[untamed]

Originally Posted by justinl

nice to hear about another mantis lover.

12 mantids will almost definitely not coexist. If you wan't to have coexisting mantids make sure you have lots and lots of holes in your LR (wennerae chill in holes in LR, not sand) of DIFFERING size. The only problem i see you having is the fact that they are wennerae and are one of the more aggressive mantids. Don't expect great results, but in a 400gal with lots of holey LR i expect a few will coexist quite nicely.

Do you mind posting a pic of the green mantis you got in the 2gal? How big is the mantis? No fully grown adult species i know of are recommended in a 2gal.

Who knows how many I might end up with in the next 400 lbs of rock?...If the average is 2 per rock, they must live in tight proximity in the wild. I might never know how many I actually have. There will certainly be lots of holes to occupy.

I doubt that my fellow is very happy in his 2 gallon. He's got enough space to zip around in there, but it must be pretty boring all by himself. He gets a hermit crab for entertainment every now and then. He's very tame, but I'm still not comfortable feeding him by hand.

I got him in March, 2004 in a shipment of Florida LR. He spent the first 6 months in my 30 gallon hex before I noticed him and moved him to the 2 gallon he's in now. Over that time, I think he's grown to be no more than 1.75".

He has tunnelled out a large portion of the rock on the left. His entrance is underneath it.

He'll move into the new tank as soon as it is ready.



One of his meals! This was just a terrible thing to watch and listen to. It went on for hours and hours with the mantis slowly whacking this crab into itty-bitty pieces.