Caribbean Mantis in a Picotope

[Theg001]

Hey Everybody

I just managed to get a hold of a Caribbean mantis shrimp who's been living in some of my new live rock. I'm planning on putting it in my picotope 3-gallon nano and was wondering if there'd be any conflicts now or long-term. The shrimp is about half an inch long right now. Any good feeding ideas too?

Thanks,
George

[Chad Vossen]

is it a smasher or spearer? either should accept bits of krill. hard to say exactly how things will work without knowing something about the species of shrimp itself.

congrats in capturing it.

[Turf]

If it's a smasher you'll only have to worry once it gets a bit bigger 2"
If it's a spearer then you want to have a deeper sand bed for it to dig holes in.
Both like small bits of rubble to continually redecorate with.
As far as food they eat virtually anything just don't mess with foods that float on the surface.
Their water quality and salinity can be horrible and they'll be fine

WARNING: Don't reach in the water (obvious) and don't wax your floors (in your home at all) without sealing off that tank or it's dead.

[Turf]

by the way we need pics!

[PLNelson]

I think that you would be fine.

[christensonjes]

If it's a smasher you'll only have to worry once it gets a bit bigger 2"
If it's a spearer then you want to have a deeper sand bed for it to dig holes in.
Both like small bits of rubble to continually redecorate with.
As far as food they eat virtually anything just don't mess with foods that float on the surface.
Their water quality and salinity can be horrible and they'll be fine

WARNING: Don't reach in the water (obvious) and don't wax your floors (in your home at all) without sealing off that tank or it's dead.

Whats the deal about the wax?

[Turf]

there's something in the floor wax that when even a little bit of the vapors get in the tank the mantis die... people spend weeks trying to kill a hitchhiker mantis and I'll they have to do is wax their floor :gay1: or open a bottle in the same room as the tank.

Pretty well documented but I don't know that anyone has ever bothered to isolate the specific chemical.

[Chad Vossen]

Whats the deal about the wax?

yea same question here too, i think turf has a wax related story to share.

[Chad Vossen]

there's something in the floor wax that when even a little bit of the vapors get in the tank the mantis die... people spend weeks trying to kill a hitchhiker mantis and I'll they have to do is wax their floor :gay1: or open a bottle in the same room as the tank.

Pretty well documented but I don't know that anyone has ever bothered to isolate the specific chemical.

oh, interesting. so, interceptor for red bugs, floor wax for mantis shrimp... the list is growing. now we need something to kill bristle worms.

does the floor wax (vapor) harm anything other than the shrimp?

pm me if this is getting to far off topic, though it is very interesting.

[Turf]

oh, interesting. so, interceptor for red bugs, floor wax for mantis shrimp... the list is growing. now we need something to kill bristle worms.

does the floor wax (vapor) harm anything other than the shrimp?

pm me if this is getting to far off topic, though it is very interesting.

Well I doubt it otherwise I'd think we'd of heard of a story of someone waxing their floors and killing everything by now. I'm sure it helps if you run carbon though.

[Theg001]

haha. this is all getting pretty interesting....
thanks for the tips though. it's a lime green smasher. i'm gonna have pics within the next day or so. what's generally the most common caribbean smasher?

[Redwinger]

Ryan do you have a link to that?

[Turf]

I'll find one quick

[Turf]

Roy Caldwell (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/aquarius/roy.html), a biologist at UC Berkeley, has been studying stomatopods for over 30 years.
Best Link of actual occurrence
http://blueboard.com/mantis/care/solvents.htm

http://blueboard.com/mantis/care/maintain.htm
"One warning about maintaining mantis shrimps, though. According to Dr. Caldwell, although they are extremely hardy species in many ways, they are relatively susceptible to succumbing to volatile organic solvents. Waxing the floor close to these critters, for example, will probably kill them."

[wes]

Roy Caldwell (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/aquarius/roy.html), a biologist at UC Berkeley, has been studying stomatopods for over 30 years.
Best Link of actual occurrence
http://blueboard.com/mantis/care/solvents.htm

http://blueboard.com/mantis/care/maintain.htm
"One warning about maintaining mantis shrimps, though. According to Dr. Caldwell, although they are extremely hardy species in many ways, they are relatively susceptible to succumbing to volatile organic solvents. Waxing the floor close to these critters, for example, will probably kill them."

I was just going to mention Roy. He's incredibly knowledgeable and might even give you a positive ID if you got a good picture. He's also got a website with great info on all the different stomatopods. I was trying to figure out how to get into his lab, but he's retiring in a year or two and won't be taking students when I'll be ready. :-(

[spsick]

haha. this is all getting pretty interesting....
thanks for the tips though. it's a lime green smasher. i'm gonna have pics within the next day or so. what's generally the most common caribbean smasher?

sounds similar to the one I had for years, which Phil (i Beleive) still has. I just fed him a silverside a week. Kept him in anything from a 5 to a 55.

[Turf]

side note: if anyone comes across any sweet smasher mantis let me know.