Caught "Her" - Female G.smithii / Lost "Him" - Male G.smithii

[Kharn]

G'day all =)

At work today and all last night while in bed I was getting nervous...Morgoth has now finished his lair by the looks of things and is now in full alert mode and aggression mode...anything that comes near the burrow entrance he will have a go at...

Knowing that he had finished his home and would soon be on the hunt more actively, I started to get really worried about the smaller G.smithii pair I have in there...when I got home this afternoon I opted to remove all the LR and find, remove and contain safely in a pair of Hang on the inside of main tank, tanks. I was 50% successful...and 100% furious!

Twice before I endeavored to do this had I seen the larger of the 2 (the female) on a piece of rock I just bought that has coral all over it, so I opted to inspect that rock first, luckily enough BAM she was there and less then a min later in her little tank in the main tank with a piece of PVC and 2 little bits of LR....

Now the male the ****er he is like 1inch long TINY! I found him near the end after removing most of the rock, he was inside his hole/home in a peace of LR... the rock was to big for the tank I had to put him in so I had to get him out....I was tapping the rock, shaking, squirted with freshwater....then I just left it on its own and after a while he crawled out =D....I then realized just how tiny he is...I had nothing to pick him up with and had to use a tiny little net I have, here the worst part!

As I went to put him in the container thats hanging on the tank, the little bastard freaks out and jumps out of the net BACK INTO THE MAIN TANK!!!!!!!!!

I nearly sat down and cried, so much effort to get him only to basically let him go again!

Let the gods deal with him!

P.S. Pics of her to come tomorrow, its almost midnight here lol and too late now for feedings

[TundraGuy]

I have been there to many times to count. Never with a mantis but with unwanted fish. You got them your starting to feel relief cus your done and can fix the rocks and chase the project with a nice cold beer and BAM! Little Bugger jumps right back into the tank. last time I had this happen was a stupid humbug I used to cycle the tank and that little guy……… well I think he flipped me off once he got back in the tank. can never tell. Unless your Doc Roy with a high speed camera. So I know your pain.

[Kharn]

It was my fault really....

I was flustered and frustrated and wanting to get him into his little tank, if I had of just slowed down a bit and took my time with it he'd be in there now and not free roaming again -_- his size does not help the situation -_- but at the same time its because of his size that he is the "2nd priority" I swear the female has gotten bigger, perhaps she is as big as she will get now I'm about to feed her to get her on cam =D HE doesn't look like he has gotten any bigger since I got him over a month ago...

[StephLionfish]

OK, that sucks. I had to catch a bunch of damsels out of a 200g tank once. It took a solid week to do so....worst week of my SW life...

[King Nikon]

I managed to catch a chalk basslet in my main tank with a net (I wanted to get 2 but I found out later they fight if you add them at different times), but anyway, I caught him because he backed himself against the glass instead of the rocks so I stuck him in my 30g tank with the peacock, Cardinal, and longspine urchin. Somewhere hiding in the rocks right now.. hopefully not the mantis burrow lol.

[Kharn]

Well I know the little male G.smithii whom I still have yet to name is alive at least =D I can here the tiniest of taps in the tank which are his, I just finished a post in the DIY section asking for help about plumbing =P and as soon as I am confident enough with the help I get =D in the answers I seek I shall glue it all up and set it in place ready for the water, THEN that little bastard male G.smithii will meet me again whilst I am moving the LR from up top, to the sump down below, when I locate which piece of LR he is in he can go in one of the 3 compartments I made in the sump!

Once this damn sump is up and running I can stop worrying about skirmishes happening and move all the coral into my desired places =D and each mantis can live long healthy fight free lives!

[TundraGuy]

hey dose he not close his cave up at night. mine dose like clock work

just pull him out then

[Kharn]

If I can find his cave!

This is like a needle in a hey stack.....less then 1inch's long 20+kg's of LR then there all the coral there are SOOOOO many places he could be.....im trying to listen for the tapping to identify what piece of coral he is inhabiting, some of my corals are on LR so that LR stayed uptop (not many tho).

I don't really wanna go disturbing the tank any more as I have had my hands in and out of the tank for the past 2months now that everything is in place its time to really start to let it just do its thing.

[TundraGuy]

I feel you on that. Every time I move one rock before you know it your redoing the whole damn structure. That’s why I try to build with as big of rocks as to limit the number of pieces I can move around. Good luck with the hunt.

[King Nikon]

At this point I'd probably just leave the mantis in the tank and chalk one up to darwinism. Survival if the fittest, if it wants to hide inside the tank with a larger mantis so be it, it's unlikely it will get attacked anyway if it's small enough to hide inside any nook and cranny in the rock.

[Kharn]

That's what I am doing.

I wouldn't imagine that if it crossed the L.mac's path that the G.smithii would last long...having said that I don't think he is that stupid and I have NEVER seen him away from LR/out in the open exposing himself, having said THAT....I have seen him 3 times in the 1 month I have had him.

Lesson 1/ small mantis in large tank = never to be seen.

Since putting the 2inch female G.smithii and the 2inch G.graphurus into there separate enclosures within the sump, I see them both at least once a day!

She is still skittish, I have to move slowly, fast movements by me send her darting into the LR
He is still an aggressive lil fella, the closer I move to him the closer he comes to me and in a more threatening manner of displaying his appendages.

[King Nikon]

Just like my old peacock, this one doesn't give a flying F what you do. I can put my hand in the tank inches away from her and she just walks by or looks at you.

[Kharn]

Just like my old peacock, this one doesn't give a flying F what you do. I can put my hand in the tank inches away from her and she just walks by or looks at you.

Well.....

I would NOT put my hand in the tank with Rocky (the male G.graphurus).....he is AGGRESSIVE he WILL go for whatever, albeit feeding stick, moving stick or my hand I need to be careful around him.

He has already had a go at my finger and I was more then lucky to have NOT copped a crack...since then I learnt and NVR put my hands in his enclosure...

So aggressive!!!

Which in tern makes him REALLY interactive =D

[TundraGuy]

I wish my mantis was that Angry! hehehe so did you move the male?

[Kharn]

I wish my mantis was that Angry! hehehe so did you move the male?

Nah haven't seen the male since I lost him again ... -_- but I still hear the faintest of taps in the tank all the time which tell me he is there somewhere....