Mantis Shrimp

[Chris11]

So im just curious to see if anyone here has kept mantis shrimp or any other marine inverts. I used to have an O. scyllarus and a L. maculata (had to look up the zebra mantis, my mind was telling me it was L. maculata but i was thinking "noooo, maculatas a spider lol)
Both were absolutely ferocious and i fed them all live prey... the L. maculata ended up being 10.5" when i sold her. The O. scyllarus i named Butterbean because watching him smash an oyster was spectacular! Watching him beat up stupid Emerald crabs was really fun too! Hope some peeps have some stories or experience!

 

[Tenevanica]

So im just curious to see if anyone here has kept mantis shrimp or any other marine inverts. I used to have an O. scyllarus and a L. maculata (had to look up the zebra mantis, my mind was telling me it was L. maculata but i was thinking "noooo, maculatas a spider lol)
Both were absolutely ferocious and i fed them all live prey... the L. maculata ended up being 10.5" when i sold her. The O. scyllarus i named Butterbean because watching him smash an oyster was spectacular! Watching him beat up stupid Emerald crabs was really fun too! Hope some peeps have some stories or experience!

Never in my private collection have I kept marine inverts, (too much work, not enough time) but I did work at an invertebrate zoo for a while, and the mantis shrimp were one of my responsibilities. These guys are terrifying! I believe we fed them some kind of crayfish (never thought to ask what their preference in feeder shellfish was lol) and when it noticed food, it went totally insane. They have the ability to "punch" the water with their fore-limbs causing a vacuum bubble to form in the water. When this bubble fills itself in, it creates shock-waves with the force of a .22 caliber bullet. It would devastate any food item we put in there! We had to keep it in a tank made of bulletproof acrylic. These do have wonderful personalities though! They rearrange cage decorations to their liking, almost like they think they own the place. It kind of grew on me after a while. That is when I didn't have to stick my hand in the water!

 

[Chris11]

That bubble you speak of is called impaction and if caught on a high speed camera you can see it flash like a miniature explosion, and a "smasher" mantis has one of the fastest strikes on the planet. Have you seen a "spearer" attack? I realy really really wanted to start a cuttlefish tank... but like you inverts are waaaay too much work and not enough time for me lol cephalopods to me seem to be one of the hardest animals to keep in captivity, besides for zoos or aquariums. i used to have a lot of awesome photos of my two stomatopods and a few feeding vids, but they were on my old phone and they were amongst the half that magically disappeared when the phone store guy tranfered my data.

 

[Fishcrunch]

At one point I searched relentlessly for any any dealers selling stomatopods, but they're far and few between. And when you do find a site with some for sale, they normally disappear as quickly as they appear (like DD on liveaquaria). Still, if I found a G. smithii for sale, i'd seriously consider setting up a 10g for it.

 

[Rogerpoco]

Only a loose relation...
I found just a regular old crawfish going across the road,decided t give it a shot.
Almost a year later...It just won't die...
I keep it like a Betta,I suppose,standing water,don't really change it as much as just add water when it evaporates.
I feed it betta food,sometimes fish flakes. Had a snapper once,raised it from an eggtooth baby to a dinner-plate sized monster,on turtle pellets,lol,didn't know better.
Picked up a redclaw crab recently,have had terrible luck with them in aquariums,but keeping it in a kritter keeper,a hide,some gravel,high spots/low spots,standing water,seems to be doing great.

 

[Tenevanica]

That bubble you speak of is called impaction and if caught on a high speed camera you can see it flash like a miniature explosion, and a "smasher" mantis has one of the fastest strikes on the planet. Have you seen a "spearer" attack? I realy really really wanted to start a cuttlefish tank... but like you inverts are waaaay too much work and not enough time for me lol cephalopods to me seem to be one of the hardest animals to keep in captivity, besides for zoos or aquariums. i used to have a lot of awesome photos of my two stomatopods and a few feeding vids, but they were on my old phone and they were amongst the half that magically disappeared when the phone store guy tranfered my data.

I've heard of the light produced by the impaction, but I've never had the chance to see it. Aquatics aren't my thing. You look though the threads on aquarium hobby forums, and people have all kinds of cool marine inverts, but I'm not gonna dedicate my free time to keeping alive a single cephalopod. Besides, my heart lies with insects and the only thing the ocean can offer me in that regard is Halobates.

 

[Chris11]

At one point I searched relentlessly for any any dealers selling stomatopods, but they're far and few between. And when you do find a site with some for sale, they normally disappear as quickly as they appear (like DD on liveaquaria). Still, if I found a G. smithii for sale, i'd seriously consider setting up a 10g for it.

