[Dawgz]

Here are a few pictures for u guys of my Mantis Shrimp...

(Btw, the orange part u see right below his eyes near his mouth is a piece of a Cichlid pellet i just fed him.)

This post has been edited by Dawgz: 30 December 2010 - 01:10 PM

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[JoeDizzleMPLS]

Those things are awesome, what do you keep it in?

[Dawgz]

JoeDizzleMPLS, on 30 December 2010 - 01:10 PM, said:

Those things are awesome, what do you keep it in?

In a species only 5 gallon Eclipse tank. He's got like 3-4 larges pieces of live rock boulders to dig thru and under, (about 3-4" of sand bed).

lol, he still gets his food via a chop stick that i spliced in the middle so it can hold food untill he knocks it out of the groove. (gets his smash excercise)

[JoeDizzleMPLS]

Definitely would like to see some FTS and a video of this guy in action, I have wanted to do a little tank for a mantis since I first saw one at the LFS that had snuck in on some live rock about 5 years ago.

[Dawgz]

I stopped giving him live food about a year and a half ago, i used to give him hermits until i found out i can get him to excercise his smashers with the chopstick i feed him with. In these animals, if they dont use the smashers, they will loose them in their 2nd or 3rd molt. (they can get them back tho, but i didnt want to risk it).

Ill take a feeding vid soon and post it in here.


btw, whats FTS?

This post has been edited by Dawgz: 30 December 2010 - 01:21 PM

[THE BLACK PIRANHA]

Very cool you need to get a feeding video.

[Dawgz]

thanx, will do.

[JoeDizzleMPLS]

FTS = Full Tank Shot

[Dawgz]

oh haha

[CLUSTER ONE]

looks similar to mine. Too bad i never see mine more then its head poking out of its burrow.

How often has yours molted?

[RedneckR0nin]

Wild looking man, I will halt this time on the smart ass comments about deep frying him. I am however interested in these guys. You have any preventive measures on the bottom of your tank as are these not the little suckas that will pucnh a hole through the bottom??

[Dawgz]

CLUSTER ONE, on 30 December 2010 - 03:42 PM, said:

looks similar to mine. Too bad i never see mine more then its head poking out of its burrow.

How often has yours molted?

Take a picture, u have a Wennerae too? is it green, purple, yellow?

Mine molts like every 3 months id say....I know he's ready to molt when he takes the food with out smashing on the stick.

RedneckR0nin, on 30 December 2010 - 03:46 PM, said:

Wild looking man, I will halt this time on the smart ass comments about deep frying him. I am however interested in these guys. You have any preventive measures on the bottom of your tank as are these not the little suckas that will pucnh a hole through the bottom??

He's relatively small, about 2 ~ 2.5" so he wont be able to crack thru the tank he's currently in. Bigger Mantis shrimp, like a peacock mantis shrimp might be able to.

I do have a thin piece of slate rock all the way at the bottom which covers a good portion of the middle area.

[Piranha_man]

I've never seen a mantis shrimp before except for pictures.
And, I've never seen a picture of a green one before... is it common?

They're pretty cool from what I can tell... are they pretty easy to keep in a small tank?
Ya gotta provide 'em with a saltwater setup... is it easier than most SW setups though?

[Dawgz]

Piranha_man, on 30 December 2010 - 06:00 PM, said:

I've never seen a mantis shrimp before except for pictures.
And, I've never seen a picture of a green one before... is it common?

They're pretty cool from what I can tell... are they pretty easy to keep in a small tank?
Ya gotta provide 'em with a saltwater setup... is it easier than most SW setups though?

They are awesome! This one is a green Wennerae, the colors vary from species, etc.

They are pretty easy to keep, u cant keep much of anything with them tho, not even corals (soft or hard), they will take em out or burry them lol.

As far as how hard it is with keeping their SW setup, its pretty easy, this is my first attempt at a SW tank. I saw this Mantis at shark aquarium one day out of the blue, i requested it to be held for me and i setup a SW setup for it then i picked him up when the tank was ready and here we are. On a 10 point scale, 10 being hardest, id say care for this mantis is about a 2.

Just gotta keep up with the water level (when it evaporates, just add more fresh water (salt doesnt really evap). and then check salinity when you do water changes to make sure its at the right area.

I keep his tank at 1.023 ~ 1.024. Wennerae are the hardiest of the mantis, they can take fluctuations in salinity much better than other mantis/SW animals.

[Piranha_man]

That's great info, thanks!

[Dawgz]

are u looking into getting one?

[Piranha_man]

I've considered it over the years...

[Dawgz]

When i get a chance, maybe in the summer, i may setup a 10 gallon for him.

And then turn his 5 gallon into a freshwater shrimp tank.

This post has been edited by Dawgz: 30 December 2010 - 06:56 PM

[CLUSTER ONE]

Mines only like an inch and a half and seems to be growing so slow. I don't even know if it's molted yet and ive had it for like a year. Im assuming it has as its closed its burrow a couple times but i havnt noticed any significant increase in size. It hides in its burrow almost always and i havnt seen him out of his burrow for months (since i moved him tanks). I know he's still fine as he pops his head out of his burrow but will dart back in if i go close. He eats from chopsticks but always has at least 1/4 of his body in the burrow so he can retreat. I beleive i took some pics in my sw reef thrend a bit back and i havn't even seen him out fully to take pics. I've probably had him around a year.


Mantis shrimp can be with coral colonies usually but especially smashers will move small rocks and possibly frags around. If you have kept frags you know they can die easy if they get knocked over and you don't notice for a bit so if you keep them with any coral you want it to be well established so they can't move it. I wouldn't do lps or sps though i don't think they would bother it. Soft corals on large rocks should be fine.

RedneckR0nin, on 30 December 2010 - 03:46 PM, said:

You have any preventive measures on the bottom of your tank as are these not the little suckas that will pucnh a hole through the bottom??

Small ones can't but for big ones acrylic tanks are recomended. Some people will put a acrylic sheet under their substrate though a mantis shrimp shouldn't be able to break an appropriatly sized tank. Mines in a 10g sump. For their size they do have pletny of power. Mine has hollowed out a solid rock for his burrow.

[Piranha_man]

The more I look into these guys, the more fascinated I become.

Check out this video of a 10" mantis vs. octopus.

<div style="background:#000000;width:440px;height:272px"><embed flashVars="playerVars=showStats=yes|autoPlay=no|videoTitle=Shrimp Vs Octopus" src="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/1927370/shrimp_vs_octopus.swf" width="440" height="272" wmode="transparent" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" name="Metacafe_1927370" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div><div style="font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1927370/shrimp_vs_octopus/">Shrimp Vs Octopus</a> - <a href="http://www.metacafe.com/">The top video clips of the week are here</a></div>

I wonder why the video wouldn't embed...


Ah well, here's the link: Mantis vs. Octopus video