Purple Spot Mantis Shrimp

DID you get yours online? im not sure were a good place is to get one cause i dont no if they will be disease free or not but i want one in the next few days.. i will have to tear down my 10gallon and put another layer of glass on the bottom lol i already had it set up but o well..and al have to get some pvc pipe but thats like what 10dollars...no biggy.. About how much will the plexy glass coast though never priced that? Also i was reading should i get an iodine test kit i herd that has somthing to do with their molting?

 

DON'T DOSE IODINE

to make sure it sinks in,

DON'T DOSE IODINE

It doesn't HELP them molt, it MAKES them molt. As a result, you don't need the iodine test kit either. You will get plenty of Iodine just doing normal water changes.

I used to buy them at LFS's, get them free from people who had a hitchhiker, and there was a period of time when I was actually in the business so I just bought them wholesale. At one time I had a specific request....I wanted a mostly grown, male, O.s. Jeremy from Premium Aquatics in Indy hit the phones and found one for me. That was the only mail order one I ever got.

At Home Depot or Lowes you can find some PVC 45 degree elbows for less than $10

I don't know how much plexiglass will cost. For a smithii, you could probably do what a friend did. He bought a 3 ring binder that had plastic covers. He used scissors and cut the front and back covers off and put them under the sand.

 

That would be rlly nice cause iv got one at home so that would rlly help...So from that i take it dont add no suppliments and do that binder thing and al be fine..thats kewl and by saying G. smithii u mean the purple spoted mantis right? just to make sure i dont by the wrong thing

 

Evan better can i just use the lid of a tote thats plastic? i got tons of them..id by the plexi glass but i dont have job nor am i old anough to get one so parents are paying for the mantis hopefully.

 

We have a fully grown G. Smithii named Bo. He's about 3.5" long. We ordered him from http://www.stomatopod.com/categories.php?cat=7 and they actually have a 2" Male Smithii in stock right now if you want to go that route. They're the most desired "smaller" mantis species. Basically similar to a peacock mantis in popularity, only smaller. They're pretty stinkin interactive and active, our mantis Bo always comes out to watch our dog whenever our dog is in the same room as him He's in a 14 biocube. If you want the thread, search for a thread by Triplemom called something like "Triplemom's 14 Biocube Mantis Tank" or something like that. I'd say they're worth the money because they're pretty hard to come by

And just to reinforce what Inwall said...

DO NOT DOSE IODINE

Many mantis shrimp have been killed because their owners read that they should "dose iodine to help them molt". NO. If you dose iodine, you will make them molt, and if they aren't ready for it they will definitely die. Do. Not. Dose. Iodine. 3reef has even lost some mantis because of iodine. That's the absolute no-no of the mantis kingdom.

Also I really want to know, where the heck does it say anywhere to dose iodine? Whoever's putting up reading material with "mantis dose iodine" in the same sentence deserves some hate mail or something. Or to at least get their facts straight. There's no telling how many mantis have been killed because of people writing that stuff.

And as people have said, if you can, it'd be best to reinforce the bottom of the tank somehow. Smithii are really careful about not hitting glass when they know it's glass, but when they get into digging mode sometimes they just can't help hitting the bottom of the tank.

 

Anything plastic should work fine. Binder covers, plastic lids, anything you can do to cushion the blows. And yes, Gonodactylus Smithii (G. Smithii) = Purple Spot Mantis

Oh, and the mantis tank in my thread has a N. Wennerae if you're interested in looking at those They're actually pretty cool. Just a generic, active mantis. As far as how good looking they are, it depends on the mantis. My old one was brick or almost firetruck red. While my new one is more of a deep dark gray/green color with orange legs. They're just a good generic mantis, active but not too interactive. But super hardy, they can handle alot of stuff (except iodine haha)

 

Yep. Purple spotted mantis is the common name for G. smithii

Do not add Iodine. I wasn't at the shop for a week because I re-injured my back. I had a 8 inch peacock mantis that I left at the shop because customers liked to bring it crabs that they caught as hitchhikers in their tanks. Even though they had my phone number, email, and I was only 1 mile up the road, they decided to dose Iodine without contacting me first. It forced Snuggles to molt when he wasn't ready and that caused his death.

 

very srry to hear that im srry. so i take it u dont add any thing to your tank. also that mantis is sold out jwin

 

I change the carbon once a month. Feed the mantis a well balanced diet. I do a water change when needed.

 

Oh snap you're right...my bad. Well you know the website anyways

And I change the carbon in our tank every now and then. Attempt to do a weekly water change of 2 gallons or so. And feed them krill or other seafood chunky stuff every other day Except my mom buys them snails so stinkin much it's hard to get them to be hungry enough for frozen food Our 46 gallon reef is loaded with small cerith snails, so our 1" N. Wennerae (named Lambo, after the car company) loves those. And then Bo goes crazy over these smallish (about the size of a nickel) snails. Banded Trochus I think? Idk. But they're cheap, and common, and easy to kill. He loves those