If (or when) you get interested again just try a local saltwater fish store... if they dont have at least one they can order one and they will find it. I forgot to mention i also had a G. smithii that was given to me by the lfs that they found amongst a shipment of live rock, wasnt nearly as exciting as the big ones... she only at small snails and wouldnt eat instantly, id have to put 3 in there every week and one by one during the nights theyd disappear, shattered shells accumulating in the rear left corner lol she was only about 2" when i got her and grew to almost 3" before i sold her.

 

[Chris11]

Only a loose relation...
I found just a regular old crawfish going across the road,decided t give it a shot.
Almost a year later...It just won't die...
I keep it like a Betta,I suppose,standing water,don't really change it as much as just add water when it evaporates.
I feed it betta food,sometimes fish flakes. Had a snapper once,raised it from an eggtooth baby to a dinner-plate sized monster,on turtle pellets,lol,didn't know better.
Picked up a redclaw crab recently,have had terrible luck with them in aquariums,but keeping it in a kritter keeper,a hide,some gravel,high spots/low spots,standing water,seems to be doing great. View attachment 205467 View attachment 205468

Those are cool man, Those crayfish can be vicious!

 

[Rogerpoco]

It just amazes me.
I feel sorta irresponsible,as a keeper,no filtration/oxygenization. Just thought it would be cool to try to keep,if it stayed alive with basic care.
Feel strongly now that even the exotics,blue,orange,etc would do fine in a similar set-up,willing to get/pay for one,but sorta waiting for this one to kick over.
Not sure it's going to,it may be immortal,lol.
It's a cool pet,tho-LPS have nice colors,around 20$,freshwater. I'd recommend one to any multiple pet keeper,can't say others will have same success,but simple,Betta care,feed a couple times a week. The few people that see my "Zoo" notice it,for some reason.

 

[Chris11]

Well, if it needs oxygen it can always just climb out of the water.... most freshwater and marine inverts can survive really low oxygen levels as they are almost always on the water bodys floor. I think what you have is responsible for this.... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ear...merican-Signal-Crayfish-wrecks-UK-waters.html

 

[Tenevanica]

Well, if it needs oxygen it can always just climb out of the water.... most freshwater and marine inverts can survive really low oxygen levels as they are almost always on the water bodys floor. I think what you have is responsible for this.... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ear...merican-Signal-Crayfish-wrecks-UK-waters.html

Lol, I can't tell if A. The article is legit. B. It's a joke. Or C. It's a problem, but the article is blowing it way out of proportion.

 

[Chris11]

Lol, I can't tell if A. The article is legit. B. It's a joke. Or C. It's a problem, but the article is blowing it way out of proportion.

Im glad you caught that humor!

 

[Fishcrunch]

If (or when) you get interested again just try a local saltwater fish store... if they dont have at least one they can order one and they will find it. I forgot to mention i also had a G. smithii that was given to me by the lfs that they found amongst a shipment of live rock, wasnt nearly as exciting as the big ones... she only at small snails and wouldnt eat instantly, id have to put 3 in there every week and one by one during the nights theyd disappear, shattered shells accumulating in the rear left corner lol she was only about 2" when i got her and grew to almost 3" before i sold her.

I've hit up a few local stores in the austin area, asking them to keep an eye open for any hitchhikers they might receive on their rock shipments, but so far I've had no luck. The only two species that are brought in consistently enough to purchase is O. scyllarus and L. maculata, both of which require too much room for me currently.

 

[Chris11]

I've hit up a few local stores in the austin area, asking them to keep an eye open for any hitchhikers they might receive on their rock shipments, but so far I've had no luck. The only two species that are brought in consistently enough to purchase is O. scyllarus and L. maculata, both of which require too much room for me currently.

The O. scyllarus does need at least 25+ gallons... the L. maculata does not. I had my two housed in a split 40 tall with the L. mac only having about 10 or so gallons with about a foot of sand... it made a burrow within the first night and never left it besides its eyes and spears but if you want a sump that would obviously take up a lot of room... i didnt have one and i just changed the water weekly since theyre messy eaters.

 

[myrmecophile]

The crayfish article is probably fairly accurate, they can be incredibly invasive and destructive. On topic, mantis shrimp are utterly cool. I remember seeing a lovely lemon yellow one caught off the So. California coast.

 

[awiec]

I used to have a small green mantis shrimp (N. wennerae I think) for about 4 months (died of old age). I kept it in a kritter keeper within our larger tank which allowed us to feed him safely without him hurting the other fish. Little guy was super cool in that he knew our faces and when we provided him with rock he made his own sand bed over the course of a few weeks. Also threw in some snails and crabs for him to kill, only took out one of them though.

Doing it over again I would provide a reasonably deep sand bed with some live rock and provide snails and a more varied diet. The snails and crabs are mainly there to keep the animal "entertained" as that is when they might smash your tank when they are agitated (they are the world's smartest arthropod after all).