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  #1  
Old 04/02/2007, 08:47 AM
rudyistaken rudyistaken is offline
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O. Japonicus

http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u198/rudykane/

Here are some new pics of him in a 56 gallon (his new home). There is also a shot of the tank. I would tell you where his cave it however in all honesty he does not really have one. he is always out. I wonder about his as he is a deep water mantis whether they are more inclined to hang out side their den?

His death toll is 3 damsels, 2 hairy crabs and a ton of snails. The damsel stalks are amazing.

BTW the rock and filter are bothe fully cycled. I was not going to move it into this tank for a while but him in a 14 gallon oceanic was crazy. He was going completely squirly in there.
I do not anticipate any issues.

The tank is 30 inches by 18 deep, by 24 high. As they are from deeper water I wanted to get a deeper tank so the light does not bother it. (It didn't seem to in the other tank) . Heater is at 76 degrees.

I fully intend on keeping this as a loaner with damsels for it to have a bit of fun.

I usually don't name my mantis, but this guy gets one. Kane
  #2  
Old 04/02/2007, 09:27 AM
Gonodactylus Gonodactylus is offline
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This animal is a burrower in sandy, shelly substrates. It's closest relative is O. scyllarus, so I suspect the behavior is similar making several foraging runs a day. I'm not sure what to predict with respect to activity patterns. O. s is often active at night as well as during the day. Is this animal occasionally out and about at night?

Roy
  #3  
Old 04/02/2007, 09:32 AM
rudyistaken rudyistaken is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by Gonodactylus
This animal is a burrower in sandy, shelly substrates. It's closest relative is O. scyllarus, so I suspect the behavior is similar making several foraging runs a day. I'm not sure what to predict with respect to activity patterns. O. s is often active at night as well as during the day. Is this animal occasionally out and about at night?

Roy
Sure is Roy.

I will say though it is quite a bit more active than the peacock. (for now anyway)

All peacocks I have had have defined caves that they will go to within the first day. I have now had this one in two tanks and still no cave chosen. Perhaps this is not a good thing...

It just seems to roam aimlessly carrying rocks around.

Last edited by rudyistaken; 04/02/2007 at 09:54 AM.
  #4  
Old 04/02/2007, 01:34 PM
Pea-brain Pea-brain is offline
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Can we expect a roy's list for O. japonicus, or not because you haven't yet studied them? Also, when can we expect T. spinosocarinatus on Roy's list? Keep us updated rudyistaken. I would love to know how your uber rare species acts! (I really like it when I get to use the word uber in a sentence ) Good luck!
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  #5  
Old 04/02/2007, 05:21 PM
rudyistaken rudyistaken is offline
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If you don't mind I am just going to update this a lot in the next little while as he is at my office I don't have to go anywhere to see what he is up to.

He still has no den. Close thing he has to it is occaisionally he will go between a piece of lava rosk sitting against a piece of live rock. For the most part he wanders.

Today you can add pellets to his list of taken food. I fed some to the damsels and he was eating them as if they were candy. He is having a difficult time catching the damsels in he new home due to the space so he is visibly frustrated. He will chase them for a while and then seemingly give up.

Of the mantis I have had by far the most outgoing. Could care less who is in the room and who is by his tank. He just keeps on doing what he does best.
  #6  
Old 04/02/2007, 06:02 PM
mattyice mattyice is offline
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well i do consider taking the light down alot more on his tank, this is a species that is going to be found deeper then 40-50 feet and reall should only have an actinic bulb over the tank since its from that depth, i could see shell disease happening fast in this creature
  #7  
Old 04/02/2007, 06:58 PM
justinl justinl is offline
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do we mind the frequent updates? are you kidding, of course not!
  #8  
Old 04/02/2007, 09:44 PM
rudyistaken rudyistaken is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by mattyice
well i do consider taking the light down alot more on his tank, this is a species that is going to be found deeper then 40-50 feet and reall should only have an actinic bulb over the tank since its from that depth, i could see shell disease happening fast in this creature
Not that I disagree, but I have 2x24 watt t5 24 inch bulbs on a 24 inch deep tank. I have one actinic and anther 14k. Are you saying go with a normal actinic flourescent?
  #9  
Old 04/02/2007, 09:59 PM
justinl justinl is offline
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i think what he's suggesting is ditch the 14k and only have a single actinic.
  #10  
Old 04/02/2007, 10:18 PM
mattyice mattyice is offline
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that still might be too much, without knowing the depth this animal is coming from, even if you look at pictures of peacocks in the wild most of the water is a deep blue color, hinting only deep blue light is whats penetrating, this animal could be freaked out by the bright (what seems normal to us) lights, look at the size of its eyes, showing that from its natural habitat it is quite dark and vision is a key role in his hunting
  #11  
Old 04/03/2007, 01:37 PM
rudyistaken rudyistaken is offline
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I came in this morning to find that Kane has been busy last night. Most of the damsels have a pair of bruises on their body, none were missing though. I felt bad for him this morning so gave him a piece of squid. In all honesty though I felt worse for the damsels!

