My new female O. Scyllarus [Archive] - Reef Central Online Community

Fartin'Gary

05/23/2012, 08:54 AM

I decided to make this the official thread since the other one was titled differently. Here is the link though http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2171243

A few photos of her raptor and the den she meticulously built stacking rubble very carefully to get it exactly the way she wanted it. The first day I did not feed her and she snacked on a couple of blue leg hermits. Last night I gave her some frozen shrimp and she took it from the feeding stick right away. Being wild caught, it amazes me how fast she has adapted to me presence. She no longer bluff charges me when I get close to the tank. When my wife looks in she does rush out to scare her off. They get used to facial recognition very fast. She hates the cat so far. Still pondering a name for her. Now she is just intensely watching the damsel that won't come out from under the filter spout. I would caption it "SOON".

Fartin'Gary

05/23/2012, 09:10 AM

I plan on feeding it some frozen foods about twice a week and keeping a few snail and hermits in there for snacks. I do not want to feed her too much as I would like to post pone a molt until I can get her into a larger tank where she has more room to make a proper burrow. Does this sound ok or am I being overly concerned?

Fartin'Gary

05/23/2012, 11:47 AM

:lmao:

usatennisfan

05/23/2012, 11:56 AM

I've had two damsels and a maroon in with mine for about five months. Charlie still shows no interest in eating them.

Kharn

05/23/2012, 03:37 PM

Same thing here with my 2 large spearers, a pair of Humbugs have lived with them for a fair while now being part of a dump feeding, although they cleaned up about 20 other fish they haven't touched humbugs....I know I won't be getting them again xD must be something about them....

EDIT: You can see the 2 humbugs in my videos as there tied between trying to get a feed of the prawn meat that I give the spearers & trying not to become fish meat themselves for the spearers.

Fartin'Gary

05/23/2012, 04:07 PM

Kharn

05/23/2012, 05:08 PM

Funny you should mention that. I had some shrimp on the feeding stick today and the stupid damsel was all over it.:crazy1:

Sometimes I get frustrated when feeding Leviathan & Morgoth because of the damn humbugs! Since I am usually filming they get between the feeding stick and the front of the glass RITE in front of the camera -_- so I'll go after them with the feeding stick and chase them away but, they always come back.

The next fish I get to feed my spearers will be on the larger side 2-3inchs long each so they cannot pass through egg crate and "escape" there designed fates!

I will admit though that stomatopods are extremely deceptive & opportunistic, a few weeks / month back I lost my first fish in the old tank that I had my large spearers in, after it living with them for so long I started to assume that the blenny had worked out that the stomatopods are bad news and to stay away.

One night I went to feed my blenny by hand with some NORI as it was getting really friendly and would eat out of my hand, I waved the NORI in front of the tank then proceeded to tare a piece off and hold it in my fingers just below the waters surface, as 'Sun' the blenny made its way over....all I thought was, where the HELL is it should be nibbling by now.

Looking back into the tank from the front confirmed it all, the large dust cloud and the damage entrance to Leviathans burrow was confirmation, Sun the blenny had foolishly swam over the top of leviathan to get to my hand and in the process Leviathan thought it to good to be true, went for it and took the Blenny after months of being together the stomatopod got the blenny through sheer patience, deception and opportunism.

So if that damsels starts to get to comfortable and it WILL, that is when it is history.

Fartin'Gary

05/23/2012, 10:57 PM

Kharn

05/23/2012, 11:47 PM

I feel this may happen to this dumb fish. I do like it because it has a lot of moxy but it's going to have to look out for it's own. I can't catch it.

So my girl I have named "Dolores", has been busy building for two days off and on now. Meticulously placing rocks and rubble like a 16th century church builder. Carefully scouring over rocks and rubble until she finds the shape and size that she is looking for. I pushed over some rocks that she placed with the feeding stick and she carefully put them back the way she wanted. She grabbed my Galaxia for part of the burrow but I moved it back and put a nice size rock instead and she took that. My wife said I was mean but I had to see how intent she was. Truly an amazing animal. Much better than the builders of the home I live in.
I am estimating that she is fully recovered from the trip and doing well at this point. I had a lot of live rock and then around 5 lbs I mashed up and she used it all.
I think I will hire her for some tile work next. Maybe make a T.V. show called "Queer Eye for the Straight Shrimp". I will post pictures of he burrow construction when I get the large tank. Possibly the best pet I have ever had besides my loyal rotty and crazy cat.
There is no denying that this animal isn't intelligent. I think its smarter than most peoples children. :)

How long do they start a molt after a new home? Is she trying to totally close it up? I am wondering if I need to get more LR for her or not. There is still plenty for her to smash up.

As far as "annoying them" but adjusting the landscape around there homes, this is something I do frequently with Leviathan & Morgoth since when they were in there old tank they had quite a bit of sand, and they would mount it up around there burrows essentially making the entrance taller and taller until its literally a few inches under the surface.

Something I did enjoy doing but at the same time I understand its a bit cruel....was to blow water rapidly into the burrow (no where near enough to cave it in) this intern would result in the mantis charging up through the sand and ripping out in a defensive/offensive manner with its claws in a threatening pose, I usually did this to just coax them to the surface for some photography.

I know for a fact that when it comes to molting, they will use what they can to seal themselves in there burrows but having said that if they cannot seal there doors then they will just molt, all of my smashers are like this since all they currently have is a PVC tube for home and I have seen molts all over the place.

Molting is something determined by the stomatopod, I have read that they can delay there molt until a more opportune time and I have also read that molting is usually in direct relation to feedings, the more you feed them the more they will molt and vice versa.

Last night leviathan smashed my plastic feeding rod -_- I was waving a small piece of prawn meat in front of his PVC tube and he struck it defensively (last rapt closed) basically shattering the end tip of the giant 'eye drop' coral feeder that I used to suck up krill etc and squirt onto coral.

Fartin'Gary

05/26/2012, 06:33 PM

Fartin'Gary

05/26/2012, 08:09 PM

:) Cycling

Fartin'Gary

05/28/2012, 10:22 PM

She's mad that I'm near the front door. I had to put a piece of plexi glass there because she was whacking the glass. It's just to small for her. I'm putting her in the big tank right after we move.

Fartin'Gary

05/28/2012, 10:44 PM

Can you see the mouth in this pic?

Recty

05/29/2012, 01:17 AM

Very cool. I wish my G. smithii was "aggressive" like that. When I get near the tank, it doesnt back away anymore but it certainly doesnt come out farther. I'd love to get some great pictures of it.

Fartin'Gary

05/29/2012, 09:27 AM

She wasn't as aggressive when I first got her. It seems that the more she completes her burrow, the more protective and confident she has become. When I dangle some shrimp on a feeding stick in there she comes after it all the way out and right to the surface of the water. She has pretty much killed all of the 12 blue legs in there minus 3 and those have bad shell damage from her beating on them.

Fartin'Gary

05/29/2012, 09:09 PM

Video footage of me helping Dolores build her front porch. I can't believe how easy she has adapted to us. She takes the rubble right from me and puts it away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iEGe4uiNGU&feature=youtu.be

Hilary

05/29/2012, 10:52 PM

That is amazing! "Okay, ready for the next one....." And she's so precise in her building! Too funny with the last piece - it's almost like she was ready for a break but was too polite not to take it. :lmao:

Fartin'Gary

05/29/2012, 11:44 PM

Haha, that's hat my wife said. "I think she's had enough". It's almost like they are domesticated like a dog or cat. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't put my hand near her. Not yet anyhow. I did notice that they don't strike at anything that isn't threatening. Say if you move fast or slow, there is a big difference on how she will react. Slow and nonthreatening and she doesn't mind.

