Got my purple spot Mantis today

halamaya

halamaya

Member
Gonodactylus smithii, he's about 2-3 inches and came in good spirits. I'm trying something that may or may not work. I have him in a 3 gallon aquarium. I have set up lots of hides, and I've put in an alien skull instead of pvc pipe. About 6-7 lbs live rock and about 12lbs live sand, (3 inch sand bed.) Hopefully he doesn't bash his way out, it's a plastic tank. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Post pics in the morning when I get to turn the lights on.
Wish me luck, I'll need it.
 
halamaya

halamaya

Member
I didn't get a good pic. I put in three saltwater feeder shrimp (live) and he got 2 of them before I could even see. Made the labyrinth a little bit too well I guess. Saw him snatch one but he was on it before I hade even seen him. well he grabbed all 3 without be getting a pic. There's a hole in the back of this skull also. The last one didn't even know it was being hunted yet.


 
halamaya

halamaya

Member
I should of done more than 3 inches? I was debating I had a 20lb bag of sand, cause it was only 5 more bucks then the 10 lb bag. I put in about 12 lbs. Put the rest into another tank.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
I think he was making a funny.... it's pretty deep in relation to the tank itself.
You definitely need to get some rubble in there for him to move around.... shells, etc. Is he going to be able to close all the holes completely? He needs to be able to do that easily when he molts... they need complete darkness for that.
Mine had different hole clogging decor all the time. It was funny when he used the bivalve shell like a door and opened and closed it.
 
halamaya

halamaya

Member
I got 2 lbs of rubble from the LFS when I bought my LR. Most of it is in my 10 gal waiting for me. I think I need to get a couple smaller pieces. I got lots of hermt shells in my reef tank too. Need to find two not so heavy pieces that he can block the eye holes with. I know what I'm going to look for, I lost a clam awhile ago in my reef; the shells should be the perfect size.

Thanks for the help Cranberry, going to try and get you a worthy picture of him soon. I read that the purple spot display their spot more than other Mantis'. We'll see if this turns out to be true.
 
halamaya

halamaya

Member
I thought 3 more feeder shrimp would keep him occupied for a couple of days. Put them in yesterday and this mornign no more shrimp to be found. Do you think he's eatting them or just killing them?

 
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