Still no cave. He is eating the squid right out in the open.

I think I am going to take Matty ices advise though and ditch the dual flourscent and go for one actinic. either than of change the 14k to an actinic and leave the current fixture.
  #12  
Old 04/03/2007, 03:52 PM
mattyice mattyice is offline
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hmm i would say try and start with just one actinic on for now and see what happens, maybe this species moves to shallower water to hunt and its thinking it has to hunt because it thinks its in shallower water, also try and start a burrow for it, undercut a rock that looks like it would make a great cave i did that and within a few hours my peacock had this...



  #13  
Old 04/11/2007, 09:47 AM
rudyistaken rudyistaken is offline
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Just an update on this guy.

He has found a home in a PVC burrow. Spends maybe 30% of his time there.
Still incredibly active and kills damsels daily. I feel a bit bad for them as they swim around with large bruises.

I think an acrylic tank will be in his future however after all as he seems to have found joy in hitting the front glass of the tank every time somebody comes near him. He will come out as if he is curious and then will clobber it. He is of no size to break it at this point however it still put chills down my spine.

Definately the coolest mantis I have owned. I am surprised not many are found however as they seem to have no fear of anything or anyone. He will sit on the top of the rock and wait for me to put the syphon in for a tank cleaning and then hit visciously.
  #14  
Old 04/11/2007, 09:47 AM
rudyistaken rudyistaken is offline
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Just an update on this guy.

He has found a home in a PVC burrow. Spends maybe 30% of his time there.
Still incredibly active and kills damsels daily. I feel a bit bad for them as they swim around with large bruises.

I think an acrylic tank will be in his future however after all as he seems to have found joy in hitting the front glass of the tank every time somebody comes near him. He will come out as if he is curious and then will clobber it. He is of no size to break it at this point however it still put chills down my spine.

Definately the coolest mantis I have owned. I am surprised not many are found however as they seem to have no fear of anything or anyone. He will sit on the top of the rock and wait for me to put the syphon in for a tank cleaning and then hit visciously.
  #15  
Old 04/11/2007, 10:30 AM
mattyice mattyice is offline
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damn dude you need to try and get that LFS to locate another one like that for me
  #16  
Old 04/11/2007, 11:15 PM
boxcar182 boxcar182 is offline
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how big is that monster?
  #17  
Old 04/11/2007, 11:28 PM
mattyice mattyice is offline
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by the sound of it about 3-3.5" is my guess, it will exceed 8" fully grown and it will break the glass of that aquarium sooner then you think
  #18  
Old 04/11/2007, 11:52 PM
mattyice mattyice is offline
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by the sound of it about 3-3.5" is my guess, it will exceed 8" fully grown and it will break the glass of that aquarium sooner then you think
  #19  
Old 07/06/2007, 09:28 AM
mattyice mattyice is offline
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so is this mantis still alive? havent heard anything about it in a long time
  #20  
Old 07/07/2007, 03:15 PM
rudyistaken rudyistaken is offline
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Nope died a week or two ago. Survived the molt and died 3 days later with no apparent reason. Ate saturday and dead on sunday morning
  #21  
Old 07/07/2007, 03:31 PM
mattyice mattyice is offline
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im sorry to hear that, it was very nice to see some photos of this extremely rare species and to hear about some of its habits
 


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