Fartin'Gary

05/31/2012, 10:23 AM

Look how she placed the shell of one of the blue leg hermits. Right in the center like a warning to all who pass! lol Dolores is an artist at heart I guess. A murdering artist. New tank almost cycled. When it's done I will put all of the live rock from the other tank in this one too.

gnasher

06/01/2012, 01:03 AM

Awesome Video! Delores is a great name too.

sTefaniA

06/01/2012, 05:25 PM

Mine does that too, he loves rubble and it's amazing how good they are at fitting the pieces. It doesnt matter what I give him, he always finds the perfect spot for it :lolspin:

Fartin'Gary

06/02/2012, 10:47 AM

Feeding pic and video. I gave her some clam meat but it was to far on the stick for her to pull it off so there is some nice video. I took all of the live rock out of that tank and put it into the big one sorry it's so messy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_U0xyoiKzQ&feature=youtu.be

Fartin'Gary

06/02/2012, 06:46 PM

After having watched my peacock build he burrow out of live rock and rubble for a couple of weeks and then yesterday removing all of her work and supplying a nice 2.5" pvc pipe, I can conclude that the pvc is much more to her liking. She no longer constantly re arranges things and hammers at the front of the tank to make more room for rubble. She is more comfortable and out more often. This has only been since yesterday too and in the temp ten gallon while the 30 finishes it's cycle. I rolled on flat black acrylic on the sides of the tank so the only ambient light will be from the front and I think it improved the looks a lot. The curved 2.5" pvc is between 18"-19" long. It's actually electrical pvc like the Doc recommended. I didn't find any 2.5" pvc in the plumbing area at Lowe's. Here is a pic of the 30 gallon as it will stay until we move soon then it will be much more mac daddy. I can't wait to move.

I do have shorts on in this pic it's really a bad reflection and I am too lazy to retake the pic so don't worry.

Fartin'Gary

06/03/2012, 11:43 AM

So I have decided to go a little cheesy with her burrow and add some fantasy fiction in there. Just ordered a couple of pieces to cover up the PVC entrance that will double as her front door. Should look pretty Lord of the Rings like or maybe cheesier like the Beast Master.

Fartin'Gary

06/05/2012, 04:29 PM

Fartin'Gary

06/06/2012, 12:03 PM

Here are some pics. The last one is Dolores with a huge piece of scallop and the other two are in her new home. She loves the PVC pipe which runs the entire length of the tank and gently curves like ) She has been arranging rocks around the front entrance since yesterday morning and at night she pulls them over the openings.

Fartin'Gary

06/15/2012, 03:08 PM

Pic of her molt. It only took her 3 days. She closed up shop Monday around the afternoon and poked her head out yesterday.

Fartin'Gary

06/15/2012, 06:35 PM

Here is another pic of the raptoral appendage with it's stabber out. Maybe someone knows what the correct terminology for it is.

Fartin'Gary

06/17/2012, 11:00 AM

Here is Dolores's latest and last pcv home under death mountain. I used a 3" pvc pipe with a 2" reducer at the ends.

TundraGuy

06/18/2012, 07:41 AM

I like the tower you going on above the mantis cave. Did the mantis not eat any of the shedding? I leave mine in the tank till I see the mantis starts barring it. Cool shots of the molted shell. How active has Dolores been after this last molt? Is she hitting anything yet?

Fartin'Gary

06/18/2012, 08:46 AM

I took it out to put in her new tube(old one was too big) and fed her a big scallop. I will leave her shell in there longer next time. After I took it out I didn't want to put it back in possibly contaminated. She is very active but not striking yet. Her left hammer is growing back. She was missing the hinged hammer/stabby part and now it's a tiny looking gimp hammer lol. She has been busy arranging rocks non stop. I would give her a few more days until it's hammer time again. Here it is with the 17w actinic. I wish I had mixed more of a sandy mix in with the crushed coral but the guy at the store said sand was harder to keep clean. Oh well first tank. It's too much trouble to redo it now. I will just have to keep it really clean.

Fartin'Gary

06/18/2012, 11:39 AM

This stupid damsel has gotten quite comfortable around Dolores. It hovers about 2" in front of her burrow for a few seconds at a time with her right there a quarter of the way out of her entrance. I think it thinks they are buddies.

Fartin'Gary

06/21/2012, 03:46 PM

Here are some more pics. In the first one you can see how the PVC is pretty exposed and then in the next few you can see how she assembled the rubble around the entrance and less PVC is visible. I have not seen her catch one but I put 5 glass shrimp in the other day and now there in only one. She has also been watching the three Green Chromis I put in there too. They stay up at the top of the tank in the current mostly though. The body count is slowly rising.

Fartin'Gary

06/21/2012, 03:50 PM

She was out very actively hunting the last ghost shrimp today. Very fun to watch.

Fartin'Gary

06/21/2012, 04:09 PM

Couple more side shots. That stupid Damsel my wife named Chicken butt is always photo-bombing the shots.

Fartin'Gary

06/24/2012, 08:41 PM

I bought this Sallylight Foot crap for ten bucks at the store the other day and dropped it in the tank. I sat there for about 20 minutes and Dolores was a no show. I went and did a couple of things for FIVE MINUTES and when I got back the crab was gone. During that five minutes she beat the crap out of it and drug it down into her burrow. I saw a severed leg right outside.
Today I noticed that one of the three Chromis was swimming funny and I finally got a look at it's other side and saw a large wound. Now this fish was fine until today so I think sometime last night when it was resting Dolores got a good whack at it and now it's just waiting for it to die so she can get easy pickin's. She is a shrewd hunter that is for sure. I will get footage for sure next time I give her live food.

Fartin'Gary

06/24/2012, 08:47 PM

Well, I just saw the coolest thing ever! Just as I was typing the previous post, Dolores shot out of her burrow and whacked the crap out of that Chromis and chased it all over the tank popping it loud and hard 3 more times until the poor fish was spinning in circles and sinking to the bottom. All of this happened in a second or two as well. She then collected it and took it into her burrow. This happened in the water column and I was amazed at her agility when swimming after prey. She was very precise and calculated. It's was very violent but at least the fish didn't suffer all night. You can see the turquoise in her clutches as she returns to her burrow.

Sorry these pics are sub par I only had my phone camera on hand.

Kharn

06/24/2012, 09:33 PM

I put Dolores in her new 30 gallon digs today. She is exploring. I'll take some pics his weekend. It has been a busy week. Just found out a few day ago my 14 year old cat has the diabetes. Gave him his first shot today and have to go to the vet once a week for glucose mapping. Geesh. I did find out that cats have the ability to kick diabetes and since we caught it so early there is a chance of remission. Pretty unbelievable.

Sorry to hear about your cat ='[....Lets hope that stomatopods cannot get diabetes either I am sure the vets would get a shock if you went in to get your mantis shrimp a glucose injection let alone them having to inject the animal xD

Fartin'Gary

06/24/2012, 10:57 PM

Sorry to hear about your cat ='[....Lets hope that stomatopods cannot get diabetes either I am sure the vets would get a shock if you went in to get your mantis shrimp a glucose injection let alone them having to inject the animal xD

After seeing how fast and agile she was going after that fish I am reluctant to put my hand back in at all. If she had the diabetus then so be it! Cat is fine actually, thanks for your concern . Doing better than expected. The vet says he can go into remission which is a cat only thing. Who knew. This is what Dolores did to that poor Chromis :deadhorse::beer:

Kharn

06/25/2012, 01:28 AM

After seeing how fast and agile she was going after that fish I am reluctant to put my hand back in at all. If she had the diabetus then so be it! Cat is fine actually, thanks for your concern . Doing better than expected. The vet says he can go into remission which is a cat only thing. Who knew. This is what Dolores did to that poor Chromis :deadhorse::beer:

Its "uncommon" for a smasher (depending on species to hunt fish) depending on how hungry they are too...Pritty sure that O.japonicus is a known predator of fish.

