Mantis quest

mr_bill

Active Member
I found this funny, and I've removed the foul language. Hope you all enjoy as much as I did.

Hello, dammit.
About six-months ago, I walked into the local gym and overheard two fellows having a discussion about something that they kept referring to (albeit in hushed and overawed tones) as "Shrimp Louie." It was a relatively short conversation and went something like this:
"Shrimp Louie, man...he F***ING ROCKS, dude."
"Way, dude."
"Did you see him whack that fish, bro? He slew it, dude. It was E-V-I-L."
"Way, dude."
"And the way he F***ING looks at you, dude. It's like he knows something you don't...know what I'm saying, bro?"
"Way, dude."
"Dude, he F***ING CHOPPED TODD IN THE FINGER, DUDE! DID YOU SEE HIS F***ING FINGER?!?"
"Dude, I saw it. It was tore up, dude."
"The shrimp is evil, dude."
"Way."
Obviously, after listening in to a verbal tête-à-tête of this rare calibre, my curiosity was thoroughly piqued.
I walked over, introduced myself, and asked them what in the hell they could possibly be talking about. After a short introduction, they proceeded to tell me their story, with awed tones and fascinated gleams in their eyes.
To make a painfully long story quite a bit shorter, “Shrimp Louie” is not a shrimp at all, but rather a stomatopod (fancy term for one mean, mean sea creature that only vaguely resembles a shrimp at all, and is often referred to by lay-persons as a Mantis-Shrimp). This particular stomatopod, it turns out, was recently captured by their “homie” Todd after he mistakenly attempted to remove it from its perch upon his line during a deep-sea fishing trip. Apparently, Todd thought that a medium sized lobster had somehow fouled his hook and he decided to try and wrangle it off of the line with his bare hand. Todd received nine stitches, a broken index finger on his right hand and a further four more stitches in his right wrist for that mistake. The sound of the creature striking Todd’s hand was likened to that of a firecracker detonating, and the speed of its motion characterized as far too fast for the

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eye to perceive.
(If you’ve no prior knowledge of these creatures, I urge you to stop and do a quick google search just to catch the gist of what I’m rappin’ ‘bout.)
Wow. With a buildup like that, you know I had to immediately go out and get one, right? Yeah, baby…Red’s always thinking.
The process was considerably more involved then you might, at first, believe. First of all, no fish-store owner in his right mind would actually want one of these things in his store. They’re killers, man. Haven’t I convinced you yet? To compound the problem, no two fish-store owners can bring themselves to agree on anything, ever. Furthermore, no fish-store owner anywhere in the country seems to be able to speak anything other than pidgin english. They’re all from some tiny island off the coast of mainland China or something. The only thing that I was able to reliably decode with any degree of constancy was the term, “ HUNLED DORRA!!!!” This term is ALWAYS shouted as loudly as possible, and is the standard answer whenever you ask about the price of ANYTHING at all, be it fish food, fish, or whatever. Interestingly enough, it’s also frequently prefaced with the terms, “TOO, SLEEE, FO, or FIE (also shouted at stroke-inducingly loud levels)” whenever you inquire about the cost of anything that even remotely looks as though you might actually want to take it home with you.
Right. That in mind, here’s what happened to me when I went out to buy my “shrimp.”
Fish-Store Guy #1:
I walk in and inform him that I intend to purchase a saltwater set-up to house a mantis shrimp. I ask to give me a rough, ballpark estimate of what the price will be. Before I can finish, he screams “FIE HUNLED DORRA!!!!”
I retort with, “Yes, er…but what’s the budget option?”
He screams, “ARRRLEDDY CHEEEEP! FIE HUNLED DORRA!!!!!!”
As I turn to leave, he stops me, procures a pad and pencil, busts what looks like two fast games of tic-tac-toe on his pad, and gives me a whole new set of prices sans all the screaming and references to “Hunled Dorra’s.”
cont. next post..........
 

