Mantis Shrimp Mayhem

[DeepBrew]

A kind of 'Reef Crab' (Carpilius convexus - I think...)

Found in the beach last night when looking for Ghost Crabs, I think it got washed ashore because of the waves I didn't think it was going to make it but today it was hard to get a photo because it was so active

Fantastic pictures of a beautiful crab. How large is it?

 

[40B Knasty]

Awesome videos! Crazy when the hammer got lodged in the crab!

 

[frankragghianti]

Laughed my butt off.

 

[TheMantisman]

Fantastic pictures of a beautiful crab. How large is it?

I was a bit taken back when I found it on the beach because I knew it wasn't a land crab, it has a 4inch wide carapace.

Awesome videos! Crazy when the hammer got lodged in the crab!

Thanks for watching! This is the first time I have ever seen a mantis punch a crab and have its hammer get embedded into the shell!

Laughed my *** off.

Glad your enjoying yourself!

 

[TheMantisman]

Been a bit busy here lately as I'm wrapping up my 6month trip, I leave back for Australia in a few days but will return here in about 4-6weeks for another 6months which will be the most filming heavy trip to date.

 

[DeepBrew]

Safe travels! I hope to see you back here again soon.

 

[TheMantisman]

Safe travels! I hope to see you back here again soon.

I'm going to keep trying to make videos whilst I'm not here (compilations of "greatest moments") but I still hope to upload at least about 5-10videos before I leave here.

When I return tho end of July/early August it will be as I stated before the most productive 6months for videos on the basis that for the past 4 years everytime I have come back I have had to rebuild the system because of faults/breaks in the display tanks but early this trip I finally found a western tank builder here and used him (at twice the price) but the tanks have held up very well so I'm confident that for the first time in 4 years I'll be able to get straight to filming/photography rather than spend 3-4months rebuilding.

 

[TheMantisman]

Last night I completed the final lot of videos (5) for production but I won't be able to edit them until the weekend because I am currently packing up everything and emptying the system, I leave back for Australia tomorrow afternoon and arrive tomorrow midnight.

I still have 3-4 other videos I need to edit as well which I haven't had the time to do due to the mass clean up going on before I leave so there is at least another 8 videos to come in the next few days.

 

[Ravan]

the video with the hammer getting stuck was crazy. hope your trip is good and cant wait for the next videos!

 

[Mark Gray]

I have not seen one for maybe 20 years had one come home with some rock

 

[TheMantisman]

I've arrived back in Aus safe and sound, video editing and production will commence this evening as I said I still have around 8 videos to upload, followed by a "greatest moments" compilation video.

 

[TheMantisman]

Latest Video

 

[Cary]

Welcome to R2R. Love your work. Please continue sharing.

 

[TheMantisman]

I just realized I never shared my 1st "latest" video on here...page 1 first post is #3 video followed by #2 video followed by #3 video again...

Well here is the 1st video from the 'latest' collection!



P.S. - There will be another video upload in the next 12hrs

 

[ritter6788]

Loving your videos! Makes me want a stomatopod again!

 

[TheMantisman]

Loving your videos! Makes me want a stomatopod again!

Thanks for watching them!
Been really busy ever since I got back so I'm trying to keep up and complete unfinished .RAW productions to make new posts about.

Having said that my work overseas is 'temporary' with the ultimatum being that I want to "come back home for good"(home being Australia), I have a basement in my house that is being transformed into a mantis shrimp + other weird creatures that I deem 'worthy' of publicity/time to shine in the cameras.

I will always been dominated by Mantis Shrimp and I will always be the Mantisman...but I need to subtly broaden my animals in order to get the most from the investments in the cameras, that being said...I made this image collage for my Facebook Friends detailing the animals I will be filming when I get back home permanently and setup a monstrous system!

Roughly speaking it's a double sided back to back display the 'overall system' is 3m Long x 1.2m Wide x 1.5m High, but comprised of multiple tanks to house the creatures in the image here.

- 2x Giant Zebra Spearing Mantis Shrimp
- 2x Peacock Mantis Shrimp
- 3x Small Spearer or Smasher Mantis Shrimp
- 1x Octopus or Cuttlefish (will swap around as they come and go due to short life spans)
- 1x Mudcrab
- 1x Eunice Worm (E.Aphroditois - to be precise as per its photo)

Equipment is going to be minimal but top end.
Abyzz A400 system pump.
AquariumEngineering 1ft wide x 5ft-6ft tall skimmer.
AquariumEngineering UV Sterilizer.
AquariumEngineering Reactor.

This is just the icing albeit...but the culmination of a decade doing this and all the mistakes I've learned! Compiled into a clean, neat, efficient, dedicated system design for my intended purposes.

Tis' Exciting!!!

 

[RyanSweet]

That's REALLY cool. I'll definitely be interested in watching the spearer mantis and the cephalopod videos.