The look on a vets face (along with all the other animals/people) as you walk your 4 foot peacock through the door on a leash as if it were a dog would be priceless =D.

I know -_- I got a vivid mind....but its what helps me create weird things like My Ultimate Multi Mantis System(s).

Fartin'Gary

06/25/2012, 08:26 AM

You don't have to explain yourself to me. I ended up at a very expensive art college making weird things all the time.

That's just the thing, Dolores just killed that big crab the day before she killed the fish and before that she had been killing the snails. She is a serial killer.

TundraGuy

06/25/2012, 10:00 AM

Dolores just killed that big crab the day before she killed the fish and before that she had been killing the snails. She is a serial killer.

And that why we love them................:fun4:

Fartin'Gary

07/03/2012, 06:20 PM

Here she is checking out more of the Green Chromis. I guess she thought they were tasty after the first one. She is trying to see how easy they are to catch. She doesn't care about the Yellow Tail Damsel. That stupid thing hangs around her burrow entrance and waits for scraps.

Fartin'Gary

07/14/2012, 12:45 PM

Some more pics of Dolores. She was missing her left hammer on her arm. Not the arm but just the part that she hammers with. If a few of these pics you can see how much has grown back after 1 molt. I think 3 more molts and she may have full use of her left hammer again.

Fartin'Gary

07/14/2012, 12:47 PM

:bigeyes:

Fartin'Gary

07/15/2012, 11:59 AM

I don't know what's up with the forum but I tried twice to post these pics with no success. I'll try to fix them later. Sorry.

Fartin'Gary

07/15/2012, 11:10 PM

Ok, pics are uploading good now.

Fartin'Gary

07/15/2012, 11:17 PM

:thumbsup: You can see her tiny club growing back.

Kharn

07/15/2012, 11:42 PM

Nice pictures! More...MORE!

Not sure what is up with the site and uploading pics either way I have never relied on the site to upload my pics, I use a third party program to upload them on, then link them from there onto here.

Imageshack is what I use frequently.

Fartin'Gary

07/15/2012, 11:49 PM

Thanks! I need to get a decent camera. This one is just a small Olympus and the glass screws with the focusing when I attempt to take close ups. She's a really cool little pod. I have an image shack too it's just a mess from years of pics. I need to clean it up.

Fartin'Gary

07/18/2012, 08:14 PM

Some more pics of Dolores after getting a giant piece of shrimp soaked in Selcon. Here is a short video of her after she has the shrimp. It appears that she is a bit confused or overstimulated after receiving the shrimp and can't locate her burrow. I think the glass and lights may have threw her off as well. She figures it out and into the burrow she goes! You can see that little nit wit damsel photo bombing the shots and lurking for scraps.http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010492.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010499.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010498.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010497.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010495.jpg

Fartin'Gary

07/18/2012, 08:15 PM

.http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010494.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010501.jpg

Fartin'Gary

07/18/2012, 08:16 PM

Fartin'Gary

07/24/2012, 01:16 PM

Dolores decided to dig out and break the rocks around one entrance of her burrow today. It looks like a miners tailing pile. I took a sort of boring video that shows her moving the rocks around and depositing the rubble from inside her hole around the entrance. There is no sound and it's not the best quality but there are a few parts that are cool. I grossly underestimated the strength of this 4" stomatopod. At 2:25 you can see her bench press a softball sized piece of live rock that had two other large pieces of liverock stacked on it. Holy cow she is strong. At 4:30 she grabs a piece of coral and meticulously places it above her entrance. There isn't anything from 6 min to 9 min. Sorry I was too lazy to edit. Our full moon is coming up soon and I wonder if she is getting things ready for a molt.

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid175.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw142%2Fbender75%2FP1010522.mp4">

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010525.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010524.jpg

Fartin'Gary

07/24/2012, 05:52 PM

I am almost certain she is gearing up to molt. I slowly put a banana up close to the glass and she swam out fast to try and kill it. Definitely more aggressive right now.

TundraGuy

07/25/2012, 06:25 AM

The only way to know for sure is to try and pet her if she lets you then you know she’s got a couple more weeks. If she pushes your hand away (with great speed) then you know she’s about to molt.............................
O and don’t forget to post the video of this. Mwhahahaha!

Fartin'Gary

07/25/2012, 09:01 AM

TundraGuy

07/25/2012, 09:26 AM

:wavehand:Yep time for a molt.

Fartin'Gary

08/03/2012, 03:27 PM

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010539.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010538.jpg

Recty

08/03/2012, 04:23 PM

It's funny how many times that damsel photobombs.

Fartin'Gary

08/03/2012, 07:36 PM

Yea, it's a real attention whore. It's hangs around and grabs scraps of food from Dolores.

TundraGuy

08/04/2012, 02:15 PM

Damsels are so funny how brazen they can be.

NghiKillerBee

08/04/2012, 11:29 PM

She's mad that I'm near the front door. I had to put a piece of plexi glass there because she was whacking the glass. It's just to small for her. I'm putting her in the big tank right after we move.

What tank size is the shrimp housed in? Did it crack or any chipping? I'm wondering because i have a biocube 29 with an acrylic sheet covering the bottom. I'm wanting a peacock mantis shrimp. Thanks.

Fartin'Gary

08/05/2012, 11:42 AM

She is in a 30 gallon now. When I first got her all I had was a ten gallon and it was too small. She would smack the glass in front of her burrow to try and make room. Nothing broken. If you put a pvc burrow in there then they won't need to dig. I am not worried about her smacking the glass. There is no reason for her to do it unless you tease them which I don't

Fartin'Gary

08/07/2012, 01:06 PM

So I go a bunch of Red Gracilliara for my small reef tank. There was too much of it so I decided to put the rest in the mantis tank up against the front of the glass in hopes that the ambient light would be enough for it to grow. I used forceps to put it into the gravel and it looked pretty cool like a little red forest. I turned my back for about 30 seconds and half of it was already gone. Dolores had come out and decided that it would be great inside her burrow. There is one tiny piece left. So if any one was thinking of keeping plants or coral with a peacock there you go. She just took the last piece down into her burrow as I typed this.

TundraGuy

08/08/2012, 06:05 AM

Ahaaaa that’s nice you gave her drapes for the den.

Fartin'Gary

08/08/2012, 10:26 AM

They love new stuff. They can't resist. After all a lady can't only have just rubble to play with.

Mental note, do not say this to the wife.

Kharn

08/08/2012, 05:08 PM

Fartin'Gary

08/09/2012, 08:33 AM

I removed the macro algae I had in with my stomatopods, however those that grabbed and stuffed there burrow/cavity with it, still have some as there cavity is lined on the inside with it, not sure as to the purpose but it would make things 'softer' inside with all the foliage to rest on.

What I left behind (in there cavities) has since begun to grow and extend out.

That's good to know. I was thinking it would just die with the little amount of light it gets. Maybe it will grow out as well. If it does, I'll give her some more.

I tried to give her some scallop and salmon yesterday and she rejected both. She has been super busy arranging her burrow for the last week or so. I suspect in prep for a molt but the moon has come and gone and she is still building. I have noticed that she closes her burrow entrances off earlier than normal too. Maybe just taking a long time to molt. A couple day before I tried to feed her I heard her hammering on something and saw chunks of snail flesh floating in the tank so I know she has eaten though.

Kharn

08/09/2012, 08:03 PM

That's good to know. I was thinking it would just die with the little amount of light it gets. Maybe it will grow out as well. If it does, I'll give her some more.

