mantis shrimp

[rayman45]

anyone keep them
i was gunna get a pecock mantis untill i found out they break the glass digging

[piranha45]

mantis shrimp can be personable, but their reputation preceeds them-- they are to crustaceans, what piranhas are to fish. Overrated, overhyped. Thats not to say they are bad pets, but don't buy into all the exaggeration about them,.

Noone I've met has EVER had their mantis break their tank, and while some individual mantises can be thugs, many (more like, MOST) are shy and passive and can be safely kept with almost anything, it really depends on the individual shrimp.

[guppy]

Don't trust them with any thing. They can kill fish bigger than they are. In the phillipines there is one that reaches 10" and is very tasty. If you try to handle a live one you will BLEED!

[Jay R.]

nicknamed finger crushers for a reason!!

[piranha45]

if you grab a piranha with your bare hands, you are going to get something bit off. if you grab a grown mantis shrimp with your bare hands, you are going to get something smashed, or deeply speared.

now that i think of it though, these guys could probably be handled in a manner similar to lobsters, dont ya think?

[neoprodigy]

they taste like shrimps!

[Jay R.]

now that i think of it though, these guys could probably be handled in a manner similar to lobsters, dont ya think?


give it a shot!
tell me how it works out for ya!

[piranha45]

jerk :P

[rayman45]

i saw 1 for the frist time a few days ago

attacking the glass at me
i want 1

[iheartfishies]

Some guy had a video of his mantis shrimp fighting a crayfish...

It was awesome.

The mantis beat the effin eff outta him.

They are quick as balls.

I've never seen one in person though. :(

[piranha45]

you saw slyie's Grimreefers.com video. i have two mantis/crayfish videos on my comp, need to get neo to upload those too. theres a grimreefers.com banner on one of them tho :P

[Rui]

I have kept a small green one - have absolutley no idea what it really was. Most LFS will just get them in as 'mantis shrimp', irregardless of size or color it seems. I got mine around 2", threw it in my sump (I have live rock in it) and saw it 4 times. Pieces of shrimp and other meats dissappeared for about a month, but eventually I started noticing that the fireworms were the only consumers..never saw it again, and I can only assume it is gone..

I did see another 2" inch 'blue' mantis shrimp at the LFS the other day, and in the same tank was a 3 inch yellow-head jawfish, and a few hermits..The mantis was out and about, didn't attack the other inhabitants at all. I personally wouldn't trust them with anything though.

[guppy]

I have kept a small green one - have absolutley no idea what it really was. Most LFS will just get them in as 'mantis shrimp', irregardless of size or color it seems. I got mine around 2", threw it in my sump (I have live rock in it) and saw it 4 times. Pieces of shrimp and other meats dissappeared for about a month, but eventually I started noticing that the fireworms were the only consumers..never saw it again, and I can only assume it is gone..

I did see another 2" inch 'blue' mantis shrimp at the LFS the other day, and in the same tank was a 3 inch yellow-head jawfish, and a few hermits..The mantis was out and about, didn't attack the other inhabitants at all. I personally wouldn't trust them with anything though.
The few people I know who keep them on purpose got them in large shipments of liverock by accident and keep them alone in nano tanks

[rayman45]

http://www.oceanfootage.com/stockfootage/Shrimp+Mantis////?DVfSESSCKIE=55f5847b124444428606e5b076cdc14a356eb d8c

[guppy]

I love these guys but they kill every thing, Banded Mantis Shrimp from Coral sea, Salt Water only, 8-10" , They can break your glass, they can break your heart, thrd hand story I heard was a 10" killing a 12" puffer.

[got bait?]

I have two in a 100gal reef. I love them.my snails feel otherwise. I have feed them by hane a number of times, They are only about 3" long though. Both are smashers I got from LR.com as hitchikers. The cool thing is how ofter they change colors based on which rock they are in at the time.

[piranha45]

that's awesome. As far as you can tell, are your two guys going to stay around that size, or will they get bigger?

[got bait?]

They will get bigger, but not as big as the Peacock or the other spearers in the gulf.

piranha45.....
I love your avitar. I had a 7 inch Red Terrror fall victim to my Red Tail cat. Ultimately the Red Terror got the last word. The cat ended up regurgitating him up two days later and subsequently had stomach injuries. That good old cichlid dorsal fin only folds one way.
I miss them both.

[piranha45]

:uhoh:


That ain't a red terror, bro :shakehead


Amphilophus urophthalmus, female. Fresh-caught by user wckedmidas in a southern Florida canal.

Yeah, and you always though festae couldn't be approached in terms of beauty? eh? EH? :woot:

[got bait?]

Thanks for the ID lesson. :lipsseale

I too have caught a few fish and added to my tank (green sunfish, cra..ppie, bluegill and Red ear). Just wish I lived in a warmer climate so I could add some free SW fish. Now I have a 100 gal reef that I have caught some sand crabs at the beech and added to the reef.

[Endy Valenzuela]

I had one in my 65 gallon reef tank and i had to take tank apart dip all the live rock in fresh water to get him out believe me you dont want one in your tank with your fish they will kill them. I guess if you want to keep them by them self is ok if you like does bastards....

[Junkzoo]

Yup, some people keep them in a species only tank, are cool to look at , and are super ornery,,,

Another name for them is "Thumb Splitters"

We had one at the shop i had ,10+ yrs ago, it in fact broke the tank it was in.
spent the remaining time we had it , in a acrylic holding tank, til we sold it.

[DeLgAdO]

nicknamed finger crushers for a reason!!



its thumb splitter not finger crusher

[DeLgAdO]

Anyways, I work at my citys wildlife refuge and we keep one of these guys in a display tank with a couple of bat stars and hes pretty mellow except when we first got him HE WAS A PISSED OFF LITTLE SHRIMP!!!! whats different about him is that he (that is, his species) lived in our bay waters at san diego in the sweet water marsh, i never new that their was a coldwater species of the mantis shrimp.

[Jay R.]

its thumb splitter not finger crusher

it's neither!
it can only be called a digit destroyer or you will get arrested! :headshake

[DeLgAdO]

LOL

[finfeather]

mantis shrimp our crazy, peacocks are cool, but they are all dangeroius.

[finfeather]

is he a spearer or smasher

[Fugu]

I use to catch them with a net when I lived in the Bahamas, all my fishes and other critters came from a large area of rocky tidepools.

The reef shop near Toronto sells them, some are quite large. I know they eat these things in Japan as sushi toppings, called Shako. Supposed to cure bed wetting?

[guppy]

I use to catch them with a net when I lived in the Bahamas, all my fishes and other critters came from a large area of rocky tidepools.

The reef shop near Toronto sells them, some are quite large. I know they eat these things in Japan as sushi toppings, called Shako. Supposed to cure bed wetting?
one in my bed would cure alot of things

[Mattcomptonassvanhorn]

I had a friend that kept a mantis shrimp and it never broke his glass but one day when he got a spotted grouper that was maybe an inche bigger than thye shrimp gobbled it right up. He also told me that he was feeding the other fish some Krill and the MAntis shot up the wall of his tank and cut him right open, and contaminated his whole tank

[DeLgAdO]

I had a friend that kept a mantis shrimp and it never broke his glass but one day when he got a spotted grouper that was maybe an inche bigger than thye shrimp gobbled it right up. He also told me that he was feeding the other fish some Krill and the MAntis shot up the wall of his tank and cut him right open, and contaminated his whole tank

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!!! :omg: