Mantis Shrimp

[tgiles]

My reef setup contains a 20 gallon display tank which is plumbed in-line to a 15 tank and a 10 gallon sump. I use to propogate xenia in the 15 gl tank until I could not sell or give it away anymore (seems everyone has too much xenia now of days).

So... I put a 4" long clown mantis shrimp in this 'acrylic' tank. Its been two weeks now and I've really grown to like him. The tank has aragonite substrate and serveral peices of live rock as well as some macro algae. The mantis has dug several tunnels and burrows thru-out the rock work, he even pulls in macro algae to camoflage the entrance to some of his caves. I can see why they are hard to catch in reef tanks.

He was really shy at first but now he comes out to the front of the tank when I stop by to see him. I feed him frozen squid, krill, silversides which he swims to the top of the tank to retreive off of a feeder rod. (We don't have a close enough relationship for me to hand feed him). :-) He is very interesting to watch as he builds his tunnels or just swims around the tank.

Is there anyone else out there who keeps mantis shrimps on purpose? I have several people in the club who have mantis shimps that have hitch hiked in on live rock and are reaking havoc in their reef tanks, but I don't know of anyone here localy that has a special tank set-up for them.



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Tim

[Joez]

Destroy it!

[JohnL]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Destroy it!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> How sad :(

I accidentally "caught" one that fell into my sump. I have him in a 20 gallon tank with some macroalgae and rock rubble.

http://www.jplink.com/reef/images/19991128/MantisShrimp05.jpg


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Regards - John

[This message has been edited by JohnL (edited 12-09-1999).]

[FOX]

Someone recently had an lfs here order them a pea**** mantis. I saw it before she picked it up. Beautiful, but defenitely for a species specific tank.

FOX

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members.xoom.com/KoryFox/index.htm (http://members.xoom.com/KoryFox/index.htm)

[ATLANTIS]

They are wonderful and beautiful creatures. Not very welcome in the reef tank but to pretty to kill. I also keep one in it's own tank that hitchhiked in on some LR. I keep it fed with unwelcome (coral eating) crabs that also hitchhike on LR.

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brian

atlantisaquatic.com (http://atlantisaquatic.com)

[Aescleah]

i never had any experience with them but if i had the oppertunity i would love to have a tank just for one. i heard they are full of personality lol trouble makers usually are.

Ashley

[Clam Man]

Believe it or not but I caught the one in my 250 gal by grabbing the rock I seen him in and yanked it out of the tank as fast as I could. In mid air it jumped from the rock and landed on the floor. I put it in a bucket on with about 2 gallons of tank water and searched for a suitor. After about a week I had no choice but to end its life quickly by means of the disposal. Too bad, he was a bright olive green :(. There are two strange things that deserve comment. One is the eerie alien like eyes. When they look at you there will be cat like slits that blink. The other is that this specimen did not kill any corals or clams and I know that it was in my tank for over 2 months and possibly a year. The only noted loss was one of my cleaner shrimp but that could be linked to a molting problem. All of the other 10 shrimp and 4 emerld crabs are still there. I do not know if there was a loss in blue legged crabs or snails though. My question is are there Mantis shrimp that stay small (1 to 2 inches) that could stay in a reef tank?

[tgiles]

Clam Man,

I beleive most of the Mantis Shrimps grow large. The "Clown" that I have can grow up to 12" in captivity.

I haven't heard of any reefer wanting to keep a mantis in their reef tank until you.

I think I have a Pistol Shrimp in my 100 gallon FO tank, I hear the clicking but in 4 months I haven'y been able to see it. I figured with my 3 Triggers they would hunt him out and eat him. I have a lot of live rock so he must stay well hid.

Pistol Shrimps stay 1" to 2" inches but arent as cool to look at. My LFS sells Pistol shrimp and goby pairs. It is really strange, they share a burrow.

I do find my Mantis Shrimps "alein eyes" fasinating. I have a good close up picture of the eyes. Can I post it on this Board?

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Tim

[Chad]

Inland Aquatics sells pistol shrimp and goby pairs as well. The other day I thought I had a renegade shrimp in my tank. It was the molt from my new cleaner shrimp. It was hanging upside down under a rock. I didn't realize the molt contains the feet, and the feelers. The current was making this thing move just like a live shrimp. It freaked me out!

[Gannet]

Sigh.

Mantis aren't so terrible. I ran a successful reef with 2 mantis in it for almost 2 years. They never bothered anything but hermit crabs and fish that live in holes (like royal grammas). As far as the mantis are concerned, all the holes in the tank belong to -them-, and they will kill trespassers.

Other than the above, mantis are reef safe. They will not harm any coral. They are exremely hardy and very interesting animals. They are predators. Like any predator, if you keep them well-fed they are far less likely to do something you don't like.

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fwiw, imo, ime, ymmv, etc.
when in doubt, change water

[This message has been edited by Gannet (edited 12-12-1999).]

[Gsilver]

Have any more of that xenia you want to give away? I just paid 60 dollars for a dead pice!!! I bought it from Aquatic Wildlife (hope I don't get in trouble for putting up there name) But I called and ordered it was supposed to be here on tuesday! Called tuesday night said it was said He was getting ready to ship it out! Called on wed. phone number had been disconected! Nothing by friday! Left home friday came back sunday morning With a ups ground box on the step With a dead xenia ( smelt so bad it made me gag!) Well anyway if you have some to give away or sell cheaply let me know!
George http://www.mindspring.com/~gsilver/myhomepage.html