I tried to give her some scallop and salmon yesterday and she rejected both. She has been super busy arranging her burrow for the last week or so. I suspect in prep for a molt but the moon has come and gone and she is still building. I have noticed that she closes her burrow entrances off earlier than normal too. Maybe just taking a long time to molt. A couple day before I tried to feed her I heard her hammering on something and saw chunks of snail flesh floating in the tank so I know she has eaten though.

I have personally experienced a very long molt with my large peacock albeit what I am talking about is the actual removal of old shell so the new one can come out.

When I first noticed The Juggernaut was molting in his container originally I was freaking out as he started to molt just a couple days after going in, which to me meant something was wrong with the water, nothing was wrong with the water.

However when he molted I took out the old pieces (many having shell rot on them) so I could take photos of them and essentially keep them in a little tub "Juggys Sheddings" which I plan on just stocking over time with molts. Point is, I removed all that he removed but the following day at about midday I saw large pieces of molt getting kicked out of his PVC home and that startled me to think that for the past 24hours he had been trying to get it all off rather then it all happening in a short few hours.

I see myself as lucky mostly because the longer a molt takes, the more stressful it is and the greater the risk of things going wrong essentially killing the animal.

Fartin'Gary

08/18/2012, 10:30 AM

Well Dolores just finished he second molt since I have had her and now it looks like she has her other club back. It's still not quite as large as her other one but it' functioning now. Amazing that with just two molts she grew a new appendage.

Dana42078

08/21/2012, 11:30 PM

Fartin'Gary

08/22/2012, 01:22 PM

I'm pretty sure the lights and reflection are confusing. I put a few shrimp in there the other day and she dispatched them all and did not show any signs of confusion as to where her burrow was. Not really sure what makes them do that but the reflection does seem to play a role.

that guy

08/22/2012, 07:28 PM

Glad to here! Woot for new appendange! :)

I thought it was odd that she didnt go to her home right after getting the food. She kept going staright into the front of the glass. Is that normal? Like she was confused as to where her burrow was. Ive always wondered if the reflection really messes with mantis's...

An animals ability to realize that it's looking at itself is considered to be very high on the intelligence level by scientests . I know mantis are very smart just not sure exactly how smart. I'm getting a 30 gallon tanks soon and I'm hoping to get a peacock mantis shrimp. Does anyone know people who sell them at a reasonable price? Around 60 dollars at most?

Fartin'Gary

08/22/2012, 10:32 PM

I got mine locally in that price range but I do not think they are shipping at the moment. Shipping is expensive because it's overnight.

You can check and see. Otherwise there is a thread about where to buy them online. http://aquatic-empires.com/

Fartin'Gary

08/24/2012, 04:27 PM

Just got fed up with my emerald crab in my reef tank. It was behaving semi aggressive and out competing my court jester goby for algae. You can guess where the crab ended up. He got a nice big 30 gallon to play in for the rest of his 30 second life lol. She bashed his face in and on the 4rth strike she split him open. Lots of bubbles came out. She is a happy mantis.

Fartin'Gary

08/27/2012, 11:47 AM

I have been keeping about ten ghost shrimp and sometimes larger grass shrimp in the tank quite often now. She comes out to hunt much more when the tank is stock with rather elusive prey. She comes our to scour the terrain and when they escape into the water column she goes after them sweeping them up after a few good hits like a hawk. It's awesome to watch.

Jacwil

08/27/2012, 04:52 PM

Gary, what are you using for lighting over her tank?

Fartin'Gary

08/27/2012, 05:07 PM

Gary, what are you using for lighting over her tank?

I never have any lights on the tank except to watch when I feed her or viewing then I turn them off. I have a 50/50 with it partially blocked off for that. I used to have a 17 watt actinic but I like her colors so I switched back. I don't leave a light on ever.

Jacwil

08/27/2012, 05:44 PM

Gotcha...the actinic par 38 I use completely washes out her colors. It is mounted extremely high over a 20h and has been for close to a year.

Very soon I plan to move her up from the basement, to a 40b on the second floor of our house..as requested by our twin 9yr old boys lol. I just want to be able to SEE her.

Would you say that you can see her some just from ambient room lighting?

Fartin'Gary

08/27/2012, 06:05 PM

Yes, you can see her fine with just the room lighting. I just use the tank light to watch her hunt and kill her prey. I blacked out the sides and back of the tank to make it darker for her because we get an awful lot of natural light. I cover the tank with a towel before I go to bed so the morning light doesn't mess with the tank.

Jacwil

08/27/2012, 06:10 PM

Excellent! Thx for the info!

:beer:

NghiKillerBee

08/28/2012, 11:51 PM

Well I couldn't hold out anymore and found a 30 gal on CL with stand and filtration. Here is Dolores's new home soon. SO I checked CL after I got home from picking this up and someone is selling a 29 gal biocube for 100 bucks. lol oh well. I'm happy anyways. Heading out to get some live rock.

Hi Gary, the filtration you are using is just a Hang On Tank, no sump for your Peacock? How has your shrimp been doing and how often do you change the filter and carbon and water with that setup? Thanks.

Kharn

08/29/2012, 12:08 AM

Hi Gary, the filtration you are using is just a Hang On Tank, no sump for your Peacock? How has your shrimp been doing and how often do you change the filter and carbon and water with that setup? Thanks.

I can't speak for Gary

However I can say that I use 2 things (beyond live rock & substrate).

Seachem Matrix & Chemi Pure Elite bags.

The Matrix is never replaced and the Chemi Pure bags are replaced on avg once a month.

Fartin'Gary

08/31/2012, 08:05 PM

I am using a 60gph Eheim canister filter with their substrat pro and a marine land powerhead for extra flow. I don't use charcoal filtration. I change 10% of the water for new every monday. I use Instant Ocean to mix it. I tried Seachem but it doesn't dissolve as well. I had an old 30 HOB that I was running in addition but the HOB on my small reef tank crapped the bed and so now I just use the Eheim. The shrimp is doing great. Molted twice so far. She is very active and interactive.

Fartin'Gary

09/04/2012, 02:21 PM

I am moving across the country again so I have to sell my set up and Dolores. If anyone nearby is interested please contact me and I'll give you a great deal.
Here is my inventory list.

"I will get some pics of the ten gallon up later today. If you buy the Mantis tank I will make a great deal for the ten gallon.
4 1/2" Female Peacock Mantis named Dolores
1 Green Chromis( she ate the other)
1 Yellow Tail Damsel named Chicken Butt ( practically shares the den with the mantis don't ask me why )
60 Eheim canister filter very quiet
Marineland powerhead
Actinic and 50/50 light
A bunch of crushed coral and liverock
Frozen sea food
Selcon
Nets
Instant Ocean

I also have a ten gallon reef tank with
LED lighting
2x barber pole gobies
1x fire fish goby
2x pistol shrimps 1 male and 1 female(shacked up with the barber pole gobies)
2x peppermint shrimp
maybe 12 lbs of live rock+ crushed coral
30 HOB
powerhead
large green star polyp
Kenya tree
2 zoa frags
2x hard corals with tentacles don't know name

Please make me an offer if interested. I will not split it up due to time constraints with our move."

Here is the ten gallon reef.

combbiot12

09/14/2012, 01:20 AM

I have a 40gal tank that is cycled and I want to put a mantis in it. After reading a bunch of your guys posts, it seems that a PVC pipe is very useful. Quick question- Can I put it in the tank and its good to go? Or does it need to be cleaned and cycled a little before I put the mantis in?

