Appropriate lighting for stomatopods

[Gonodactylus]

Appropriate lighting for stoamtopods

In a recent thread on this site, there is a discussion of what is the proper illumination to use for an Odontodactylus scyllarus. Some of the respondents state that bright, broad spectrum lighting is acceptable. I disagree. Below is the comment I was going to post on that thread, but after writing it, it seems that my thoughts on the subject applied to many species.

The question here is whether you want a healthy, "happy" O. scyllarus or do you want a show? If you want bright, broad spectrum lighting to bring out the colors of the stomatopod, this may be aesthetically pleasing to you, but it may cause problems for your animal. The colors of an O. scyllarus did not evolve to be seen by a human eye in a home aquarium filled with crystal clear water illuminated by intense, broad spectrum lighting. Aquarists really should consider the environment in which their animals normally live. Odontodactylus scyllarus are typically found at depths of 7 to 40 m and often in habitats where the visibility is not great. The ambient light in these habitats is certainly less intense than at the surface and by the time you get to 15 m, much of the UV and longer wave lengths have been filtered out. Factor in the effects of turbidity and the fact that the animals live in deep burrows that allow them to withdraw during the middle of the day when ambient lighting is most intense, and you have a species that does not typically experience "bright", broad spectrum lighting.

I cringe every time I read messages recommending bright lighting for species such as O. scyllarus. Such lighting may not harm the animals immediately, but it can, in my opinion, contribute to health problems such as shell disease. If you must keep an O. scyllarus in a bright aquarium, make sure it has a long dark burrow that allows it to get completely out of the light. I would recommend at least a 30 cm length of black PVC pipe just larger than the diameter of your animal. You can bury the pipe under gravel and rubble to camouflage it. The animal can still build and manipulate substrate around the entrance, but it will be able to retreat into the dark.

If you want to keep a showy species of stomatopod with bright colors that evolved to see and to be seen in sunny, shallow habitats, get a Gonodactylus smithii or G. platysoma. Both live in the low intertidal down to just a few meters and typically experience bright, broad spectrum light.

Roy

[majestic sea life]

Hey thx Dr.Roy this helps out alot.

~Brian

[ecugman]

G. Smithii sound like the stomatopod for me....if I could just find one...

[Uriel]

Thanks, Dr. Roy.
I don't yet have an O. Scyllarus, but I will keep this in mind when i do pick one up.

Regarding lighting for my G. Viridis:

I have him in a Eclipse 6, with the standard (not too bright) lighting.
it is just listed as 2" Fluorescent Light.

I recall you saying that G. Viridis lives in rubble-strewn tidal shallows, so is a brighter light going to bug him much? Je has (finally) been getting a little more bold in coming out of his Castle, and I would hate to be contributing to his reclusive nature.

The corals in with him are just some mushroom and pink star-polyps (which I have been told do fine in lower light, which they have).


Any help is, as always, greatly appreciated.

-Ron

[Gonodactylus]

G. viridis is a reef flat species that can take bright lighting.

[amber2461]

I have a mantis shrimp that came with a live rock from Fiji, I have looked at the pictures of mantis shrimps but I cannot identify it. It has a designs on its shell and the colour is sort of khaki green and yellow.

it is being housed in a Eclipse Hex 5 right now with bright compact lights, would that be unwise then? I have no camera but I do know that it is a smasher.

Thanks

[Gonodactylus]

I am assuming that this species from Fiji is small - under 2 inches - and has white meral spots. It is probably in the genus Gonodactylellus. The most likely species would be G. affinis, G. incipiens or G. childi.

Roy

[Ken2001]

Oh, great. You wouldn't believe the light I just bought this morning to replace the old lighting that finally died. Damn.

[danskim]

woo, very informational thread

[ReneX]

Thank you for the informative post, Dr. Cauldwell. Your replies always shed new light on the subjects, no pun intended

One more question from the masses, though. Since Neogonodactylus wennerae is one of the most common species available currently in the US, are there any lighting needs the aquarist should be aware of? Can they tolerate very bright lighting or do they generally prefer something more subdued? I'm assuming for the purposes of the question that the animals have adequate dark hiding places and are not under any other unusual stress. I would guess they can take bright light, given that they seem to be common in shallow waters, but then, I'm not a stomatopod expert

[EMG]

I was just going to ask the same question about N. Wenn. Mine seems to like the light in his 5.5 gallon with 8W coral florescent tubelight.

I have the light in there for the liverock. My thinking is that since mine was a liverock stowaway and tons of corals and other life was growing on the same exact rock and we know it takes a fair amount of life to grow corals and LR stuff then N. Wenn must be pretty tolerant of light to make this their home on a sunny reef.

What do you think Gonodactylus?

here is a pic of his home.

[catdoc]

Dr. Roy,

I'm still in the process of setting up my O.s. tank. Per your advice, I did go buy a piece of dark pvc to make a burrow but then realized I don't know the diameter of an adult O.s. I got pvc of 1.25" diam, is that adequate? The 24" deep tank is going to be lit by a 55w pc, so I don't think that it'll be too bright.

I siliconed in an acrylic reinforcement to the bottom of the 7mm glass tank, it's been 2 days of curing so today I plan to put in the sand/water and add the LR from my display tank. The SW has been aerating/warming for 3 days now. It's well-cured rock (had the LR over a year), will it be ok to get the peacock this weekend or should I wait longer?

Thanks!

[danskim]

So let's say for a peacock mantis in a 29 gallon tank.. would a pc lighting fixture (1x65w) be too much for the mantis? the recommended lighting for a tank of my size with corals, etc is about 130 watts... thanks for your help dr.

[Gonodactylus]

For a 5 inch animal, we use a 2.5 inch pipe. For larger animals, we have to go up to 3 inches.

I generally recommend against bright lighting for O.s. They tend to live at depths below 10 m - often to 20 or 30 m. If you are trying to support live coral, the animal will need a long, dark burrow.

Roy

[catdoc]

Can you explain how bright is too bright for O.s.? Is my plan for a 55 watt PC too much? The tank is actually lit by only 18w right now so maybe I should leave it at that.

[dwarfatize]

And because I know there are sever Cilita keepers on here and I plan on upgrading my lights, How much light is too much for a cilita?

[amber2461]

Originally posted by Gonodactylus
I am assuming that this species from Fiji is small - under 2 inches - and has white meral spots. It is probably in the genus Gonodactylellus. The most likely species would be G. affinis, G. incipiens or G. childi.

Roy

Thank you Dr Roy

I will look out for the white meral spots. It is under 2 inches but until now I haven't been able to find out if it is a male of a female.

Other than that, it is a well loved mantis shrimp. Thanks for giving me names, this way I can check it up on the web, would you recommend me a website to go to see the abovementioned genus that you posted?

Thanks and sorry for the late reply, I just got back from Penang to check on my folks after the Tsunami and found out that you replied my mail almost immediately after I posted it. Many thanks again.

Cheers
Marge

[danskim]

ok, long, dark burrow it is then