New Peacock Arrived Tonight

Very cool looking

 

I don't know what she's doing in there but she's sure making a racket. LOL

 

That is a very beautiful mantis.

 

I'm not worried about the glass break. While it is possible its borderline myth. Dr. Roy who is probably the worlds expert on mantis has seen it happen 2 times in like 20-25 years & thousands of mantis worth of research. I put a piece of plexi in the bottom of my tank & past that I'm not losing sleep.

To answer one of the earlier posters, yes there is a certain risk in having them, they are best kept to thier own tank & with anything you dont mind losing. Very aggressive animals that can play well if kept fed, but potential homocidal tendencies. lol.

 

I've only been struck once and have kept mantis for over 15 years. Frankly, I doubt I would have been struck by that one. I found out later that customers were teasing it with a glass magnet. Luckily, it was just a warning tap. I've never lost a fish to a mantis. I've kept fish in mantis tanks, I've kept mantis in reef tanks. With that said, it is probably best for them to remain in a species tank.

I've never been afraid of them but I have studied them for so long that I've learned a lot of their behavior. There are certain times when a mantis is saying to me, "Do NOT clean my tank today", so I don't. LOL

One interesting factoid that most people would probably not know. They are VERY sentient.....they even carry grudges. Fluffy always liked my wife. Then one day, vacuuming in a hurry, she hit the desk where her tank was which made a loud noise and shook the tank. As far as Fluffy was concerned, THAT WAS IT!!!! From then on, for the rest of her life, whenever Rachel entered the room, she went into a meral spread. Complete strangers could look at her. Rachel would walk up with them.....immediate meral spread. This same mantis liked my chocolate lab and hated my yellow lab. However, I can't say I blame her. Cheyenne would put her nose on the tank, wait for the smack, then bark. Put nose on tank, smack, bark. Put nose on the tank, smack, bark. You would think both of them would tire of this game. You would be thinking wrong.

 

Reading this makes me even more excited about getting one. I can't wait to get mine!!!! I'm searching for one now (ibluewater.com stated they had one in stock).

Quick questions:
What type of lighting are you using in the tank?
What other inhabitants (corals, cuc, macros, etc)?
What substrate and how much?

 

Caribsea has a black sand. That was mixed with some Caribsea Fiji Pink. I honestly don't know the proportions of either

 

I have a N. wannerae (spelling sorry) that I picked up semi-locally in a 30g tank. My desperately needing updated build thread is in my sig. I have a 4 x T5 lighting setup with only 2 bulbs filled at the moment (1 x 10k & 1 x 6700k). I need to get an actinic or two in there but this one is my budget tank. At the moment it is the only occupant along with a CuC & some softies & a couple acan's. Yes the tank has a yellow look but the 6700 is a softie growing machine! My mushrooms have easily doubled in size in a month. The mantis has color shifted from a green to a red color, but I have kept an eye on it and dont see any signs of shell rot or problems. It came from a petland actinic & 14k loaded tank though so some color variation is to be expected. I havent added any fish yet purely because like I said this is my budget/ on going project tank. I fed it the other night with a piece of shrimp stuck on a toothpick that I then stuck in the substrate. It shot out and hit it hard enough to crack the toothpick before ripping it out of the sand & taking the whole thing! My wife was blown away as it was the first time she took an interest in watching it eat. While some people will not agree with this next part I did feed it an emerald crab once, and that was a site that will go on youtube the next time I splurge & buy one.

I can agree with what inwall said about them recognizing people & things though. He will come out for my 3yo, but tends to shy back for other people & completely hides with eyes sticking out when the dog (which has no interst in the tank at all) walks by.

The most unique thing is this is the tank everybody checks out purely because of the mantis. They are definitely entertaining and absolutely a conversation piece. I've even had neighbors come knock on the door with friends to check it out. If you have kids I an absolutely guarentee they will be blown away. A killer shrimp? what? lol.

I will probably be moving it to another tank soon though as I am hoping to acquire a peacock soon.

**edit in**

yeah mine like macro's as well. Not to eat mind you but it did destroy a piece of calupera I put in the tank to pad it's hole. Is also took a urchin I transferred because of health issues, devoured it and used the shell to help make a door. lol.

 

Dont forget the very popular" my mantis smashed my homework".;D

 

That's darn funny.....I don't care who you are. LOL