Communal Mantis shrimp?

[gobby]

I know that the conventional wisdom is that keeping mantis shrimp together is a horrible idea but it does seem that some mantis shrimp live in close contact in the wild

Examples include multiple
Neogonodactylids occupying individual cavities in the same rock, or a
monogamous pair of Lysiosquillina inhabiting the same burrow. R. L. Caldwell
(pers. obs) has seen up to 22 Neogonodactylus bredini inhabiting cavities in the
same rock over at least several consecutive days. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283749138_Individual_Recognition_in_Stomatopods

and they have ritualistic combat such that they do not hurt each other with their hammers

size-matched contests by presenting index signals of strike force. Instead, most contests escalated to the ritualized exchange of strikes, and almost all strikes were received on the telson. These results evoke parallels to sparring in mammals [4,24], in which weapons are used in a ritualized manner and damage is unlikely. Thus, we introduce the term ‘telson sparring’ to describe the function of ritualized strikes in mantis shrimp contests. While the signalling function of sparring is often difficult to quantify, our finding that winners deliver more strikes than losers suggests that telson sparring may communicate aggressive persistence or physiological endurance. Alternatively, or additionally, sparring may signal performance other than peak strike force

Contests with deadly weapons: telson sparring in mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda) - PMC

Mantis shrimp strike with extreme impact forces that are deadly to prey. They also strike conspecifics during territorial contests, yet theoretical and empirical findings in aggressive behaviour research suggest competitors should resolve conflicts ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

If their territory size isn't that large in the wild, I do wonder if a 20 gallon long can support a pair or even a small group of neogonodactylus. It would be interesting to witness this ritualized fighting.

 

[Rocks reef]

One thing to keep in mind. In the wild, they may coexist in close proximity. However in the event one of them needs to depart the area, for lack of better terms, the ocean is vast. They can only go so far in a glass box to escape. Also, a mantis shrimp is very capable to cracking your aquarium glass.

 

[tzabor10]

I have two Florida mantis shrimp. One in the display, the other in the sump. These might work better if you want to have fish or coral

 

[gobby]

One thing to keep in mind. In the wild, they may coexist in close proximity. However in the event one of them needs to depart the area, for lack of better terms, the ocean is vast. They can only go so far in a glass box to escape. Also, a mantis shrimp is very capable to cracking your aquarium glass.

Thanks, I might get a divider in that case. Can the small ones crack an aquarium glass? I've only heard of the large ones like peacock mantis shrimp doing so.

 

[gobby]

I have two Florida mantis shrimp. One in the display, the other in the sump. These might work better if you want to have fish or coral

Yah I do plan on getting those, what fish have worked well with them?

 

[dvgyfresh]

When I had my hitchhiker mantis , he became part of the community. Would swim with fish / not be scared during feeding. The key is to treat them like a member lol , feed them with turkey baster daily, ensure they have a nice cave setup and they will coexist peacefully. Because I gave him a source of food / when to expect with the baster/schedule it didn’t need to be aggressive

 

[Aqua2Infinity]

When I had my hitchhiker mantis , he became part of the community. Would swim with fish / not be scared during feeding. The key is to treat them like a member lol , feed them with turkey baster daily, ensure they have a nice cave setup and they will coexist peacefully. Because I gave him a source of food / when to expect with the baster/schedule it didn’t need to be aggressive

Exactly!

 

[Hadla]

I’ve been curious too, I’ve heard of people finding multiple hitchhikers in their tanks and wondered if it’s big enough that they’ll coexist ok

 

[bluemon]

One thing to keep in mind. In the wild, they may coexist in close proximity. However in the event one of them needs to depart the area, for lack of better terms, the ocean is vast. They can only go so far in a glass box to escape. Also, a mantis shrimp is very capable to cracking your aquarium glass.

The ability of mantis shrimps cracking aquarium glass is way too overblown.

Only the biggest, chiagara or the biggest of peacocks can get to the strength to break glass (and thin one at that), and mantis shrimps will not randomly take a swing at glass.

 

[tzabor10]

Yah I do plan on getting those, what fish have worked well with them?

Yellow eye tang, clownfish, Valentini puffer, one remaining anthias (of 4), six line wrasse. The tank also has a gang of porcelain crabs, pistol shrimp, and emerald crabs.

 

[Fergs]

One thing to keep in mind. In the wild, they may coexist in close proximity. However in the event one of them needs to depart the area, for lack of better terms, the ocean is vast. They can only go so far in a glass box to escape. Also, a mantis shrimp is very capable to cracking your aquarium glass.

People need to chill with this assumption. There are proper steps one can take to prevent this in glass tanks. Not pretending to be an expert by any means.

 

[Hadla]

Yeah I’ve been tired of that assumption but then it means people stay away from buying them lol I fell for it with my first peacock in 2014