Fartin'Gary

09/14/2012, 10:27 AM

I rinsed the tube off and put it down in the gravel. The mantis took care of the rest. I did not use soap. Boil it maybe.

combbiot12

09/19/2012, 04:01 PM

Alright then thanks.

Fartin'Gary

09/30/2012, 02:30 PM

...

Fartin'Gary

10/01/2012, 03:08 PM

...

Fartin'Gary

10/05/2012, 04:18 PM

I have gotten my supplies for the 4-5 day mantis road trip. Also got 2 HDPE 5 gallon buckets not shown here. The heater is an Aqueon Pro 100 "unbreakable" heater that I will leave set at 73-74* probably. 1 battery powered Marina bubbler, and a Tripp-Lite fused 150 watt inverter for the heater.

nmotz

10/06/2012, 10:17 AM

Wow, pretty sophisticated...

Fartin'Gary

10/06/2012, 10:34 AM

...

Fartin'Gary

10/10/2012, 10:07 AM

So when it's all set up the travel bucket will more or less be like this. The tubes for the air and heater will be drilled into the lid of course. The white bag in there is for the media balls that are in the canister filter. I am going to silicone the PVC tube down and add a chunk of live rock as well. I think it should work out well. I just need to bring enough batteries and extra fuses for the inverter to be on the safe side. :beer:

combbiot12

10/15/2012, 11:33 PM

Howd it go gary?

TundraGuy

10/16/2012, 05:47 AM

Yea man how’d the trip go? And where did you move to?

Did you run into any snags, or was it smooth sailing? I am hoping all did just that.

Fartin'Gary

10/23/2012, 09:44 AM

Not a good sign. Dolores has rejected food today. A sign that she may be preparing to molt. We leave town on the 4th. I hope she can get it done by then. Either way I will have to put her in the Rubbermaid with canister filter when the movers come. This is going to be very tricky. But why would Murphy have it any other way? Now the only other major thing that can go wrong is with the car hauling company. Either way the Jeep is insured but I spend most of this last year replacing and making repairs to get it into tip top shape. At this point it's worth more to me than insurance will dole out. I hate moving.

Islandoftiki

10/23/2012, 11:00 AM

Fingers crossed.

Fartin'Gary

10/24/2012, 10:13 AM

Thanks

I took the two fish one, damsel and one chromis, back to the pet store and traded for some R/O water and a discount on a plug in the wall pump so the battery pump won't get over worked. She seems to be a bit more relaxed in her tank now. Just fed her some scallop and she just sat hanging out of her burrow facing me eating it. Before she would take it down inside.

Fartin'Gary

10/28/2012, 11:16 PM

Bugger. She went into her burrow on friday and she has been in there since. Rejected all the food I gave her except for the salmon which she chewed on for a minute or two before tossing. She has until Wednesday night to do what every she is going to do then I have no choice but to move her into the temp tank. She has been covered in total darkness since to give her maximum privacy.

My plan is to place a net on either side of her pvc burrow and move it all at once into the temp tank. Wish me luck.

Fartin'Gary

10/31/2012, 10:03 PM

Well the deed has been done. She is in her temp 19 gallon plastic container for a couple of days until we leave on Saturday. I transfered her rather easily. Removed all the large live rock, drained some of the water into the temp tank, put a fish net over each end of her burrow so she couldn't get out, and lifted the whole burrow with water in it into the temp tank. She had it all closed off but I saw her antennae sticking out. Can't tell if she was molting or not. Either way it had to be done. Packers are coming tomorrow. Pics of the temp tank, live rock bucket with hermits and snails, and her soon to be suitcase.

nmotz

11/01/2012, 02:24 AM

Geez that's rough, I hope everything works out. I'm about to move myself in a few months. I'll have to refer back to this thread so I can properly prepare a temp tank for my G. Chiragra.

Fartin'Gary

11/01/2012, 08:20 AM

Yea it's pretty worry some. I just checked on here and she's doing fine. I waved a flashlight over the burrow entrance and I saw her antennae poke out. I am going to try to give her some scallop later on after the packers leave.

I should mention that I bought another air pump to use at night in the hotel rooms so the battery powered one doesn't burn out the motor after running for 4 days.

TundraGuy

11/01/2012, 03:52 PM

Best wishes. I am hopping for the best. Your doing more than most people would ever think. Keep us updated and have a safe trip.

Fartin'Gary

11/01/2012, 10:23 PM

Best wishes. I am hopping for the best. Your doing more than most people would ever think. Keep us updated and have a safe trip.

Thanks. It looks like she did molt successfully. I found a rap outside of her PVC in the temp tank and she took a sizable piece of salmon today that I soaked in Selcon. Which is great because It's probably the last time I will feed her before we hit the road on Saturday morning. After that it should be 4-5 days before I can feed her again. I hope she got enough from her shell and what I gave her today to strengthen up. I wouldn't want to risk the water quality feeding her without a filter on there. Right now she's probably in ten gallons at the most with a 60 GPH filter on it. Since her PCV won't fit into the 5 gallon it should be delicate maneuvering to get her in there and settled tomorrow after the movers leave. So far so good.

I just had some awesome jumbo shrimp with butter. I wonder if she tastes like that. Sorry for the picture quality. Camera ran out of battery so I used the phone.

Fartin'Gary

11/03/2012, 07:27 AM

First night in a hotel last night. Shrimp did good in the 5 gallon bucket. I fed her the morning before I put her in the bucket though. I took the ecoballs or whatever media the Eheim came with, bagged them, and put them in the bucket with her along with two pieces of live rock so there should be plenty of good bacteria in there. Inverter is working well along with the battery bubbler. I am using a plug in bubbler in the hotel and the heater is keeping it around 73-74. The plug in is a new whisper 10. It looks weird but it's really quiet. Puts out lots of air.

TundraGuy

11/03/2012, 10:32 AM

Good stuff.

Fartin'Gary

11/04/2012, 08:58 AM

First leg of the trip done ten hour drive to Dillon Colorado with shrimp alive and well. I would say she is a bit more feistier now. I'm going to see if she will take some food later and do a couple of pints water change with the premixed water I brought.

TundraGuy

11/04/2012, 09:52 AM

Mantis across the states. A new reality show near you.

Fartin'Gary

11/05/2012, 10:12 PM

Mantis across the states. A new reality show near you.

Yes, right after queer eye for the straight shrimp.

Made it to Salina Kansas. Shrimp still doing well. She pushed out the rest of her molt yesterday and there was a slight ammonia spike to around .25. Did water change and it's good so far. What is really amazing is that the other bucket with the live rock and blue legs is doing good too with no filtration or bubbler. The blue legs are still alive. Same water too.

TundraGuy

11/05/2012, 10:32 PM

Its amazing what these critters can live through. Having moved from Colorado to Arizona losing nothing. From Arizona to DC losing nothing I am confident in the ability to move critters in buckets full of water. But hay in a hobby where we stuff as many live things into as small a space as possible, hang huge electric devices over SALT Water, and glue animals to rocks, all in the name of doing things correctly anything is possible.

I am vary happy to keep getting good updates from your drive.

nmotz

11/06/2012, 08:41 AM

Yeah, animals are more resilient than many people make them out to be, especially marine animals. I'm not saying they're invincible, and sometimes they are really fragile, but most of the time it's actually how adaptive they are that is so surprising.

Fartin'Gary

11/09/2012, 04:57 PM

We made it here to Fredericksburg, Va. Shrimp is doing well. I put her back into the bigger tank. I tested the water and it was good so I reused that with 6 gallons of new water. The bucket with the live rock and hermits did well too with no bubbler or heater. The water tested good as well. It was kind of a PITA lugging all that stuff in and out of hotels every night but it was worth it. Looking for some live food for her. Not many options in this town.

