little spear BIG spear?

[KarenB84]

Hi Hi all!! Sooo new here.
Umm yeah, so that curious question of mine. I don't have any of those amazing mantis shrimps but i got a friend that does. He has a L. maculata and P. ciliata and he keeps them in different tanks.
Why not together? I asked him and his like ~*you shouldn't*~ but why? Sorry if this is soo a dumb question :(
Like this what i was thinking his maculata is like maybe 3 inches long and his in a 30 X-High aquarium. A lot of sand and rock rubble and some macro algae on top. I soo never see the maculata move about. It looks so much of a waste of the upper part. So why not have a small ciliata roaming on top?
Like where the big spear is in Hades the little spear can play up top!
Really i'm sorry if its a dumb question. i'm really curious! :)

[Gonodactylus]

If the two animals are similar in size and the L. maculata has constructed a burrow, things may be alright for a while. The L. maculata is not likely to strike at the P. ciliata unless it is hungry. However, P. ciliata is a stomatopod I have seen take other species of stomatopods in the field and there is a risk that when the L. maculata molts it will be dug out and killed..

Roy

[DanInSD]

That is not the answer I was expecting -- that the P. ciliata would pose a credible threat to an L. maculata. I guess the resounding answer to the questions regarding mixing stomatopods in any "reasonable" volume of water is, "don't".

Dan