Surfn's G.smithii mantis lair

surfn

I bleed orange and maroon
View Badges
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
5,030
Reaction score
51
Location
Charlottesville, Virginia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
ok, i'm gonna start up a thread for my mantis tank.

it was previously inhabited for the past 1.5years by a small green mantis shrimp, that was very shy and never came out much (thus pretty boring). its adult size according to the mantis pros over on RC would never get bigger than 1". so it never did anything exciting like kill crabs and snails. the mantis disapeared around november, and i never saw him again, so i've been on the look out for a new mantis.

i'm not a big fan of the current minibow set up, as it has some annoying problems, but until i can set up a new home for my new mantis, this will have to do.

anyways, here is an RC link to pics of my old mantis that i havent seen in forever (supposedly dead)
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=860066


here is the original thread i posted of the new G.smithii i caught at the LFS.
http://www.club-zoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4051


and here are some new pics i doctored up a bit:
mantis2.jpg


mantis1.jpg


mantis3.jpg



i haven't seen him in a couple of days after putting him into the minibow, but could here him smashing away. and i JUST figured out where he was living last night/today.

i was looking at the rock where my old mantis lived, and i looked into the cave and it was blocked with a piece of a shell....lol

i thought that was odd, b/c it looked like it was "placed" to cover up the hole from the inside. so i positioned the rock so i could see into the cave easily, and when i went and looked into the cave today, the shell was GONE!! hahaha

i got my red light out, and i could see the G.Smithii mantis' eyes deep inside the cave. so i know he's alive and found his new home!!

i'm currently getting some pics of his home, should be pretty cool. can't wait to post them up!
 
OP
OP
surfn

surfn

I bleed orange and maroon
View Badges
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
5,030
Reaction score
51
Location
Charlottesville, Virginia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
OP
OP
surfn

surfn

I bleed orange and maroon
View Badges
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
5,030
Reaction score
51
Location
Charlottesville, Virginia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I always thought that animal is awsome. Can he have any tank mates?
Boobit Worm Maybe?

tank mates depend on the species of mantis, and how big the mantis is. but you can't put 2 mantis together.

right now, he has several tank mates. 2 astrea snails, 1 nasarius, several blue leg hermits, 2 zebra hermits, and a pencil urchin bout the size of a golfball.

i had 2 urchins in with my last mantis, and one of them got too close to the cave opening, and the mantis knocked off just about all of its spines, so i had to move the urchin to another tank so it could recover.
 

JGoslee

Moderator
View Badges
Joined
Jul 9, 2006
Messages
3,498
Reaction score
14
Location
Philadelphia, Pa
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
That's a cool looking mantis. I've been wanting to setup a mantis tank for awile now. I really like the different colors of the G. Smithii.
 
OP
OP
surfn

surfn

I bleed orange and maroon
View Badges
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
5,030
Reaction score
51
Location
Charlottesville, Virginia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
heres the new pics i got today!!

here is where the mantis lives, the previous mantis hallowed out the caves really well, and here is one of the 3 or 4 exits. i think the mantis is gonna use this entrance as his primary one, b/c the other cave exits have been filled in with sand.

mantiscave1.jpg


close up picture, you can see his big eyes checkin things out.

mantiscloseupcave.jpg


the door is shut, closed for business... :hammer:

mantiscaveclosed.jpg



heres the tank, really not much to it besides some rocks, couple random mushrooms, xenia, tulip anemones, majano anemones, and rock anemones. kind of a "weed tank"

mantistank1.jpg


mantistank2.jpg
 
OP
OP
surfn

surfn

I bleed orange and maroon
View Badges
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
5,030
Reaction score
51
Location
Charlottesville, Virginia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
his lair

mantistank3.jpg


ive got an AC110 on the back filled with some chaeto that is growing pretty well

mantistank4.jpg


top down shot

mantistank5.jpg


i picked this up the same day i got the mantis. tons of little rock anemones, i think there are 3 different color varieties. probably one of the coolest colonies of rock anemones i've ever seen. i've already had about a dozen detach and then reattach on other rocks in the tank.

rockanemones.jpg
 

divecj5

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
327
Reaction score
35
Location
Charleston, SC
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Awesome Al....you can really get a good idea of just how SMALL he/she is by those pics. Didn't realize how tiny it was til you see how small his "cave" is. I think they are awesome creatures and it's hilarious how they shut themselves in at night.

Have you seen the mantis thread (Tim) over at RC? I'm sure you have....it's a hilarious read..

Has the manits killed any snails or anything yet?
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 73 51.4%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 73 51.4%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 36 25.4%
  • None.

    Votes: 31 21.8%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 6.3%
Back
Top