[holloway]

I was successful in capturing one of my mantis shrimp. Fortunately, I heard the clicking sound and was looking in the right spot at the right time (AFTER WEEKS OF SEARCHING) and saw his little face peaking out of my mushrooms. A week later I saw him out nearly all the way. I removed the rock covered in mushrooms and placed it in wet newspaper. He crawled out in a matter of minutes - 10 to be exact. He's about 2" long. I don't want to kill it. I'll probably take it to the LFS. Any idea what kind it may be?

 

[polarpooch]

Neat! Do you have a refugium you can throw him in ...or a little tank? I kept a peacock in a 5g eclipse--he was really cool!

 

[holloway]

I have a 30 gal hex OT tank with crushed coral in it. I also have 2 black mollies in there. Not to sound morbid but I got the mollies to cycle the tank about 6 weeks ago. And I'm not too concerned if they get caught by the jaws of death. Letting him live there would delete the purpose of having a QT tank. But I would like to get a nice Peacock too. I wonder if they could co exist? Do you think they can live in a tank with crushed coral substrate? Nitrates are at 10.

 

[polarpooch]

I'll bet they don't coexist well. Crushed coral is fine for them. My mantis lived fine in crushed coral.
I set up a little Eclipse Hex 5 for mine...you can get the generic version by "Regal" at Walmart for $30 (Marineland sells theirs for about $60 to 80). They are all acrylic and very low maintenance.
When the mantis died, I used it for a jawfish tank. Now my evil purple lobster is in it. When he goes, I think I'll get another mantis for it.
These little tanks are pretty cool, let me tell you!
Just my opinion!

 

[fin follower ed]

mantis for the most part need to be kept alone. Aside from mating parnters they will kill ANYTHING in the tank with them, and eventualy their mate too. The 30 would be an awesome mantis liar. They prefer sand because they dig a tunnle in their cave. They also like a lot of LR and some rock rubble that they can move around.
ED

 

[calem]

k what u found it in there or u just like put it in there and couldnt see it for a wile and wannatake it back or whats the situation on this ?

 

[holloway]

I set my tank up last June 03. About a month ago I heard the clicking sound so eventually I was able to spot him and where I believed he was hiding/living. I removed the rock, he crawled out and now I have him in a 30 gal qt tank where I plan to keep him. Problem is finding inexpensive live food to feed him. He's on the smaller side so I tried live blood worms. Hopefully he'll eat. I never see him.