Fartin'Gary

11/28/2012, 10:32 AM

She made it all the way from Vegas to Maryland! I finally got to put the tank back together yesterday and get her acclimated. Doloris spent almost 1 month living in a 5 gallon bucket and 19 gallon rubbermaid tub with a canister filer, live rock, and heater. She spent all night stacking rubble and is pretty shy still today. I'll get more pics later when she comes out.

Fartin'Gary

11/28/2012, 06:20 PM

Some pics of the different lighting. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010793.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010794.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010791.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010792.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Dolores/P1010789.jpg

TundraGuy

11/28/2012, 07:25 PM

Fartin'Gary

11/29/2012, 09:09 AM

Is the new light the IKEA led strips? I used them for a couple tanks. You moved to Maryland lol i just left DC yesterday (pesky Navy always moving me around). Looks good and congratulations on a successful mantis move.

Thanks, I am amazed at hot resilient these guys are. The lights are two clip on LED's like this http://www.amazon.com/AquaTop-60-LED-Clip-On-Light/dp/B005WKFZU8/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1354201554&sr=8-9&keywords=clip+on+aquarium+led+lights

I had them on my old ten gallon reef tank and I got rid of that before we moved. I just got all of this together and now I am thinking of extending her burrow. That means taking all the rock out and putting her in a temp tank lol. The quest for the perfect set up and ascetic never stops.

Islandoftiki

11/29/2012, 05:04 PM

The quest for the perfect set up and ascetic never stops.

Boy howdy. It's pure torture for us OCD guys.

Fartin'Gary

11/29/2012, 09:57 PM

Well just re did the tank with a longer burrow and more live rock. Not happy with it. I came to the conclusion that I just need a larger tank. That means I have to build a stand as the current one is not adequate. 40 gallon breeder is the idea but need to wait til the dollar per gallon sale. Yey I get to do it all over again. The least favorite part of all of this is setting up the rocks in a tank. I go nuts changing it around.

Fartin'Gary

11/30/2012, 01:05 PM

Did some re arranging and now I am happier with it. I still need more live rock to stack in the back though. I got two 2" pvc elbows and just set them in the 3" pipe that runs along the back under the rocks then piled rock and sand on them. The 3" pipe is 12" long. So she now has a tighter opening but large living area. At first she hammered on the elbows for awhile but now she is using them lol.
Here are a few pics. Water is cloudy from messing with the sediment.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010795.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010797.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010798.jpg

Fartin'Gary

12/03/2012, 05:48 PM

Has anyone tried building a tank like this? Seems like a great alternative for people who are on a budget but would like a larger tank https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdyANDq_x_s

nmotz

12/05/2012, 09:06 AM

Fartin'Gary

12/05/2012, 10:00 AM

I think the burrow looks pretty nice. In my haste to build my tank, I didn't bury the PVC pipe with enough substrate so I had to use a bunch of LR, which just falls all over the place and doesn't look as nice. Is that a 30 gallon tank you have there? It looks very similar to mine actually.
I, too, am OCD about the arrangment of LR inside a tank and usually change it several times before I begrudgingly accept that it's not ever going to be "perfect". The hardest part (other than getting the setup just right) is not getting my fingers smashed by the mantis! My G. Chiragra got me once while I was changing his living arrangement, but he was nice and didn't use his full striking power or extend his dactyls. Still hurt though.

It's a 30 but I am waiting for the dollar per gallon sale at Petco for a 40 breeder. I will build a new stand for it then. Doloris seems to work on the entrances a lot piling sand and rubble all around. She makes it look better than I could. I think she has gotten way to used to me because I had my hand right there about an inch away from her and she didn't care. I even handed here some rubble to put away. Sometimes she shoos be away by charging a little but she has never struck me. She is probably very used to what I smell like by now. Going to get more live rock today. Some of the branching kind to pile up to the top. That way I can put a few fish in there and they will have some hiding places.

Fartin'Gary

12/05/2012, 01:55 PM

Got some more live rock. This time I got the branching stuff. It's really awesome. That was one long piece I just laid out across the top. It broke but it still looks like one piece. I put 3 more Emerald crabs in there too. There is enough rock work now that it's their own fault if they end up dead hahaha. I am thinking of adding some smaller fish now that there are plenty of hiding spots. I also got a digital thermometer so I can see exactly how the heater is behaving. I think this is a good temp. Keeping it on the cool side so there is less chance of any bad growth occurring. I also started pricing 40 gallon breeders around town. I called Petco and asked them when the sale would be and they said we don't know until it happens so I guess I'll have to keep calling. There just is not enough room in a 12" deep tank after the rock is added for exploring. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010807.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010809.jpg

Fartin'Gary

12/05/2012, 03:09 PM

Here is a better picture without the flash blasting everything out. Of course Dolores is nowhere to be found. Typical.http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010812.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010813.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010814.jpg

Fartin'Gary

12/06/2012, 09:00 AM

.http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010817.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010819.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010830.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010828.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010824.jpg

Fartin'Gary

12/07/2012, 09:31 PM

Yes she is big. I believe she is full grown or close to it. Which means I will not have her for too long since they do not live past around 5-6 years from what I have read. She was around 4" -4.5" when I got her. She is easily 5" maybe close to 6" now. There is a small store nearby who has another female that's about 3.5". They said they have had her for a little while now. If I had another tank I would have already gotten her.

Fartin'Gary

12/15/2012, 09:53 AM

Just got a short tentacled carpet anemone and more live rock. I removed the PVC end tubes and built the entrances out of branching live rock. That stuff is awesome to build and stack with because of all the branches on it. Also got a domino damsel and a bunch of blue legs and nassarius snails. The anemone is awesome. I fed it a piece of fish last night and it sucked it right into it's stomach. That thing it sticky as heck. Will post pics later after I run some errands. It's really nice living in a small semi rural beach town but trying to do anything like go to Home Depot or the bank takes some driving.

Fartin'Gary

12/15/2012, 11:14 AM

Two shots with the 17w T8 actinic.http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010864_zpsd42b4477.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010861_zps3a6f09a9.jpg

Fartin'Gary

12/20/2012, 10:40 AM

Things didn't fair so well for Dolores so I put her to rest painlessly. It did not take long. Cold is very effective. I will keep her on ice until I learn how to seal her in a resin block for display. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010013_zps5b93fc7e.jpg

Fartin'Gary

12/22/2012, 02:04 PM

My new O.Scyllarus acclimating. Very tame. They were hand feeding here at the shop and the guy picked her up with his hand from the tank. lol She is about 3.5" long. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010015_zps8b8b68ed-1_zps9ed99a6b.jpg

Fitz19d

12/23/2012, 04:48 AM

That's pretty brave, just watching hand feeders is hard enough. Havn't seen any videos of handling a large mantis other than that one kid with a zebra that seemed ill.

Fartin'Gary

12/23/2012, 01:12 PM

Here's a pic of the little tyke. She has such cute little hammers. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010018_zps6b4e80b7.jpg

nmotz

12/23/2012, 02:35 PM

Very nice specimen ya got there....Is she regrowing her rapts?

Fartin'Gary

12/23/2012, 02:49 PM

Very nice specimen ya got there....Is she regrowing her rapts?

Nope she is just really small. Her raps are little. She hits stuff all the time. I gave her an emerald crab today and it didn't last long. That opening on the pvc is 3"

Fartin'Gary

12/24/2012, 12:28 PM

Nope she is just really small. Her raps are little. She hits stuff all the time. I gave her an emerald crab today and it didn't last long. That opening on the pvc is 3"

I double checked and it does look like her left raptoral appendage is smaller than the right. It appears that a few more molts will make it proper size.

