ID, Please?

[Zen Reeferer]

Just got some new LR and found this guy peeking out of a 'hole' in the rock.
This was the best of 54 shots:

It's brown 'eyes' blink randomly (not at the same time) There is no room in it's crevasse for a shell, (is about 1/2" wide at the widest). It has bluish-green 'feeler' claws and is curious about light, but not curious enough to get a good shot of it. The thing behind it is not a shell, it's part of the live rock.

Am wonderin' if it's a good thingy, or a bad thingy.
Thank you...Jim

 

[chris&barb]

looks like a mantis shrimp to me

 

[Curtswearing]

Chris and Barb are exactly correct. You can tell from my signature that I like them more than most people. At least you know where yours is.

 

[wrightme43]

Super cool critters. Can be a pest, but are just stupid cool.
If you dont want it in your reef, you might talk to Curt about setting up a nano and just moving that rock into it.

 

[Zen Reeferer]

Quick reply, thanks a bunch.
It's in my 7 gal. glass 'frag' tank with assorted zoos, shrooms, snails and crabs. Sooooo...is it a bad thingy, or a good thingy, lol?

Does it have any special needs and will it affect the softies I'm ordering from garf.org?

-Jim

 

[Curtswearing]

If the entrance to it's den is too big, it might grab a frag or two and shove them near the entrance. If you are concerned about that, put some rubble near the den so it will use that instead.

If you don't want it to kill all of your snails, make sure you feed it. Frozen Formula One food and frozen cocktail shrimp work well.

Here's a good thread to read. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11143&highlight=mantis

EDIT: If it does grab a frag or two, get them back with tongs and not your hands. It won't break your hand but it does NOT feel good.

 

[Zen Reeferer]

Ok Curt, I read your link and it's very informative...thank you.
I know the picture isn't that great, but can you tell what kind of mantis it is?

I'm a newbie, so I of course have a couple of questions.

I've really been trying to talk wife into a larger frag tank, but we've done this before with freshwater...Tell her I need another tank for a 'hospital tank', then overstock the first till we need to fill the hospital tank too. Then we needed another one. Had 5 tanks throughout our house by the time the madness was over, lol. (never needed a hospital tank once)
Am going to use this situation to try and get a bit larger tank for our new mantis. But, like most married men, there must be a dire need, a life must be saved, there must be a cost saving way of doing it, and oh, yeah...must have permission from the wife, lol.

If I can get a new tank, would 15-20 gal. acrylic be ok over the long haul? It's in a 7 gal glass right now. Large live rock for it's den?
DSB? Sugar-fine or a coarser type of live sand?
If it is going to go after the clean-up crew, will I be cleaning algae off the glass from now on?
Can I use this tank as a frag tank, or do I really need to keep it 'species only'? Will have no fish.
Sorry for all of the questions, but I really appreciate your time and knowledge.
-Jim

 

[Curtswearing]

Ok Curt, I read your link and it's very informative...thank you.
I know the picture isn't that great, but can you tell what kind of mantis it is?

It's a smasher because it is living in live rock. Unfortunately, I can't identify species by the eyes alone. The coloration clues you gave me are useful but not enough. That's assuming that you are looking for the species. If you have any pictures of it's clubs or shots when it's not in the rock, that would be useful.

If I can get a new tank, would 15-20 gal. acrylic be ok over the long haul? It's in a 7 gal glass right now. Large live rock for it's den?
DSB? Sugar-fine or a coarser type of live sand?
If it is going to go after the clean-up crew, will I be cleaning algae off the glass from now on?
Can I use this tank as a frag tank, or do I really need to keep it 'species only'? Will have no fish.
Sorry for all of the questions, but I really appreciate your time and knowledge.
-Jim

HMMM....another MTS (Multiple Tank Syndrome) victim.

Don't apologize for the questions...that's how I learned reefing and how others who are too shy to ask learn as well.

15~20g would be completely fine whether it is glass or acrylic unless you get really into mantis and someday want a Peacock Mantis. While they are one of the most colorful and most interactive, they also completely ruin your tank from being a frag tank and do require acrylic at some point. Peacock's not only can hurt you with their clubs, they are also the only species that is a hybrid. In other words, they can spear you too. Obviously, this is not a species that I kept fish with.

As far as the care, mantis are messy eaters and a DSB is useful. I've kept a G. wennerae in a BB nano but it was a lot of work. Unlike humans, when they get full, they stop eating. Then they will bury the rest of their food in the sand. I've always preferred the medium sized sand over the oolithic because when they start burying their food, they make a mess. They move into the sand the same way that a leaf-blower moves a pile of leaves. The slightly larger grains should fall immediately vs floating around in the water column. I've never used Southdown so my comments on grain size above are based on logic as opposed to actual experience. I always used a Caribsea sand called Fiji Pink. With the larger sand grains, I have used all of my nano's as frag tanks with no problems. Could I have with smaller or bigger grain sizes??? I don't know.

Don't worry about the algae if you are feeding them the right amount of food. The key is to feed them enough food so that they rarely go after your clean-up crew but not so much that they bury most of it. If they aren't banging new holes into your LR and expanding their den, you occasionally want them to take out one of your snails or crabs to exercise their clubs. Then you withhold feeding for a while and it will happen naturally.

 

[Zen Reeferer]

K, thanks. Cool...a new tank. (hopefully)

 

[Wibbly Pig]

Chris and Barb are exactly correct. You can tell from my signature that I like them more than most people. At least you know where yours is.

Is that what those are? (I thought it was alien boobies or something)

 

[steve-s]

Here's a site you may find of interest.

http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/

Cheers
Steve

 

[Curtswearing]

Is that what those are? (I thought it was alien boobies or something)

LOL!!! See my updated signature so that others aren't confused in the future.

BTW...did you make it to SEASL's Frag Trade last weekend? I met so many new people but I didn't ask if any of them were Wibbly Pig.