mr_bill

Active Member
In the end, this is the budget plan that we came settled on:
A six gallon tank for $60, Live sand for $3 per pound ($30), Live rock for $5 per pound ($30), Rio 50GPM powerhead for $30, and a shrimp that I hadn't even seen yet for $30. (Grand total: $180+tax). He tells me that NOTHING can live in the tank with this monstrosity, because the shrimp will immediately eviscerate it and I will be out the money (at least that’s what I think he said). I left the store feeling slightly shagged, really broke, and not entirely certain that I'd done the right thing, so I cruised over to...
Fish Store Guy #2:
He communicated to me that FSG#1 doesn't know what in the hell he'd been talking about. The shrimp, he told me, would crack through my 6 gallon tank with a flick of it's tiny claws, leaving me with a ruined rug and the world's most perpetually pissed off invertebrate loose in the house and hungry for my entrails. He went on to tell me that I needed at least a 20gal tank, no rocks, no live sand (because live sand has bristle worms), and a really good air-pump/stone. Grand total without shrimp: “Fo Hunled Slee Dorra an Fie Cent.” I said, "thanks for the advice" and left to hunt for more information, which lead me to...
Fish Store Guy #3:
This guy told me that I would need a "bigger setup" to keep the shrimp alive for very long, and that it would probably break out of the tank (as in...smash through it) in the first day anyway. He also said that I would need a starfish or something in the tank in order to help stir it up (?!?), and that live sand is necessary because bristle worms will clean up the miscellaneous chunks of victim after the shrimp has murdered its dinner. The grand total for his setup: “Fie Hunled Nienee Dorra Nienee-Slee Cent.”
I ask him, politely, to please go and frig a goat, afterward shuffling off to...
Fish Store Guy #4:
I sincerely suspect that FSG#4 was a refugee from some war-torn country in Asia that only a handful of very old cartographers have ever heard of. He stood about 4'5" tall, weighed maybe 75lbs, and talked with such a heavy accent that I could only decode every seventh word or so. HE, however, ACTUALLY HAD A MANTIS SHRIMP IN HIS STORE, so he may have known wherefrom he spoke. Not a lot of good that did me, however, since I couldn't understand a goddamned thing he was gibbering.
It probably took at least ten minutes of him gesticulating and shouting "OH YOOWON SLIMP?! EYENAH SLIMP! DEEMEE KAH BOON KAH (I still haven't figured this bit out yet)! CUMSEE CUMSEE SLIMP!" before I understood that he had a shrimp that he wanted to show me somewhere in the store. It took quite a time, and quite an interrogation, for him to actually find out where it was, though. He had to call out his family(?) and question them one by one (all eleven of them) until the very last fellow in the line stepped up and said "EYEGAH POONAH SLIMP, HE COT FEENGAH!! ROOK! ROOK MEYE FEENGAH! SLIMP EEN PUMPNOW! SLIMP EEN PUMP"
With that, the proprietor opened up a door beneath a huge reef-tank, revealing a large aquarium full of peculiar looking blue balls (a filter of some sort?). Since it was dark down there, he deftly procured his cigarette lighter and knelt down on all fours to...find the slimp.
After about ten minutes of seemingly futile searching and repeatedly burning his fingers, there was a loud THWACK and the proprietor jumped back, quite startled, and shouted, "SLIMP, SLIMP!!! YOOSEE SLIMP!!"
In truth, I didn't see the f***ing slimp. I didn't have the heart to tell him that, however. I couldn't stand the thought of him down there for another half-hour or so, flicking his goddamned bic and mumbling profanities in Micronesian.
I left.
cont. next post............
 

