Curtswearing
Mantisfreak
Justin,
Welcome to Reef Frontiers and thanks for your excellent post.
To try and explain my post, let me explain that there are soooo many stories of how all mantis are going to break your tank. There are most certainly numerous species that can do this but not most seen in the hobby. There is also the famous story out there of the surgeon who was diving and he decided to grab a large mantis with his bare hands.
He ended up ruining his career because this mantis shattered bones in his hands and he didn't heal up properly. Again, while there are species that can do this, most found in the hobby aren't capable of breaking your bones.
Let me also explain the glove comment. A glove will NOT stop the damage from a mantis strike. Depending on the material that the glove is made of, your skin will definately split but the glove will stretch and remain intact. Like I said, it definately hurts. I wear gloves in my tank not for mantis, I do it to avoid Mycobacterium marinum. I have on occasion gone in ungloved but NEVER if I have any type of open cut and frankly that's my main concern with a mantis strike. An open cut in saltwater getting exposed to Mycobacterium marinum. For those who've never heard of this, please read this article. Mycobacterium marinum The fish disease you can catch by Steven Pro
Here's a mantis injury.
Here's Mycobacterium marinum
Welcome to Reef Frontiers and thanks for your excellent post.
To try and explain my post, let me explain that there are soooo many stories of how all mantis are going to break your tank. There are most certainly numerous species that can do this but not most seen in the hobby. There is also the famous story out there of the surgeon who was diving and he decided to grab a large mantis with his bare hands.
He ended up ruining his career because this mantis shattered bones in his hands and he didn't heal up properly. Again, while there are species that can do this, most found in the hobby aren't capable of breaking your bones.Let me also explain the glove comment. A glove will NOT stop the damage from a mantis strike. Depending on the material that the glove is made of, your skin will definately split but the glove will stretch and remain intact. Like I said, it definately hurts. I wear gloves in my tank not for mantis, I do it to avoid Mycobacterium marinum. I have on occasion gone in ungloved but NEVER if I have any type of open cut and frankly that's my main concern with a mantis strike. An open cut in saltwater getting exposed to Mycobacterium marinum. For those who've never heard of this, please read this article. Mycobacterium marinum The fish disease you can catch by Steven Pro
Here's a mantis injury.
Here's Mycobacterium marinum
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