New Mantis :)

[carmelpi]

I offered her some octopus (so far her favorite food) and she punched. Safe to say she's mad at me lol. When i checked her before i left she was giving herself a "bath" so i think she'll chill given some time. Once she explores she'll figure things out.

I'm not worried about her starving because there are snails and small hermits for her to destroy. I did move one of the hermits (he's been my experiment crab and this is the fourth time i've plopped him in a new home - felt he deserved a life instead of becoming mantis chow) and put him in the now empty fuge. I have a ball of chaeto going in there soon. Along with some rock and maybe (when my boyfriend isn't looking) another small mantis.

[kegogut]

checked out the tank this morning and lo and behold here is what I saw.



Glad he found his home,I was getting worried he would set up behind it and force me to redo the rock work. lolz

[carmelpi]

Lucky!! Ripley built a burrow behind the rock and completely ignores her pvc.

[kegogut]

Originally Posted by carmelpi

Lucky!! Ripley built a burrow behind the rock and completely ignores her pvc.

When you feed try to entice her into the pvc with the food.

[Nina51]

i named mine scampi. brought him home last friday. he found his burrow almost immediately. he's doing great, eats a few pieces of shrimp every day. i need to get some different seafoods for him. what a fun creature!

[Martini5788]

Originally Posted by Nina51

i named mine scampi. brought him home last friday. he found his burrow almost immediately. he's doing great, eats a few pieces of shrimp every day. i need to get some different seafoods for him. what a fun creature!

I knew you would enjoy him! Post a picture
Of him Nina, you guys are gonna be amazed with his coloring!

[Nina51]

thankfully, the pet supplies plus store closed out their miserable saltwater section. they had ich from the get-go. this mantis and a green wolf eel were the only things left. the mantis had been there for 4 months, eating nothing but feeder fish. i decided to bring him home and have a go at keeping one. he seems happy.

and sam, thanks for all your help!!!

[carmelpi]

Hrmmm i'll try that tomorrow.

[carmelpi]

She's making herself at home in the rockwork instead of the pvc.

[Nina51]

typical woman, she's gotta move the furniture around.

[Martini5788]

Hahaha

[carmelpi]

Well, my boyfriend called me at work to tell me that she's actively exploring and seems much happier

[Nina51]

same with mine. it's nice to see him getting comfortable. i can also see that this 20g is way small for him. i'm gonna be heading to the city to see what i can find. may end up using the 20g for a sump.

[carmelpi]

Ripley has completely ignored her pvc burrow and has made tunnels under the rocks :/

[Calappidae]

I had that happen with mine. I eventually had to plug the burrows she made with boulders so she couldn't get back in. Kinda forcing her into the PVC.

[Dkuhlmann]

Originally Posted by lawfuanda

well it looks like i sorta spoke too soon. it was in there for over a week no problem, but just now i was making a pb&j sandwich and i heard some rapid smacking so i ran over to the tank to see what happened and i just see a bright yellow tail in the firm grasps of my peacock.

oh well, what was originally intended just took an extra week. i tried giving the watchman away but didn't have any success so I put it in there in hopes that it would take shelter under a rock but instead it just walked around and swam around the whole time and i guess the peacock finally was hungry enough to grab him. hope she enjoyed her $15 dinner at least.

i think im going to try a six line wrasse in there. i just found a local seafood store that should have all sorts of live crabs and stuff so maybe if I can keep her tummy full she wont chase the wrasse. she has no interest in the clam, i think she just like stuff that visibly moves.

Something like this?

[carmelpi]

Quick question: i think ripley may have shell rot. She eats just fine - she gets octopus, clam, scallop, salmon, and shrimp with the occasional hermit crab that i didn't quite rescue. I also soak her food in selcon every couple of days as well (i feed her from the same food as my big fowlr and they eat like piggies).

All of my parameters seem fine (i will test them tomorrow morning on much better equipment than my salifert kits at home). I just did a water change last week.

She is still snubbing the pvc, preferring the dugout tunnels she's made for herself under the rocks.

Here's a picture where you can see what looks like weird spots on her carapace. She hasn't molted yet and may be overdue, but as she's my first deliberate mantis i'm not sure how she's supposed to be.

[carmelpi]

I'm starting to think my lighting may be too strong - i have 2 kessill a150w's, ocean blue over the tank.

[kegogut]

Im not positive from the picture but those seem to be normal. Take a look at other peacocks.

[Calappidae]

Above the right eye, there are two white dots vertically placed. Whether or not that's dirt on the glass, or shell rot I cannot tell..

Shell rot looks corroded:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2027809