mr_bill

Active Member
I stuck with the deal that the first guy gave me, and actually went on to procure a second shrimp from him which now dwells in the same tiny tank alongside (in a manner of speaking) the first shrimp that I had purchased, despite warnings that no such commingling should be attempted, ever.
In truth, the reason that I bought the second shrimp was that, despite all the hoopla and grim foreshadowing regarding the fierce disposition of these creatures, upon introduction of the first shrimp into my tiny tank, he promptly shot-off underneath my pile of very expensive reef-rock never to emerge again. Nothing that I could do seemed to be able to persuade it to re-emerge, either (short of putting my goddamned hand in the tank, which I obviously didn’t try).
So, I bought the second, more visually appealing shrimp, and in doing so accidentally discovered something that brought the first shrimp out of his hiding place.
For the first few weeks, the tiny tank was peculiarly reminiscent of one of those old Eastwood spaghetti westerns, with each shrimp glued to his end of the tank, staring the other down…silent…unmoving. Then one day I came home from school to find the first, smaller shrimp looking much the worse for wear and partially protruding from beneath a chunk of rock and looking very apprehensive. The larger shrimp was doodling about in the center of the aquarium with no regard whatsoever for his smaller tankmate. Ever since, there’s been something of an aquatic prison

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feel to the whole thing that I’ve grown rather fond of. It really does quite the job of brightening up the old computer desk.
Be Well,
Redguard
 

mr_bill

Active Member
Originally Posted by psusocr1
a border colie?? come on man it looks nothing like one! its an akita!
no doubt!!
 

turningtim

Active Member
Yup that what he is. That was when he was 9wks. Now he's 10 monthes and 85lbs.
Currantly hes giving the garden hose the whatfore............ Hes pretty goofy.
 
T

the_fish

Guest
Well it is a very nice dog, and to me he looks like a french bulldog,lol.
 

turningtim

Active Member
OH YEAH! Well I dare you to say that to his face!...........

He would probably lick you to death!
:hilarious
 
T

the_fish

Guest
Originally Posted by TurningTim
OH YEAH! Well I dare you to say that to his face!...........

He would probably lick you to death!
:hilarious

Well i would have no problems with that, i love dogs but not like that,lol
 

waterpolo

Member
Originally Posted by psusocr1
a border colie?? come on man it looks nothing like one! its an akita!
I didn't look close enough. But definately cute dog.
 

sunburnt

Member
That was hilarious! My stomach hurts I laughed so hard. I even emailed it to my Asian stepmother and SHE thought it was hilarious! Of course, she's "a flip" as they call themselves, not Micronesian, so maybe that skewed her enjoyment as well. I hope no one comes along to protest the lack of PCness, thus depriving the rest of us of a very entertaining story.
By the way, I'm looking for a mantis!
 

mr_bill

Active Member
Sometimes PCness is just way over the top. I have no problem with laughing at myself, and I think some of these extreme PCers out there need to seriously take a chill pill or at least spend their energy in something more worth while.
 

waterpolo

Member
Originally Posted by Sunburnt
That was hilarious! My stomach hurts I laughed so hard. I even emailed it to my Asian stepmother and SHE thought it was hilarious! Of course, she's "a flip" as they call themselves, not Micronesian, so maybe that skewed her enjoyment as well. I hope no one comes along to protest the lack of PCness, thus depriving the rest of us of a very entertaining story.
By the way, I'm looking for a mantis!
Where would you put your mantis?
 

sunburnt

Member
I have a 30g with about 75lbs of LR... shrooms, rics, zoas, assorted snails, hermits, and worms... and one damsel that I wouldn't cry over. Been going for over a year now, with the LR just adding up... Couldn't decide what I wanted in there.
Are you looking to adopt one out and checking references? :thinking:
 

waterpolo

Member
Originally Posted by Sunburnt
I have a 30g with about 75lbs of LR... shrooms, rics, zoas, assorted snails, hermits, and worms... and one damsel that I wouldn't cry over. Been going for over a year now, with the LR just adding up... Couldn't decide what I wanted in there.
Are you looking to adopt one out and checking references? :thinking:
No I was just curious to where and why you would want one. I mean they can break glass.
 

sunburnt

Member
Ah... That's okay. You probably have livestock that I'd wonder why YOU wanted! Diversity is good.
From what I've read the breaking glass occurance is uncommon... and they are FASCINATING! Notice also that I did say I wanted a colorful one... they're BRILLIANT!
 

sunburnt

Member
I could. That's true. But since the odds are in favor of it NOT happening, I'm taking the chance. Same reason I DO NOT play the lottery... statistics! :hilarious
 
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