Shabalaba
Active Member
Hi all,
I recently purchased a 4.5 inch peacock mantis shrimp and introduced it into a 100 Gallon setup. It's tank-mates include about 8 small damsels, 20 assorted hermits, and several snails. It has about 100 lbs. of live rock and there is a partition on the bottom of the middle of the tank that divides a sand and gravel bottom. I even constructed a "PVC cave" for it and placed it on the sand side, however the mantis has constructed it's own burrow on the gravel side. It has seemed to take a liking to the new home as it acts very stress free and has not bothered any of it's tank mates at all. I have not witnessed it act aggressively towards any fish, hermits, or snails. In fact, after 2 full days of it i got worried of it not eating and tried feeding it a piece of frozen shrimp which it very gladly took and consumed.
After having this mantis for a week i tried to see if i could get an act of aggression, and put in a freshwater crayfish that was about 2/3 the size of the peacock mantis. This crayfish oddly enough dove directly to the opening of the mantis's front burrow opening. SHOWDOWN!!! or so i thought. The mantis immediately took a defensive position by his burrow, and the crayfish proceeded to walk right by, and into the mantis's burrow. I was baffled. I had no idea what to think. This crayfish stayed in the burrow for about 15 minutes with the mantis in it as well. The crayfish finally exited through the rear and walked around the nearby tank, entering and exiting the burrow as he pleased over the course of 2 hours, not seeming stressed at all. I then took the crayfish out and put him back in a proper freshwater tank where he will live, having a very different fate than I had thought.
My question for you all is, can you explain my mantis shrimp's very non-aggressive behavior?
I recently purchased a 4.5 inch peacock mantis shrimp and introduced it into a 100 Gallon setup. It's tank-mates include about 8 small damsels, 20 assorted hermits, and several snails. It has about 100 lbs. of live rock and there is a partition on the bottom of the middle of the tank that divides a sand and gravel bottom. I even constructed a "PVC cave" for it and placed it on the sand side, however the mantis has constructed it's own burrow on the gravel side. It has seemed to take a liking to the new home as it acts very stress free and has not bothered any of it's tank mates at all. I have not witnessed it act aggressively towards any fish, hermits, or snails. In fact, after 2 full days of it i got worried of it not eating and tried feeding it a piece of frozen shrimp which it very gladly took and consumed.
After having this mantis for a week i tried to see if i could get an act of aggression, and put in a freshwater crayfish that was about 2/3 the size of the peacock mantis. This crayfish oddly enough dove directly to the opening of the mantis's front burrow opening. SHOWDOWN!!! or so i thought. The mantis immediately took a defensive position by his burrow, and the crayfish proceeded to walk right by, and into the mantis's burrow. I was baffled. I had no idea what to think. This crayfish stayed in the burrow for about 15 minutes with the mantis in it as well. The crayfish finally exited through the rear and walked around the nearby tank, entering and exiting the burrow as he pleased over the course of 2 hours, not seeming stressed at all. I then took the crayfish out and put him back in a proper freshwater tank where he will live, having a very different fate than I had thought.
My question for you all is, can you explain my mantis shrimp's very non-aggressive behavior?
It don't eat and can't do anything before/after molt, when its regain its power it will wipe out anything that moves and has shell on it, your fishes will be fine since it's not a spear mantis.
