The mighty Mantis shrimp

Spitfire109 · May 29, 2015

I've always wanted a mantis shrimp (but I'm afraid it might murder me, my family, and the rest of my town if I get one (jk) But they are seriously cool. Id like to hear what some lucky owners think about them.

eatbreakfast · May 29, 2015

Keep your hands away from him and you will be fine.

They basically need to be kept by themselves.

They are fairly secretive, but will recognize the person that feeds them.

Shep · May 29, 2015

Honestly from what I have read they are actually pretty easy to take care of but will have to be in a tank by themselves.

oceanparadise1 · May 29, 2015

The peacock ones are awesome,Very colorful easy to keep. I had one for years, would give him live crabs,was cool to watch.

Dock Ellis · May 29, 2015

I would get one, but I'm afraid it would sneak out of its own personal tank in the middle of the night and make its way to my main DT and kill everything there before I woke up.

Shep · May 29, 2015

Lol if it did that you would have a lot more to worry about than your tank!

zwulfke · May 29, 2015

there is a story of this happening. I did see it that there was one that would get out swap tanks eat and go back. I would not think they were that smart but, guess its happened. I know Octos will do this so why not a mantis

zwulfke · May 29, 2015

omg lol

Marty.h · May 29, 2015

That vid has put me of them they are cool looking but they are nutters the way it just yanked a hermit out of its shell. I've also heard they have smashed tanks how true that is I don't know.

Mattyice008 · May 29, 2015

I had a male peacock mantis for just over 3 years. From the time I had him, he grew from about 2inches to maybe...6inches? I hand trained him from a young age so he got used to me easier. He hit me a few times, but honestly when they're less than 3 inches, it doesn't feel like anything. Flick yourself if the finger as hard as you can, thats about what you can expect at that size. He didn't care about any fish in the tank, just killed all inverts. I had a female that would kill anything living, fish or invert. All depends on the mantis. They are extremely fun and interactive. If you want any tips on keeping one, or how to do a setup, shoot me a PM. During the time I had my male, I exchanged many emails with Roy Caldwell, who is pretty much the mantis expert of the world.

martini5788 · May 29, 2015

I currently have a female peacock and I absolutely love her. She is in a 40 br all by herself. If they are going to break the glass of an aquarium, it would be the bottom glass and that is because they try to expand their burrow and hit to do this. Mine also uses the substrate to break open her food, so if you don't have enough sand then that could cause issues. Easiest way to remedy this risk is to fit a piece of plexiglass to the bottom of the tank, that way the plexi takes the impact instead of the glass. I am going to attempt to put a damsel in with her in a few weeks, we will see how it goes. Either way, she truly is a fascinating animal and much smarter than you would think.

mort · May 31, 2015

zwulfke said:
there is a story of this happening. I did see it that there was one that would get out swap tanks eat and go back. I would not think they were that smart but, guess its happened. I know Octos will do this so why not a mantis

There are lots of stories on the net about them but a lot is not factual or highly exaggerated. Take the smashing tanks part. Yes it can happen but there are few that could actually do it, like 1 or 2 species and when you consider how big the family is that is highly unlikely. The biggest risk would be if they repeatedly hit the same spot over time like they might do in their burrow and this is easily defended against by placing a piece of acrylic on the aquarium floor.

For anyone looking at them they are not mindless killers, I'd wager many hitchikers go unnoticed in our tanks. So if you want a highly intelligent unusual critter you wouldn't go far wrong with a mantis but I'd advise getting one that hitchhiked by accident as there are reports of them being overfished in many areas and I believe Roy Caldwell himself has found it hard to find specimens where they used to be abundant.

Reef-roach · May 31, 2015

I have a 4-5" male peacock. Got him 14 months ago at about 3". He's in a 60 cube (2x2x2) plumbed into my reef. He punches rock to widen caves and has eaten every fish that jumped into the overflow from the reef that I couldn't net out until a couple months ago. A royal gramma has been chilling with him for 2 months now! Feed him mostly frozen krill and mussel with tongs, occasionally treat with cheap snails or hermits. He's super inquisitive, cool to have an aquarium inhabitant that watches back at you. He occasionally charges the cat, and punches a long handled scraper I use on the glass, but doesn't mind my hand or a gravel vac in the tank. Definitely the star of the show when company comes by.

Daniel@R2R · Jun 2, 2015

Unfortunately, the video had to be removed due to profanity. Please keep posting up more pics though (or an edited video)!

Shep · Jun 2, 2015

I understand it, R2R is a family friendly site so things like that are not allowed.

martini5788 · Jun 2, 2015

What video was it?

Davesgt · Jun 2, 2015

My peacock Marty stayed out all the time. He ate just about anything and was the easiest tank to care for. He had a crazy personality and would allow me to move stuff around with him trying to smash my hand off.

jeffp1 · Jun 14, 2015

I had one about 10 years ago and must have got a mean one after reading the above posts. Mine killed everything that it could get close to. I watched it kill a goby one day and then it took me a month to catch it. They are cool looking but no more for me. JMO

Davesgt · Jun 14, 2015

jeffp1 said:
I had one about 10 years ago and must have got a mean one after reading the above posts. Mine killed everything that it could get close to. I watched it kill a goby one day and then it took me a month to catch it. They are cool looking but no more for me. JMO

Yea they can be vicious!