Peacock with No Punchers

[ossifiedconscript]

Howdy all,
I have a 20g long FOWLR tank with the only inhabitant being a female peacock mantis shrimp ~4.0-4.5in. The other fauna in there are only red leg hermit crabs, as they are supposed to be her food. I’ve had other mantises in the past, both peacock and orange spot, so I’ve had some experience in cultivating a good diet. I primarily rely on clams on the half shell 4-5 times a week, and introduce 3 live red leg hermits or emerald crabs every 2-3 weeks in place of clams. However, this particular female (who I’ve had for over a month now) appears to have no punchers/severely underdeveloped punchers. I’ll attach a photo. I know they are supposed to grow back with several molts, and she appears to know HOW to use them (I’ve seen her wind up for a punch several times), but I worry that she will not redevelop them if they are not in use. She tends to eat her clams “like soup”, using the shell as a bowl as she eats the meat out, not utilizing her dactyls at all. Is there anything additional I can do to ascertain the regrowth of her punchers? Will the lack of them shorten her life span? Thank you!!

 

[Hadla]

I had a male whose hammers seemed to have been pulled off by the collectors… that could be what happened to her. If it looks like she tries to use them, I wouldn’t worry about it. Don’t put anything in the tank that could bother her without being able to defend herself though!

 

[Stomatopods17]

It'll regrow them in a couple molts (aprox every 3 months).

First molt has unusable small ones, 2nd molt has small weak ones, 3rd typically is back in full swing.

They normally do behavior where they "rip off" their own arm so the whole thing regrows rather than just a part of it, If its entirely gone all of a sudden or you witness the tearing this is actually healthy for it.

Looks like the end of the dactyl got net caught and torn (assuming it wasn't like this in the wild given it never tore its own arm off/regrew), its pretty typical for smashers not to necessarily "punch" soft things (net, bags, fish, fingers) but actually stab them like spearers try to, which can get impaled and stuck in quite a few things (THIS is what you need to worry about when struck by one). This is why we don't use nets for these guys, as scary as using a container may seem with hands in the water.

 

[ossifiedconscript]

It'll regrow them in a couple molts (aprox every 3 months).

First molt has unusable small ones, 2nd molt has small weak ones, 3rd typically is back in full swing.

They normally do behavior where they "rip off" their own arm so the whole thing regrows rather than just a part of it, If its entirely gone all of a sudden or you witness the tearing this is actually healthy for it.

Looks like the end of the dactyl got net caught and torn (assuming it wasn't like this in the wild given it never tore its own arm off/regrew), its pretty typical for smashers not to necessarily "punch" soft things (net, bags, fish, fingers) but actually stab them like spearers try to, which can get impaled and stuck in quite a few things (THIS is what you need to worry about when struck by one). This is why we don't use nets for these guys, as scary as using a container may seem with hands in the water.

Wow thank you so much!! I had heard before they could get tangled in nets but never thought that could be related to the loss of the dactyls. Definitely won’t be grabbing her in a net anytime soon!
It appears she’s about to molt so I’ll definitely post updates when (fingers crossed) it goes well. She barricaded her burrow yesterday and refused food; this morning she peeked her head out and it looked like she might be trying to rip her arm off the way she was positioned, but I’ll leave her be for another few days and check back. Thanks so much again for the info

 

[Hadla]

Forgot to say make sure to give soft foods til they grow back! Hopefully she does molt soon

 

[ossifiedconscript]

Hey everyone happy to report she did in fact molt!! She holed up for two days inside a castle I have in the tank (I am not a big fan of artificial decor, but this one has proven safe + makes a GREAT mantis burrow) and boarded up the entrance with clam shells. She popped out the other day while eating a whole section of the molt! I got a decent look at her dactyls; you guys were absolutely right! She has small, underdeveloped ones now, I don’t believe she can use them, but this is progress nonetheless. Thanks for your help!! I’ll attach a photo of her (Constance)

 

[ossifiedconscript]

Forgot to say make sure to give soft foods til they grow back! Hopefully she does molt soon

Thank you!! I stocked up on some cubes of squid I’m hoping she’ll enjoy. If not, she’s been doing great with the half shell clams, albeit leaving the entire clamshells intact LOL

 

[Hadla]

Yeah mine takes like 4-5 hours eating a half shell clam lol the shells are everywhere

 

[ossifiedconscript]

Got a good photo of her new clubs. Coming in nicely!

 

[Stomatopods17]

Looking good!

Unrelated, where you did get her bychance?

 

[ossifiedconscript]

Looking good!

