Johnny 5 is Alive!

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He’s gorgeous, what species is he?

Just found it - neogonodactylus curacaoensis.
IMHO, one of the nicer of the Mantis species.
 
Murderbug was quite excited to come show me how pretty and shiny he is after his molt.
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What a ham! One of my favorite threads :) Still have my eye out for a mantis mansion/curacaoensis in the *hopefully+ not too distant future!
He's truly a character! I love how much personality he has.
Watching him put up with the dottyback tail flicking him becomes comical.
 
 
I was educated at The Aquatic Expo in Charlotte earlier this month, and Murderbug is in fact Gonodactylaceus ternatensis, or Orange Spot Mantis.

 
Murder molt

From what I have been told, I have not done the research to verify, mantis usually eat their molted shells.
Murderbug is still in hiding and I snagged these early this morning before he could gobble them up.
The colors and patterns are so pretty. He's been eating a lot lately, so i am excited for him to come out and show me his shiny new skin And how big hes getting.
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Oh the things we put on paper towels, right?

Just the other day my hubs brought me a rattle from a snake. It's currently drying out on a paper towel on my kitchen window. :cool:
Oh, this was quickly tossed into the garden. The smell that came quickly was reminiscent of my dog who has coprophagia...
 
At least my weird thing on paper towel was not stinky. You win!

So many tank things smell so so bad. So bad. Like, why so bad?! Dead coral is surprisingly stinky, all filter media, of course dead fish but you expect that, even sometimes just the water when something is going sideways.

So so stinky.
 
At least my weird thing on paper towel was not stinky. You win!

So many tank things smell so so bad. So bad. Like, why so bad?! Dead coral is surprisingly stinky, all filter media, of course dead fish but you expect that, even sometimes just the water when something is going sideways.

So so stinky.
Dead snails win so far, in my book.

Filter socks that sit in bleach water too long smell like halitosis.

Oh the nursing smells I can relate much of this to.... being in the OR for the removal of 3 feet of necrotic bowel tissue is by far the worst. Nothing in reefing compares to that. Yet.
 
@ISpeakForTheSeas
I'd love your input on this species ID.
That looks like a good ID to me - Murderbug has the orange meral spot, the red inter-segmental lines, the blue antennal scales (the feather-looking things by the head; blue means male, in this case - orange/yellow would mean female), and the right overall coloration.

For comparison:
 
Murder molt

From what I have been told, I have not done the research to verify, mantis usually eat their molted shells.
Murderbug is still in hiding and I snagged these early this morning before he could gobble them up.
The colors and patterns are so pretty. He's been eating a lot lately, so i am excited for him to come out and show me his shiny new skin And how big hes getting.
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Well friends... It seems as though this was, in fact, not a molt.
I am 95% confident Lilith (orchid dottyback) killed Murderbug and has since taken over his den.
So now, this is Litith's tank.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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  • Other (please explain).

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