Fartin'Gary

12/24/2012, 04:10 PM

Some interesting articles on our little beasties http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110908124500.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

Fartin'Gary

12/24/2012, 08:59 PM

I double checked and it does look like her left raptoral appendage is smaller than the right. It appears that a few more molts will make it proper size. She is still using it to hit stuff though.

Fartin'Gary

12/26/2012, 11:22 AM

I got whacked! I was trying to grab this piece of rubble and thought I could do it before she would make a move. Boy was I wrong. It was so fast I didn't see it coming. I could have sworn that she wasn't close enough to reach me. Anyways I don't think it was as hard as she could but it was still hard. Got me right on the nail of my middle finger. It felt like I missed hammering a nail and hit myself. Didn't leave any marks but it's still kind of tender today.

yukyuklee

12/30/2012, 12:18 AM

nice peacock! sorry to hear about your loss. what's funny is my friend still has his in his freezer lol

Fartin'Gary

01/01/2013, 08:52 PM

nice peacock! sorry to hear about your loss. what's funny is my friend still has his in his freezer lol

I just can't part with such a strange critter.

Here is a pic of the new one. I haven't named her yet. She is a lot more olive in color than Dolores and more reclusive so far but much smaller. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010036_zps7cedd396.jpg

ninfea

01/05/2013, 05:55 AM

Sory about your lost, I read all true the 6 pages of Dolores life and move with you, and I loved it. I am from Belgium, so sory if I write mistakes sometimes. I have a smal green mantis in my smal aquarium, and I think he is molding for the fitst time, but it doen not look good, he is behaving very funny for about 3 days now, and I realy worry about him. that is why I am reading everything about it now, and hope that it will turn out ok for Nessy ( that is his name) They are so amasing, he was in my life rocks, and I kept him in the aquaruim, feed him mossels and shrimps and he was doing ok, untill now. I just hope he pulles true.
Keep on writhing about your new mantis, I love reading it and love your foto's.
Greets Gisele

Fartin'Gary

01/05/2013, 06:30 PM

Thanks for your kind words. Dolores was a great little shrimp.
Here are some shots of the slightly new arrangement with a little more "Totoka" live rock(my favorite). Entrances are much more hidden and I increased the floor space by removing an elbow so it's now an L shape burrow. It's also less dramatic. I have a mini-maxi carpet anemone and a domino damsel fish. I fed the newbie earlier so she is hiding with a silverside in her burrow. I think I am going to get another anemone next week. I added a Hydor 240 power head so I think the flow is great now. Not to harsh but all over. I eventually want to get another Hydor and a wave controller. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010011_zpsaf5c671f.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010008_zpsde66d463.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010005_zps5fa9b22d.jpg

Fartin'Gary

01/05/2013, 07:40 PM

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010016_zps502d8161.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010028_zps1b72e381.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010024_zps127b5bd2.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010023_zps4efb296e.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010030_zps097d3aad.jpg

Fartin'Gary

01/07/2013, 01:53 PM

Little bugger was feeling social after her clam feast. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010038_zps59b51764.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010037_zps743a1999.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010035_zps4f8a5e91.jpg

Fartin'Gary

01/08/2013, 03:05 PM

Just picked up a 40 breeder for 40 bucks. I am excited to have a bigger tank but not excited about aqua-scaping or transfer all over again. Thinking about painting the back a light blue but leaving the sides open this time. I painted the sides on the last tank because we lived in the desert and it was just way to bright. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture9-4_zpsf19b8a38.png

TLTGF

01/08/2013, 04:24 PM

Now you're in my boat. Looking forward to seeing yours come along.

Islandoftiki

01/08/2013, 04:53 PM

Fartin'Gary

01/08/2013, 06:18 PM

Nice. Petco sale, huh? I'm thinking about building a sump for my 10 gallon tank with a 20 gallon petco tank since they're on sale.

That 40 will be really nice for your mantis even though the swap might be a little bit of a pain.

Are you planning to re-use your sand bed or start over with a new sand bed? I'm always leery about disturbing sand beds in bigger tanks. It seems like everybody who does that ends up with a deadly ammonia spike.

I'm gonna re use the sand. It's almost brand new. I haven't had this tank up and running but for a couple months at the most. There is carbon and ammonia absorber in the canister filter but I do not plan on putting the critters in until I get the tank the way I want it and the water clears up. That would be a day or two so I'll get to monitor it. I called petco randomly today and got lucky. I have missed out on this stupid sale several times. I have a stand that I made that needs painting and some legs. Nothing fancy but it will get the job done. I can't decide whether to paint the back glass black or deep blue. I kind of like both.

Islandoftiki

01/08/2013, 06:42 PM

All of my tanks have a black background except for my new 25 gallon mantis tank which is blue. I like them both. They both have their merits. The blue is brighter and might make for better viewing.

Fartin'Gary

01/11/2013, 12:10 PM

I decided to go with black. It was easy because I already had the black paint. Here is a crate that transported my 30 gallon during our move. I transformed it into the new tank stand. Reenforced it some now I just need to add the trim pieces and finish painting it. There is a door that fits the cut out. I was going to add legs to make it taller but when I set it up, it was the perfect height to look at while sitting so I am leaving it much lower than the other stand. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010045_zps26c4baf5.jpg

Fartin'Gary

01/11/2013, 02:47 PM

All done waiting for paint to dry. Not bad for 20 dollars worth of wood. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture1_zps17b2a3ea.png

Fartin'Gary

01/11/2013, 03:26 PM

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture5_zps009f030d.png

Fartin'Gary

01/11/2013, 03:33 PM

I'm stoked. I have wanted a 40 gal the whole time. I just got a good deal on the 30 and my temp tank was a ten gallon so I was kind of in a hurry to get something larger. I'm about to do some cleaning with vinegar and water then start mapping out the terrain. I might start the transfer this weekend.

Fartin'Gary

01/11/2013, 03:34 PM

gozermantis

01/12/2013, 07:33 PM

Can't wait to see this done!

Fartin'Gary

01/12/2013, 10:53 PM

Can't wait to see this done!

Me either but We will have to. I just all of a sudden inherited a weenie from a great friend who is having a kid. Well with his wife. Very young, papers, potty trained. It tried to eat the guinea pig but Likes the cat. Of course the cat is above that. 3 ring circus at the moment.

Bought 19 inches of 3" pvc plus the two ends. It will be around 23-24" of real estate away from the outside. I am going to coat it with silicone and sand then pile the live rock all in the back. There should be plenty of room for her to swim and run around plus hide. The 30 gallon I will put in the metal guitar room and make a reef tank. Win win situation because now the wife is learning about the amazing world of mushrooms and other corals when we go to the fish shop. Finally something to distract her from the Jeep. Hurray!

Notice the pending tank in the back next to our Christmas palm tree.http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010058_zps033eb615.jpg

Fartin'Gary

01/15/2013, 02:28 PM

Got the tube made. It's almost the entire length of the 40 gal. I was going to use Roy's suggestion with the curved electrical conduit but I didn't want to fill it with 6" of substrate and I already had these here.I still need to go get another bag to fill it to 4"-5" . They also didn't have black or grey tubing so this was what I had to get or drive an hour. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010063_zps7fbb6f51.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/P1010062_zps2705f721.jpg

Fartin'Gary

01/16/2013, 07:30 PM

Ok here are some crappy shots since my camera ran out of batteries. Waiting for the dust to settle and the temp to come up. I'm going to add more water later.http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture4_zps0f72951b.pnghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture5_zpsb84795ce.png

Fartin'Gary

01/17/2013, 12:14 PM

Here is another crappy pic of the final phase. Just waiting for the dust to settle. She started digging right when I put her in and fogged it all up again. I nudged her to the burrow and haven't seen her since. I got some Kenya trees and I'm looking for some aptaisia. Some very low light and hearty pests. I'll try to get another battery for the good camera. This phone is terrible for pics.http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture11-1_zpsfc0bde2e.png

Burrow entrances and one more better pic. I am liking the black background more than the blue. I still like the blue but now that I see pics of them side by side I think the black is the way to go. I am going to let the sides of the tank go and only clean the front. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture12-3_zpsb4d26ab6.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture13-2_zpsa263a20d.jpghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture14-2_zps3143dba7.png

Fartin'Gary

01/17/2013, 02:50 PM

Fog cleared up mostly. 30lbs of crushed coral, 30 lbs of medium aragonite, maybe 15- 20 lbs of fine aragonite, and lots of rubble. I boxed in the pvc tube with live rock under the substrate so it made a shelf. That way I didn't have to make the front 4-5" deep as well. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture15-1_zps6e714ea3.png

Islandoftiki

01/17/2013, 06:51 PM

Looks great. That's going to be a nice mantis home.