Unrelated, where you did get her bychance?

Salty bottom reef co! I have gotten them from both there and blue zoo aquatics. I recommend both for mantis purchases

 

[Stomatopods17]

Salty bottom reef co! I have gotten them from both there and blue zoo aquatics. I recommend both for mantis purchases

ooo I'm pleased to hear SBRC supplies legit O. scyllarus, never tried them but I might give it a go soon!

Blue zoo personally had 2 bad experiences, never made it past 24hrs with theirs. On a related note, all my O. scyllarus from them arrived with the same injury yours did, down to the same raptorial appendage too which I found really suspicious how the two I got looked like borderline clones with coloring and injuries lol. I was curious if you were going to say bluezoo for this one tbh.

 

[Hadla]

Yeah I think salty bottom just recently started selling them, they only had wennerae and rugosa/empusa for a long time

 

[Stomatopods17]

My luck, i add to cart, go to take a leak, come back to finish cart, out of stock lol..

 

[sbreefco]

Howdy all,
I have a 20g long FOWLR tank with the only inhabitant being a female peacock mantis shrimp ~4.0-4.5in. The other fauna in there are only red leg hermit crabs, as they are supposed to be her food. I’ve had other mantises in the past, both peacock and orange spot, so I’ve had some experience in cultivating a good diet. I primarily rely on clams on the half shell 4-5 times a week, and introduce 3 live red leg hermits or emerald crabs every 2-3 weeks in place of clams. However, this particular female (who I’ve had for over a month now) appears to have no punchers/severely underdeveloped punchers. I’ll attach a photo. I know they are supposed to grow back with several molts, and she appears to know HOW to use them (I’ve seen her wind up for a punch several times), but I worry that she will not redevelop them if they are not in use. She tends to eat her clams “like soup”, using the shell as a bowl as she eats the meat out, not utilizing her dactyls at all. Is there anything additional I can do to ascertain the regrowth of her punchers? Will the lack of them shorten her life span? Thank you!!

Great to see your mantis is doing well.
I believe this is a problem caused by how these are shipped to us from our supplier.
We get them in plastic containers (almost like a CoolWhip bowl) with a bunch of holes melted in them for water flow, this creates a problem if the mantis gets aggressive during shipment as their punchers get caught in the holes and break off. I have talked to our supplier about trying something different in the future.

 

[ossifiedconscript]

Hey folks just wanted to give an update. Unfortunately constance did not make it through her second molt; she holed up for two days, but i just found her on her back out in the open. the cause was probably high stress; i was isolated from the tank for well over a week due to an intense blizzard, and the nitrates rose to dangerous levels due to uneaten clams. i assume this, along with the stress caused by growing new dactyls during a molt, was lethal to her. i will absolutely try again with salty bottom and love them very much! just wanted to give an update.

 

[cyrax Akron Ohio]

I bought a shrimp from sbrc and they came with no hammers,the bag was open and the water was half spilled all over the box! I opened the box up with the shrimp floating on its back scared to death it has died I ran to put it in the water after taking a few pics (just in case she was d.o.a.)that bad *guy* jumped around like it was its last chance to live! It finally settled in and after 3bdays waiting for it to crack open all the emerald crabs and hermits I stocked up on I realized it had no hammers so I use clams on a half shell cut it off and let him/her go at it. Till the shrimp gets its hammers back I guess that's what I am doing but I'm gonna clean the shells up just in case im keeping everything that's dead or decaying far away from that tank I don't want to lose my buddy cyrax(not the dragon or the character from mortal kombat) the mantis shrimp. Wish me luck he will grow those cool hammers back it's the whole reason I wanted the shrimp from the jump.

 

[Stomatopods17]

Its common in high stress situations for them to rip off their own clubs.

If none were in the bag, it probably didn't have any when it arrived to them or ripped them off in their custody.

It takes about 3 molts for them to be fully functional, just spoon feed it half shell clams, krill, and remove any crabs until it can defend itself (you don't want disturbance when it does molt).

 

[TripFamAZ]

My mantis removed/lost his clubs during his molt at the end of Nov. Really unsure why. He’s been thriving happily on a soft diet since then.
I am happy to say he just finished his most recent molt and both his punchers have started to regrow. It does seem to be as @Stomatopods17 said.. after two more molts or so he should be good as new.

 

[OneInchPunch]

My Mantis also arrived without any clubs and I have heard they are sometimes removed during collection to make handling/shipping easier. Thankfully after 3 moults he was back to fighting weight and pulverizing clams for fun.