Do you by chance have any high speed footage of the actual cavitation bubble when the smasher makes contact? Do you ever measure the force of impact and do a numerical ranking of different species? Or do a MPH/KPH of either the smasher or spearer species?

 

[TheMantisman]

That's REALLY cool. I'll definitely be interested in watching the spearer mantis and the cephalopod videos.

Do you by chance have any high speed footage of the actual cavitation bubble when the smasher makes contact? Do you ever measure the force of impact and do a numerical ranking of different species? Or do a MPH/KPH of either the smasher or spearer species?

My interest predominantly lay around stomatopods however I feel like due to what I know I have gotten in the past in Australia, that such a large area for tank space would be wasted on so many repetitive creatures, as far as I'm concerned Australia has only 2 nice large species that I've personally owned to date, L.mac (giant spearer) O.scy (peacock smasher) and whilst I could fill the entire area with those 2 animals alone it just feels in my gut like a bit of a waste (for the cameras).

Having said that I am still keeping 1 entire side (3m) for mantis shrimp alone (2xL.mac, 2xO.scy, 4xOther Sml / G.tern, P.cil, G.chir, G.graph).

But its the same question I've been asking myself about the opposite side, predominantly (2m/960L) Cephalopod (Octo or Cuttle) with 2x 0.5m tanks for 'other' (Mudcrab/Eunice Worm/Etc), I just wonder on the notorious nature of the octopus I.D. that is it worth having the 2x 0.5m tanks for 'other' (Mudcrab/Eunice Worm/Etc) for more diversity or just have the whole (3m) for the Cephalopod (Octo or Cuttle) on the basis that if it grows 'big' (3m) is better than (2m) and I don't want blue ring(s), to small for my liking.

The other 'itch' I can't get scratched is about the worm, I'm after a verry specific species of eunice worm and most people when they hear what I say link it to the often found in the aquarium species which isn't the species I'm after as per the image in the collage above, point is if I cannot find this worm then that tank will need to still be utilized for something.

 

[TheMantisman]

This is a "brief" run down of the next system being built but back at home in Australia.

It is the culmination of all the mistakes (and some successes) I've learned over the years when having multiple tanks for mantis shrimp and other creatures in a single system!

The room its being built in is ironically where I started out almost 10years ago, but as I said I've learned from my past mistakes.

It's a back to back display system with individual smaller tanks to fill the whole space neatly with uniform plumbing designs, speaking of which all of the overflows are 'side coast to coast' where the overflow is on one side of the tank starting at the front and going to the back or as far back as desired, this will make plumbing easy over such a wide and likely tall build.

Overall system dimension as per image is 3m Long x 1.2m Wide x various heights, Example Cephalopod Tank is 2mLx80Wx60H-960Lest.

System has 4 Primary areas:
Top Left - Mantis Display
Top Right - Ceph/Crab/Worm/Etc Display
Below Left - Filtration sump: Filter Sock/Refugium/Live Rock/Return/ATO/Etc
Below Right - Live Food Storage: Fish/Crabs/Shrimp/Snails/Etc

Things to note starting from the top down.
- Each of the squares represents a 30cmx30cm size.
- Sliding doors being utilized to maximize space for aquarium itself in the room, external sliding door needed for sheer security for factors like equipment expenses etc.
- The Pink power point (electricity outputs) are all in the ceiling well away from water and ensure no cables are on the ground either to be tripped/caught on by tripods/wheels etc.
- Due to the nature of the room and it being well "sealed" I need to get the 'smell' out so I'm running two ceiling fans.
- The room will have air conditioning not displayed in this image.
- The only window in the room will also have a security steel outer area around its entirety.
- The greenscreen at the very end of the room will have 4-5 lights mounted to the ceiling in specific locations on drop down legs/arms with another 1-2 lights on a tripod to move freely.
- External Equipment because the system is having a fairly serious filtration setup due to the nature of what I've learned in the past.
: A400 Return Pump (Abyzz)
: 5ft-6ft tall x 1ft internal diameter protein skimmer (AquariumEngineering).
: Unknown Sized or Amount of Reactors (AquariumEngineering)
: Unknown Sized UV Sterilizer - (Aquarium Engineering)
: Refugium Leds 8-10Red660nm:1-2Blue420nm (Aquarium Engineering)

 

[TheMantisman]

Just a bit of an Update I know I haven't posted in a while and its because I am currently back in Australia and running my Steel Milling Shed however I intend to be back overseas A.S.A.P. to commence filming and photography again!

I don't like doing this (going AWOL for X time on YouTube) but I need to do it for Finances because I cannot yet support myself 365days a year JUST doing what I do with the Mantis Shrimp but I am close...very close and when that day comes it will be everyday 365 mantis shrimp (and more) videos and photos!

Your patience is appreciated!