A fish in a Barrel.

[Gangsta Nemo]

I was wondering how many of you have had any luck keeping a certain fish with a mantis for any extended period of time? I have had a Humbug Dascylus Damsel with my O. Scyllarus for over a year now. They share a burrow and my peacock could care less.
Any other unfortunate damsel will be killed on site" Even the same species"! This is not so with my other tanks but my Skipper seems to have found his Gilligan. Anyone out there who's had the same experiance? Just wondering if it is a pattern they become accustomed to or a Behavior pattern in the fish that keeps them off the menu?

[DanInSD]

Don't know. I have one yellow-tailed damsel living with my peacock for quite a while. Any other fish have been eaten.

Dan

[Gangsta Nemo]

It's Kinda odd if you think about it . A fish that might serve the mantis some purpose? If you pick up the book Oceanic wilderness By ( Roger Steene) it shows Coral Banded shrimps that share a burrow with a Lysiosquillina Lisa for their cleaning purposes.
Sometimes for generations! Very intresting stuff. I was wondering if the same could be applied to why our favorite stomatopods keep their swimming food around? I notice when my peacock is cleaning his burrow that the damsel is always right behind him picking up the small waste that floats about from his remodeling. Just some food for thought. Maybe it's just a fluke.

[yankeereefer]

I had 2 yellow tailed damsels with my wenn (2 separate times)

1st one lasted a couple weeks and was killed by the wenn.

2nd one went for 3-4 months before jumping the false wall and getting shredded by the PH return - Wenn would periodically lunge for the fish if it got to close, but never really pursued it.

[StorminMormon]

My poodles had babies. And Stuff....

[jcerdena]

I picked up a tiny N. Curacaoensis a few weeks ago (an inch long at the most), it was really shy for the first week so I added a Yellow Clown Goby to the tank. The mantis would never stray far from its cave, but once he saw the goby, he has been way more confident and I see him out in the open all of the time now.

I would figure that the mantis, though really small, is still big enough to take out the goby if he wanted to (the goby is maybe 3/4 of an inch). So far everything has been cool, the mantis leaves the goby alone and the goby makes sure to keep a good distance from the mantis. I hope that they continue to be indifferent of eachother, however I fully expect to wake up one morning and find that the goby was a midnight snack.

[Gangsta Nemo]

Hopefully that morning doesn't come but with the mantis comes the unexpected sometimes and that is what we live for. The thrill of this tiny predator or the interaction he provides with us or his tank mates makes us all the more fascinated. I like to hear the experience's that others have had with these creatures. I find it very intresting that certain sp. of mantis are or seem more tolerant of tankmates than others. I might be wrong but do you think that there could be a region specific pattern? Do mantis that come from more tropical fish rich regions show more tolerance to their tank mates than their country counterparts?

[Gangsta Nemo]

Sorry might have gotten a little to carried away on that one.:rollface:

[jcerdena]

lol, well the clown goby has been MIA for 3 days now, so he either hides REALLY well, or is being made into poop. Kind of a bummer, and I'm hoping that my new mantis will still feel comfortable coming out of his cave. We will see, I suppose.