My mantis shrimps

[venwu225]

Here are some of pictures I took of my mantis shrimps:

G.glaburous

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/gg.JPG

Gonodactylaceus ternatensis

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/gt1.JPG

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/gt2.JPG

G.chiragra

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/gc2.JPG

http://students.washington.edu/venwu/gc3.JPG

[iheartfishies]

Oh they're neat!!
and colorful!
Or is that just the corals?!
Their pinchers scare me, aren't you nervous cleaning your tank?

[guppy]

Beauties, they make you bleed yet?

[mkpeters6]

nice mantis' and nice pics you got a pretty good collection of them

are they in seperate tanks?

[I3u11he4d]

Those are cool,ya always hear of people trying to get rid of them not keepin them.I wonder why?I mean besides the "being shot by a 22."and "breaking the glass" reasons.Are they in acrylic tanks or what?

[mon]

nice nice... they indeed camoflague well...

[venwu225]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

The animals are of course, in separate enclosures. The GT has a 20, GC has a 10, and the GP has a 10 as well. All tanks are nano reefs. And the pinchers are actually dactyls that carries a calcified hitting surface.

They are very powerful, the green gc left a neat dent on my middle finger
nail that hurt like a mother****er.

And when i clean the tank they all stalk me, but in a very secretive mode. Essentially you have NO idea when or where they are going to strike.
Its just all the sudden from somewhere: " Bam" and I scream like a wuss
and grimence in pain.

Other than that, they are extremely personable and do recognize me and my
roommate.

Finally, they are all kept in class tanks, it takes a fairly large species to punch
through class. My are all around 3-4 inches.

[guppy]

Very cool shrimps. where they hard to find? they are not something I see for sale.

[softturtle]

A while back, I had one try to attack me at a lfs. I was looking at some fish when I heard a loud clicking noise, looked down to see a 6 in. shrimp trying to get me through the tank.

[lizardfishman]

nice shrimps. how did you get them? i've seen some wild ones but dont try to catch them for obvious reasons.

[venwu225]

I got them from separate fish stores at around 30 dollars a piece.

They are relatively rare around the Washington area

[jenBLKAROWANA]

I would enter one of those pics in the PHOTO OF THE MONTH contest! Those are really nice pictures! Very cool shrimp!!!

Jen ;)

[Nic]

beautiful shrimp excellent pictures i love the mantis shrimp was going to get one till my friends son destroyed my tank but anyway excellent pics :clap :mwave:

[Arapaimaman]

I caught one when I was fishing and started to pick it up from the deck on the boat I had charted.The captain grab my rod and started yelling at me.Once we both calmed down he grab an empty beer can and put it in front of the mantis and it hit the can and the mantis cut the can in half.The captain said that coulc have been your fingers.

Now I know what a Mantis is.I still have ten digets

[kentobizmol]

yup, has it broken your tank yet?
they break the tank or fishHAHA with the strong water current they make when they snap those claws.
liveaquaria has them often
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pcatid=497

[AquaticAggression]

very cool pictures

[ogre929]

nice lookin shrimp! Have you thought about getting any gobies to coexist with them? They are really cool little guys. Just becareful when they get bigger. I've seen some scary ones in the san fran area.

[loach43]

Wow, it takes all types. I've never heard of anyone who purposely kept mantis shrimps. Great photos. Thanx for sharing!

[dragonfishgirl]

Now those are monsters! Great pics.

[rallysb1tch]

Those suckers look mean!

[nativelover]

i was in my float tube in Balboa Bay down here in cali, and one crwled on my leg, i had no clue what it was so i netted it and isliced throught the net, after about 15 minutes of "fighting" with it, i got it on my hook and used it for bait. caught a 3 ft grey smoothhound.

it was red and orange tho, no blues or purples like yours.

[Mattcomptonassvanhorn]

Not trying to put your flame out but I thought that mantis shrimp were bastards and killed the other fish in tha aquarium.

[eng55]

Beautiful shrimp. Have never seen any that were as nicely colored as yours though. If I were you I would put some live fish in there, some goldfish or something. Watch them murder it and rip it in half. Good luck with them. Watch the fingers around them.
Later
E

[venwu225]

thanks for all the reply, the stomatopods are actually not shrimps but more related to isopods, and they make wonderful interactive companions.

To each's own, most monsterfish we keep in the forum are pretty much: "bastards and killed the other fish in tha aquarium." But we all still love them with a burning passion. :)

My shrimps actually do not prefer fish, and choosing crustceans and gastropods over them.

And I never feed fresh water anything to saltwater anything, always sticks with fresh to fresh, salt to salt. Well, except krill and prawns for predators I guess, but never goldfish to anything, those are disease vectors and a sure way to complicate your monsterfishkeeping experience. :D

[Alx510]

i hear mantis shrimp in my tanks, but never see them. haven't had any fish disappear lately though, since i decided to stick to species who stay out of the rock most of the time

[mainy999]

Those are amazing!! I've heard all over about people getting rid of mantis shrimp...are they really that much of a pest??

[RHO]

cool looking mantis!

[tat2punk]

I have a mantis shirmp, he is real neat. Most people do nto like them because they get them in live rock and do not know it. Next thing you know you are missing fish, snails and about anything that lives in your tank. Thats why people consider them pests.

I read about them and decided that i needed one. I just went to the LFS and told them the next time they get one in to give me a call, wasn't 2 days later that someone brought one in that was riding along with the live rock they bought.

I have him in a 6G nano cube. They are neat to watch when you put a crab in there. The last time I fed him as the crab went to grab him while he was attacking it, he knocked off both of its big claws. After that the crab was defenceless and the mantis popped his shell open with a couple hits.

What kind of camera are you using to get them pics, they look great. I have a Nikon D70 and I am tryingt o find a good lens for taking closeup pics like that of my fish.

[jelly]

Great pics, Photography is definatly a skill I lack.

I am thinking of setting up a Nano reef with a Mantis Shrimp. How long do these guys life for?

Thanks

[rottbo]

i know where to get some beauties if anyones interested pm me>>>>>>>>>>>