the mantis cube
 

well heres my new pride an joy, my starfire cube with a mantis i just got from elite, these have to be one of the most interesting critters ive seen. i hope he likes his new home! hes a haptosquilla stoliura



http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/4204/dscn2432py9.jpg

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/4710/dscn2433ln8.jpg

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3919/dscn2435rw7.jpg

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/8539/dscn2437in4.jpg

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/9223/dscn2438ei4.jpg

Looks awesome, JOSH. Is he going to eat your snail(s)?!

he might, the astrea is kinda a test, its pretty big so he might leave it alone unless hes starving but i plan to feed him lots of mysis so hopfully i can keep some snails

Haha,where have I seen this tank befour....haha.Nice find,I am looking for a mantis too.Somthing to fill out my 5g.

haha yah i had some inspration, elite is suppose to get in like 5 manis on monday

^^do they have a site?

Just a quick heads up, a full grown mantis can shatter a glass aquarium. At least crack it. It might b wise to look into an acrylic tank with a Mantis. I have personally seen a cracked tank from a mantis. Just a little heads up.

yup ive done alot of research on these guys, this breed stays small and could never have the power to break glass, well theres always the possibilty i guess, but in most cases its the ones 6" plus

You would have to get the shrimp pretty mad for it to break the glass. I have a 6inch peacock, and he is pretty tame. Unless you put something alive in there. I'am pretty sure they recognize people and are not threatendnless provoked. Anyways great looking tank and a pretty cool shrimp. By the way what type of lighting are you useing?

power compacts for now, might do one of those vipers down the road

Awesome tank and critter!

I used to have one that looked almost exactly the same, but the green was a tad darker. Enjoy him, they definetly are neat!

Chris

Mine (also small) disturbed me from across the entire house with his banging against the clear plastic front pane of his tank....a small spider was walking across the tank!

Tip: Blue leg hermits are very affordable and make a great party show for guests. (a show not recommended for small children, however...too much violence)

Beautiful tank. Nothing makes me happier than to see this design catching on. Keep it up!
- Chad

thanks fish,

still no smashing, he ate a shrimp pellet the first night, i didnt feed him last night and i came home today and he hasnt touched any of the hermits.

and i cant figure out why some zoo's arnt opening now that the mantis is in there, before they were always open

when a hermit comes by my mantis just poked him so he hides, doesnt try to hammer him or anything

couple more pics i added some more rubble for him to hide in looks like hes enjoying it

http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/8551/dscn2444jm7.jpg

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/7447/dscn2445zk0.jpg

look left theres dinner!!!!

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/8185/dscn2446id1.jpg

moving some rocks making some new holes
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/6075/dscn2447ov8.jpg

How big is the hermit?
I find that it's easy to overestimate the power of the small smashers... it was that way for me and Ike. Through a little trial and error I fouind what size he was capeable of handleing. Your snail is safe... unless the mantis takes the patient approach and hammers away at it for years.

- Chad

i have one that is really small too and he hasnt bothered him ither, haha maybe that explains why he tryed to rip the hermit out of the shell and not smash his shell

i dropped in another shrimp pellet and he flew out for it instantly

Mine's not much more than 1.5", and he makes pretty quick work of an average hermit crab. Well...it might not be quick...it usually takes a few hours.

I found that with Ike, hermits and snails with fingernail-sized shells were like candy to him and he really had to work to open up a thumbnail sized one.
Oh, and a mantis that size would not be able to break the glass of your tank, so no worries.

- Chad

well i got ten small blue leggs on order so we'll see what happens, varoius sizes so maybe some willl stay alive to help clean the tank

The zoo's are probably not opening , because he is walking on them.

Never underestimate these little buggers.

I got a 2" mantis from Kari here on the board and the little bugger smashed some of the plastic grating out of one of the plastic hang on cages that I kept it in for one night. (Just about escaped into my reef.)

I put it in a small Azoo acrylic to house it and within a couple of weeks he cracked that.

I gave him to another person here on the board and he cracked that persons sump. That guy put him into a jar (Because it was late in the evening) and was going to bring him to Albert at Gold the next day after work. The next day he returns home from work and finds the little mantis dead in a cracked (Mostly empty.) jar.

:lol:

wow that sounds like one mantis in major need of anger management. IMO any mantis over 1.5 inches has the potential to break glass but unless they're over 6 inches the likelyhood of a cracked tank is very low. there are stories, but they're rare. If you have an acrylic tank with sufficient volume to have a happy mantis, you should be able to sleep without worries.

well MC hammer looked lonley so i got him a friend!
also moves my rockwork around i like it alot better

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/6339/dscn2451jn8.jpg

my newest coral
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/1460/dscn2452pj3.jpg

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/9947/dscn2453bf2.jpg

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/2605/dscn2454yr1.jpg

ive done some research on this type of mantis and from what i have read hes not really interactive, so im hoping i can trade him for a smithii which ive herd are really active and interesting

I had the very same species of mantis for a year or so. She would come out of her cave to eat but that's about it. I rarely seen her moving about other than to get food I had put in the tank. She got along just fine with a fuzzy dwarf lionfish.

yeah thats just like this one, nice colors but only comes out for food, otherwise hes in his cave, not sure what other types are active though, there tough to find in calgary

well i snapped a pic of him in action grabbing a hermit, as well hes found a new home under my zoo's

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/940/dscn2456rt4.jpg

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2333/dscn2459qa6.jpg

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/9647/dscn2461bl6.jpg

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/4254/dscn2463hl1.jpg

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http://img271.imageshack.us/img271/4324/dscn2466mt7.jpg

http://img271.imageshack.us/img271/5701/dscn2468qy4.jpg

http://img271.imageshack.us/img271/5433/dscn2470lp5.jpg

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/924/dscn2471eg1.jpg

G. smithii are generally more interactive but I would give the guy a chance. Usually they are shy at the start and once they warm up to your presence (which means food to them) and their new home they sometimes get more sociable.

Yes...mine isn't the same species, but over the years he has become increasingly "friendly". (Not so friendly that I go sticking my hand in there too much) He comes out whenever he sees me near.

speaking of sticking hands in mantis tanks...
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics...a_backside.htm

note: dont try this at home kids!