=Jwin's 9 GALLON MANTIS CUBE - Nano Wave 9

Mine was super active today. I don't know what did it...probably cause Orca the damsel got placed back into the tank. My mom made me do it, I didn't even acclimate the guy. He didn't seem to care at all though, the turd. I should have gone with a small school of chromis haha. Orca enjoys showing Princess his fins and twitching at her. She just stares at him like "wtf mate?"

She came all the way out into the open on the sand today checking something out, until Orca scared her back into the den. I figured she was hungry which is why she came out all the way, and yep. She snatched up a piece of krill super fast and munched on it for 2 or 3 hours. She then tossed the left overs out into the sand.

I'll stalk her one day with the camera this week so I can get a good pic. She did shut herself up in her den much earlier than normal this evening though...if it's not open tomorrow morning that means molt number two has already come. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Maybe she was just tired?

 

If she molted again it won't be long until she is bigger than Mr. Fister. Although I am not concerned, Fister has the rapts for a shrimp 3x his size.

 

No molt yet. She either just went to bed early, or is molting again. I find out tomorrow morning, I guess. Last time she molted she was shut up inside her den (closed off the entrance with rocks and everything) for 3 days.

 

Was it a molt? What is your trick? I want Fister to grow faster!

 

No molt. She just decided on an early bedtime I guess.

She ate flake food yesterday too. Hahaha. I put in some flakes to feed the damsel, and she comes running out onto the rocks trying to grab it. She got a big flake, and she was still hungry. Today I think I'll feed the damsel some mysis

 

So guess who has been locked up in her den for the past 2 days? Prospects look good to me.

 

first let me say that bugs freak me out, and since it has an exoskeleton i consider it a bug. BUT its the coolest freaking thing i've seen.

makes me sorta want one

...alot.

hmm Just how interactive are these things? (sorry to jack ur thread)

 

Princess is kind of interactive. She spends alot of time breaking and moving rock, constantly working on her den. So you catch glimpses of her every few seconds. When she's not digging, she's seen moving around the rocks looking for stuff or just exploring (she's still a little too shy to run around in the open. It takes them a long time to warm up to you, depending on the mantis).

As far as interaction goes, she never misses a chance to stare at whoever is outside the tank. Normally, you have to wait for her to realize you are there before the peepers appear. However, if you say something into the tank like her name, or if you play Aerosmith or Techno music, the peepers come out. And beethoven by the looks of it She never seems to stare at you straight up and down. She's always sideways, or upside down, or her had is cocked to oneside, etc. And she ain't scared of the feeding tongs anymore!

And, guess who molted? I didn't see her for 5 days. Then, I get home, and good gosh she's huge. again. She's about 1.25 inches now. When she molts, she MOLTS. I might need to make another feeding video soon.

 

oh wow thats soo intresting I've never even heard of these animals before finding this thread. very intriguing. thanks so much for taking the time to reply.

 

The reason she's growing so fast is MY son is stealing MY cerith snails out of MY tank and giving them to Princess, who grabs them with her grubby little hands (or whatever those things are) and goes into her cave to beat them to death and eat them! All that comes back out of the cave are snail shell "remains." LEAVE MY SNAILS ALONE!!!!