Is this a Mantis Shrimp?

[BlueAbyss]

Originally Posted by justinl

you got it backwards. almost all of tank breaks by mantids are because the mantis is digging a hole and wants to smash through the mysterious clear obstruction. Tank breaks in general are rare, and side panel breaks are rare within those. Another "common" (still rare) thing is having a mantis chip the edge of glass panels; usually not structurally damaging.

they can throw rocks but nothing larger than themselves and not very hard. certainly not hard enough to do any damage to anything.

Only a handful can actually break glass. Mostly only the large species like large Odontodactylids like O. scyllarus (peacock). G. chiragra is a smaller species but also has the hardest hit for its body size of all Stomatopods (although not the actual hardest i think) and can break through 1/4" glass.

Excellent info, I'm now less scared of stomatopods

I still wouldn't put one in a 10 gallon tank though.

[AHHope]

by the colour id say a female chiragra
our larger looks very similar to the one pictured and we keep her in a 32g cube
as for tank mates she lives with a scooter bleny, a blue damsel, a chromis a LARGE emerald crab and a couple hermits as she went on a killing spree over the last 2 days
our smaller mantis is kept with a snowflake eel and a couple gobbies
they are the most clever inverts i have ever encountered and keepind them is a great pleasure
only once have i seen either of them fight with a crab and can hand feed the both of them
please keep her or find her a good home

[newreefer_59]

Appears far too smart for my bottle trap......tho it did catch my cleaner shrimp, lol.

Any other strategies I could use?

[o.c.d.]

Have you located where it sleeps if so you can (I know this sucks) pull the rock and put it in your other tank. Or if you want to keep the rock in the display, pull rock and get your spear, war paint,red bull ect. and go mantis hunting. O ya if you do need to fashion a spear metal coat hangers work great. I also have a acrylic trap with a drop door your welcome to try it but you have to be there to drop the door so unless you want to wait it out. Maybe that's where the red bull comes in.

[sitandwatch]

I had to remove the rock that mine lived, then broke apart its hole to get it out.

Darn things are smart