Mantis hitchhiker

[SALTY 75]

It did come from rock from the gulf coast of Florida as far as I know.

i had one like that i think it is a lime green mantis shrimp, ill have the scientific name in a few minutes

 

[SALTY 75]

G viridis i think, i know it does not look like the one you have but they change color alot mine was lime green like your and then one day i woke up to a maroon red mantis shrimp still pretty but a totally different color.

 

[ashs_exotics]

I'll have to research those more.

I am leaning strongly towards this species to be honest...

n_wennerae

I agree that’s another possibility, I saw that one but I was mostly looking for pictures of solid green ones. But you are right it says in the description solid green, whatever the case it’s awesome and I’m dying to get my own hands on one. Never thought there were so many cool species out there. Definitely keeping my eye out for them all, I’d love to have 2-3 different species

 

[SALTY 75]

I agree that’s another possibility, I saw that one but I was mostly looking for pictures of solid green ones. But you are right it says in the description solid green, whatever the case it’s awesome and I’m dying to get my own hands on one. Never thought there were so many cool species out there. Definitely keeping my eye out for them all, I’d love to have 2-3 different species

I think they have a P cilitata for sale on the Kp aquatics website if you are interested. They are a spearing type of mantis shrimp, i think they look almost the same as G viridis but they dont have the club like claws.

 

[SALTY 75]

They actually have two a small one and a large one.

 

[ashs_exotics]

I think they have a P cilitata for sale on the Kp aquatics website if you are interested. They are a spearing type of mantis shrimp, i think they look almost the same as G viridis but they dont have the club like claws.

I actually went to that website last night after talking so much about them and looked. Not so much in it for the spearers because they are more often in their burrow than not. I also have an unlimited supply of crustaceans to feed mantis shrimp so smashers are a better option for me. Im just a huge fan of how they hunt, tampa bay saltwater has some wennerae for sale, ill probably call and order one of those. Heard alot of good things about that species.

 

[Tamberav]

It is a Neogondactylus wennerae.

Mantis shrimp color is highly variable and not a good way to distinguish. They change color depending on depth.

However it is from the gulf and the meral spots are white.

 

[MTBake]

This guy or gal is still doing well. I was thinking of upgrading the tank size, but I just dont see a reason to mess with success at this point.

Here's some more pics of the mantis and a few randoms of the tank.

 

[MERKEY]

So cool thanks for sharing!!

 

[MTBake]

So cool thanks for sharing!!

No problem. The hitchhikers are super interesting to me.

 

[MTBake]

Not sure how I missed this pic in my earlier post;

Pulled one of these bristle worms out of my tank some time ago. It was around 14" fully stretched out. I now have a few in this tank. Not sure if it's my caloused hands or what, but they haven't stung me during accidental contact.

 

[Bryce M.]

Following!

 

[MTBake]

I just realized that the bristle worm pics are from my 40 gallon mixed reef and not my mantis shrimp setup. I saw the dino mats near the worm in the pics I posted and was kinda perplexed. I couldn't find dinos in my mantis tank. Ever. Not sure how or why they showed up in the 40 gallon. I do have those same bristle worms in my mantis tank though. But not the dinos.

 

[HandofThanatos]

I am sure you know if you have been interested in Mantis shrimp for a while, but you definitely need to get a bigger/stronger tank if you want to keep him, the club ones can pretty easily break the thinner glass on smaller tanks.

I was looking into getting one, but after all the troubles my Crayfish caused me in my freashwater tank, I didn't want to get his cousin that would do the same, plus break my tank lol.

If you have looked into it minimum tank size and glass thickness please let me know. I have been thinking of getting another tank down the road and would love to get the thing that got me interested in saltwater tanks in the first place! Just want to make sure I don't end up with a bunch of water on the floor of my second story appartment lol.

 

[MTBake]

I am sure you know if you have been interested in Mantis shrimp for a while, but you definitely need to get a bigger/stronger tank if you want to keep him, the club ones can pretty easily break the thinner glass on smaller tanks.

I was looking into getting one, but after all the troubles my Crayfish caused me in my freashwater tank, I didn't want to get his cousin that would do the same, plus break my tank lol.

If you have looked into it minimum tank size and glass thickness please let me know. I have been thinking of getting another tank down the road and would love to get the thing that got me interested in saltwater tanks in the first place! Just want to make sure I don't end up with a bunch of water on the floor of my second story appartment lol.

I'm honestly not worried about it breaking the tank at all. I do hear the clicking from time to time. But my mantis is only 2 inches long at most. I highly doubt it has the power to break the tank. I'm more worried about a seam failing as this tank is over 10 years old. I do have a few extra tanks laying around if this one does spring a leak.

 

[Albertan22]

Just read this thread and chuckled. If I go way back to my first build thread on RC from 2008 or so I recall battling hitch hiker mantis’ for months trying to get them out of my 120g. I pulled 5 out if I recall, several green and a black one or two. All those mantis shrimp made it impossible to keep a CUC so they became fish food. I was also worried about my glass. They had built a tunnel system through my rock work, reminded me of a gopher colony.

 

[MTBake]

Just read this thread and chuckled. If I go way back to my first build thread on RC from 2008 or so I recall battling hitch hiker mantis’ for months trying to get them out of my 120g. I pulled 5 out if I recall, several green and a black one or two. All those mantis shrimp made it impossible to keep a CUC so they became fish food. I was also worried about my glass. They had built a tunnel system through my rock work, reminded me of a gopher colony.

Happy to report that I will not have that issue. That's why I quarantine all live rock and pull out all hitchhikers I dont want in my main tanks. That's why I setup this tank. It is only for unwanted hitchhikers.

 

[HandofThanatos]

I'm honestly not worried about it breaking the tank at all. I do hear the clicking from time to time. But my mantis is only 2 inches long at most. I highly doubt it has the power to break the tank. I'm more worried about a seam failing as this tank is over 10 years old. I do have a few extra tanks laying around if this one does spring a leak.

Yeah, it is more a potential issue when they get full size.

Not sure how long it takes for them to get that size, but it is more or less something I have heard from everywhere I looked into them.

 

[MTBake]

Yeah, it is more a potential issue when they get full size.

Not sure how long it takes for them to get that size, but it is more or less something I have heard from everywhere I looked into them.

Seems to take some time for them to grow up. This one was maybe 3/4" when I first saw it when this thread was started. It's maybe 2 and half inches long now.

 

[Albertan22]

Yeah, it is more a potential issue when they get full size.

Not sure how long it takes for them to get that size, but it is more or less something I have heard from everywhere I looked into them.

I didn’t quarantine my rock but it did take a good 3 months to cycle it. I didn’t notice the clicking until around the 6 month mark if I remember right.