killer shrimp

[rattler]

picked up two different mantis shrimp today, one green and bout 6 inches long, the other mottled and 2 inches long.....hopefully they make it alright in the hotel room tonight an the long haul across the state in the morning....

the big one destroyed a plastic container before getting bagged

 

[thez_yo]

Well take pics for us yay! What kind of habitat are you putting them in? I love tanks... I wish I could have a nice invertibrate tank.

 

[rattler]

each will have a real basic 10 gallon for now, sand live rock ect......unfortunately i live in BFE and its kinda expensive to experiment with tank mates......prolly make a couple of refugiums for plankton production for the wifes 72 gal bowfront on alternating light cycles and give them each one.....

 

[Not a Number]

http://www.killershrimp.com

 

[boxofrain]

10 gallon acrylic I hope...I have seen these shrimp break smaller tanks with their "hammer".
And don't piss them off while cleaning, or they will hammer YOU!

 

[jimscott]

I like Warren's shrimp better!

 

[DragonsEye]

Mantis shrimp are AWESOME! Too bad it is so hard to keep much of anything in a tank with one. Will you be dividing your tank to keep them away from each other?

 

[rattler]

they are in two separate tanks away from each other so they cant even see each other through the glass cause they definitely pay attention to whats going on out side their lil world

 

[rattler]

lil disappointed......for as aggressive as they were at the store the lil buggers are shy in the tanks.....i dont see the big one unless i toss food into the tank and even then he hauls it down his burrow.....see the lil one out and about now and then......been near impossible to get pics of them with the point and shoot......think im gonna have to bring the 40D home with its faster shutter....

 

[DragonsEye]

That might change as they settle in. Assume they have plenty of rocks and plantage scattered around for "cover"? No telling too just how well fed they were kept at the store. They very well may have been more on the "hungry" side there and more aggressive as a result.

 

[rattler]

plenty of cover.....if they were hungry at the shop they are well fed now.....they get a chunk of krill every other day and plan on tossing them a hermit crab a couple times a month to stay exercised(they each got one when i got back from out of town Sunday night).....plus ive tossed in a couple of "liverock crabs" i didnt want to risk leaving in the main tanks in case they get a taste for expensive corals or the like....

 

[Smitty]

can't wait to see some action shots of these little guys at work!

 

[Brokken]

You have them in the sump tank of a 70 gallon aquarium? Isn't that kind of risky considering that if they break their tank (something that mantis shrimp have been known to do) all of the water from the larger tank could end up in your floor? What precautions are you taking to prevent them from attacking the glass?

 

[rattler]

big smashers like the peacocks can break glass.....the lil 2 inch guy is not capable of breaking the glass of a 10 gallon tank......you guys realize there are a whole lot of mantis shrimp species that range in size from 1/2 to 18 inches and not all of them are capable of breaking glass.....in fact most the biggest ones cant cause they are spearers and not smashers.....only real concern is if the big one decides the bottom of the tank is rock and tries to go through it and i put a couple layers of plexi to prevent that....

them breaking tanks is actually really rare and mainly its the large peacocks that were burrowing and hit the bottom of the tank thinking it was rock tried to smash their way through while building their burrows....

 

[Smitty]

Just wandered off to youtube to check these mantis shrimp out.

AWESOME!!

 

[Brokken]

Rattler: The breaking glass is caused not because the shrimp smash the glass but due to the cavitation created by their rapidly moving appendages. In that respect, a spearer is no better than a smasher. This is what I understand is the case. Is it wrong?

 

[rattler]

no they break it from the impact.....the cavitation bubble is more an asset to soft prey as a second shockwave but the bubble itself actually doesnt cause any greater of a pressure spike than the original hit.....it is brute force that gets them through glass....

ive gotten it from a couple of individuals that have had thousands of mantis shrimp pass through their labs, with the exceptions of the large smasher species breaking glass is extremely rare and even then its cause they go through the bottom or cause they are in to small of a tank and you tease them through the side.....

 

[NewspaperFort]

i have one around an inch, gets along fine with fish larger than him. eats clams
definitely doesnt come out much
you can find him poking his head out of the rock though
and i only hear him clicking on occasion, but for a stretch at a time

mine is brown with rainbow googly-eyes. congrats on the green one. i read somewhere that those are the strongest (spearers, i believe)


get pics if you can! I'll try to post a video

 

[rattler]

both mine are smashers.....given they have been hiding i havent been able to key them out real well yet to figure species....thought i had the green one figured out till i realized he was 50% bigger than the biggest one on record so im just gonna have to wait till either they sit long enough for me to key them out on the 'puter or get a good pic of their defensive pose.....

got a better look at the lil one....his coloration is more interesting than first appeared.....he is dark olive green with dark brown "jaguar" spots....

on yours not coming out much......might be cause he views the fish as a threat cause he is small.....know a couple of guys that had smaller species that while they got along fine with fish without killing them they didnt come out much and with the fish gone they were out and about.....course there are a number of species that almost never leave their burrow except quick dashes to grab food....