My New Friend!

joemack

Member
Got this guy at the LFS. I wanted a Peacock but they were all out.
Its in a small tank net to my 55G and I have a powerhead pumping water into it and it drains via the bulkhead back into the sump.
 

fender

Active Member
Very beautiful and menacing. Watch your hands while cleaning and good luck. Mantis are not for the faint of heart.
 

ty_05_f

Active Member
Thats funny most people are trying to kill them and you buy one. I have to admit they are good looking.
 

schlong33

Member
They are a hunter of fish. Coupled with the fact that they can hurt YOU too, makes them a pest to most aquarists.
That said, they are quite colorful, and must be a trip to watch one hunt.
*Crossed fingers* Hope I never get one in my tank.
 
lol like he said, watch your hands. and dont put fish/corals/inverts/hands/arms/anything alive in with it, or it will get torn up. also they make a very loud clicking at night, can get on your nerves fast.
 
T

therock0861

Guest
Well for starters they kill and eat most all other crustaceans. They can be harmful to humans as well. They posses enough force in their claws to break aquarium class and fingers too. They have also been known to kill fish too. They are just plain and simply nasty little creatures that are and rightfully should be unwanted in a home aquarium unless you have a species tank to keep them in. HTH
 

black99l

Member
when i used to live at home with my parents we got one out of a piece of LR and put it in a 2 gallon tank. It was actually pretty fun. I'd do it again if i had the opportunity. I used to bring home live crabs and other stuff and watch it "click" the crap out of it and chow down.
 

bang guy

Moderator
Actually Mantis are Reef Safe. They will just kill all the snails, fish & arthropods. The corals will be perfectly safe.
 

humuhumu

Member
Actually I have had first hand experience with one while diving. I lived in the tropics for several years and use to collect all my own fish. I didn't see the mantis, he thought that my finger was dinner and laid it wide open for me in a split second.
Lesson learned; be careful.
 

g13

Member
How do they actually attack? I don't quite understand how they can do so much damage. Is it the loud noise that stuns the fish? Or does it have bone crushing claws?
 

krishj39

Active Member
No claws. There are two types, one type basically has two hammers and the other type has 2

[hr]
. In the aquarium, the most common variety is the types with hammers. They do the massive damage because of how incredibly quickly they can strike their hammers or

[hr]
.
 

balashark21

Member
the hammers strike with a force equivelent to a .22 callibure bullet!!! they have been known to be pulled up in shrimp nets by commercial fishermen and the guys cant explaine y they come out with broken fingers! haha
 

joemack

Member
he lives with a blue damsel and he seems not to care for him. I fed it other food but it doesnt seem to want to attack the fish in the little tank. Maybe they have to be real hungry to attack a fish?
Does anyone know how other they eat?
 

jawfishray

Member
Mantis shrimp will eat anything even remotely close to being alive.
While I was working for a collector in Miami, we dove and collected for local schools, zoos, and large private tanks...we came across a couple customers asking for mantis shrimps (1988-89). So while collecting mated pairs of coral banded boxers I found 2 fairly large mantis. Both were 5-6" and brillantly colored much like an motor oil sheen on water (chromatic blues, greens,etc.).
To make a long story short...while I had instructed the new kid on how not to handle the mantis, called thumb splitters in the Carribean, I had somehow forgotten to tell him to not allow them to be removed from their isolator keepers. So he let them both go in the same tank...I was called in from another job to get them out as the kid was on his way to the hospital with 3 deep cuts in his palm...he picked one up like a hotdog :(
When I got there, the hunt had been going on for 20mins already. The pair of them creeping about, just looking over the top of the LR to catch sight of the other, and then scooting at 600MPH to the other side of tank to catch the other mantis unaware...it was a ballet that ended like and opera...the fat lady certainly sang that day. Both died from deep wounds.
While these guys are on my most favorite list, along with Taco..I mean octopus, sargasso anglers, and cuttlefish...they must not be allowed to be introduced into a community tank, unless you want to clear the tank of all moving creatures.
The two basic types of mantis are clubbers and blades. The clubbers use a bash and grab style of kung fu, where as the bladed ones have nasty shapy rigdes along their forearm that they use for the snap and cut kung fu.
I had a small clubber mantis 1" chase after a huge mottled pistol shimp 6" for a day at least. The mantis gave up, but I think the fear of god was put into that pistol shrimp.
Ray
 

murray bmf

Member
I think they are neat. I keep a snapping turtle tank just because they are rare and unusual, which makes it intresting. I put live gold fish and crawfish in the turtle tank and watch them go to town. I think mantis are neat and intresting:)
 
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