Quote:
Originally Posted by rudy
Bahhh.
If he breaks the glass he will be even more rare as I have never heard of one actually succeed at this.
I have heard the mantis break the glass story so many times yet nobody has actually had one do it. I personally don't believe it, but I may eat my words one day.
If Stinky keeps his in a 50 gallon glass and it is o.k. I think anything is. His is a beast!
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I'm with Tim on this. I think that the smashed tank story is told and retold by excited mantis fans listing all of the awesome qualities of these animals to the unconverted (I've done it myself). The result of all these combined tales is the perception that a mantis shrimp does nothing but smash glass all day. I have still never heard of a confirmed story from the source - it is always "this person had it happen". But if you say Dr. Roy had it happen then I should be able to look it up and have my first true account. Still - 1/2" acrylic? I think it would take constant, repeated attempts to burrow a hole through the acrylic. If my peacock could open up a 1mm snail without having to work on it for hours, I would put more stock in the stories.
I agree with Justin though that every precaution should be taken with a valuable animal like that. An extended power outage is a much more plausible danger.
- Chad
Edit:
Gary, I've heard your account before and have never been surprised at the little plastic breeder box or betta bowl breaking. If the crack in the sump was actually caused by the mantis, how thick was the sump glass. The mason jar couldn't have been much thicker than 1mm - even I wouldn't feel comfortable with a mantis with glass that thin
- Especially such a confined space, for so long that that mantis would actually have a reason to try and get out.