Fartin'Gary

01/18/2013, 10:14 AM

I saw her peep her eye's out of the burrow last night but she has been tucked away in there since I put her in. Maybe a molt. I'm uncertain. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture8-4_zpsd7cf8c8e.png

Kharn

01/18/2013, 06:52 PM

Very cute dog :P love them sausage dogs xD!!!

As for the PVC tunnel I am doing the same thing however I am adding a 3rd entry/exit point in the middle of the PVC, along with building plateaus for coral etc. my 2 O.scyllarus tanks will hold the nicest largest coral specimens :P but I MUST upgrade the filtration first before I can 'turn on lights and keep coral'.

My plan is to create very high raised plateaus above the buried PVC with the exits actually at 90degree bends so the animal is facing the front of the tank when at the burrow and not the top of the tank, the raised plateaus will be along the rear (as I said above the PVC) and I will keep SPS on them being only 20-30cm away from the lights then I'll have so lower plateau around each entrance for LPS whilst all the softies can stay on the substrate level or under the SPS bench.

In theory with what I have planned the PVC burrow itself should be pitch black not only being buried like yours but having a long bench above it covering it from direct light from above.

Islandoftiki

01/20/2013, 07:41 PM

Awesome tank. Your rockscape makes mine look like poop.

Fartin'Gary

01/21/2013, 07:06 AM

I like this totoka live rock. It's it's fairly light, branching, and fits together like legos. It makes it very easy to build and stack with. It's also great for the bacteria since it has much more surface area. Give it a try if you can find some.

Fartin'Gary

01/21/2013, 08:15 AM

She finally peeped out of the burrow today. She was in fact molting. I can see some of her shell down in the burrow.

Fartin'Gary

01/21/2013, 08:18 AM

She finally peeped out of the burrow today. She was in fact molting. I can see some of her shell down in the burrow. My other Peacock would block off the entrances. This one did not. Interesting to see the set of skills they have or don' have yet.

Fartin'Gary

01/23/2013, 09:17 AM

So it got really cold last night in the teens. My heater is a 100 watt so it had trouble keeping the water temp at 76*. This morning it was 74.4*. I need to buy another 100 watt heater. It's going to be very cold the next few days so what I did was wrap the canister filter in a towel and placed a couple camping foot warmers in there so the water doesn't cool off all the way going through the canister. Seems to be helping. You could also place them in a container and float them in the water in-case of power outages. Make sure it's stable though because I'm pretty sure they need to be exposed to air for the reaction to work. At least the ones I have do.

Fartin'Gary

02/14/2013, 07:48 AM

Some crappy phone pics with lots of glare.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture4_zpsb3b97015.pnghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture2-1_zpsb6abc9a9.pnghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture1_zpsbb1bb74a.pnghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture6-1_zps68e6ca1e.png

Fartin'Gary

02/26/2013, 03:22 PM

I'm putting in 2 green chromis that have been quarantined tomorrow. Wish them luck :lmao:

Fartin'Gary

02/28/2013, 08:12 PM

Well something screwy happened with the Chromis at the pet store before I could get them and they didn't make it in the stores quarantine tank. I told him not to get any more since they would just live a life of fear. I got a sexy shrimp, some more live rock, and some GSP. The sexy shrimp went right to the mini carpet nem and has been there ever since. It's pretty funny to watch. So far there is that and a peppermint shrimp that has managed to evade death. The PS hides under some rock all day until lights out and the carpet nem is way up top on some LR so they will probably be ok.

Fartin'Gary

04/25/2013, 11:46 AM

I made a DIY nano skimmer from a gravel vac and various spare parts I had laying around. It was pretty cheap and there are plenty of You Tube vids showing how to make one out of various plastic bottles and cheap air pumps. It's working ok. I need to get a limewood airstone instead of this ceramic one for finer bubbles and design the hose locations better.

In the second pic you can see how deep my sand bed is that houses the 3" PVC burrow. It's between 5-6" of and and rubble with a live rock retaining wall then tapers off towards the front. The ends of the pipe could be seen for a little but the little critter has built up around it and now you can just barely make out the lip of the pipe. http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture16-2_zps7d2d056a.pnghttp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture17-1_zpsca43fad4.png

Fartin'Gary

06/19/2013, 11:28 AM

Update on the cheap protein skimmer. I re arranged the collector tube to the side and it's been working nicely. Getting some nice brown skin from it. It's a bit wet but that is ok by me. Cost about 15 bucks but I already had an extra air pump.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture16-2_zps7811374d.png
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Picture17-1_zps04ff7f39.png

Islandoftiki

06/19/2013, 12:00 PM

Limewood air stone skimmers always skim wet. That's just how they are. I have a Gnome Glass skimmer and the skimmate looks about the same as yours.

One thing to watch out for is make sure you have some sort of siphon break at the top of the waste line. I've had my skimmer go nuts after changing filter floss a couple times and twice it started a siphon. Good thing I was there or it would have drained the tank onto the living room floor. Now I just have a short waste line that terminates above the water line and drops the skimmate down into a container.

Fartin'Gary

06/19/2013, 12:27 PM

Islandoftiki

06/19/2013, 12:47 PM

Here's a video that shows the potential problem and one solution...

64SzqKjLD2E

I simplified it from what's in the video to this:

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q144/circuitweed/10%20Gallon%20Saltwater%20Tank/D24D3835-orig_zps5d46a516.jpg

Fartin'Gary

06/19/2013, 02:50 PM

Nice. I haven't seen mine build that much pressure but now I will put a T in the line at the top for sure. Thanks.

Fartin'Gary

10/03/2013, 05:48 PM

Well it looks like I'm back into having a mantis. I wasn't expecting to have another one for a bit but the local store went out of business and they offered her to me for 30 bucks. Bad part is that my tank was set up for some fish and soft corals. I bought a bunch of their live rock and made a sort of mountain. I also got a wave maker which works pretty nice. I just put her in with the rest of my inhabitants which are two mithral crabs, some snails, some blue legs, a sexy shrimp, two clowns, one dotty back, and a 3 spot damsel. She's been hand fed for about 6 months at the store so she's really docile. Not too big maybe 4.5". We'll see how this social experiment pans out.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-03at74254PM_zps767b4ba6.png
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-03at74233PM_zps13d0e36e.png

Fartin'Gary

10/05/2013, 08:53 AM

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-05at105227AM_zps10d338be.png

Fartin'Gary

10/05/2013, 09:06 AM

I have had thousands of pods all over my tanks glass after I got this little 30GPH filter with some micro algae going. The home made skimmer works well too. Here is the Hydor wave maker.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-05at110250AM_zps98d060d9.png

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-05at110302AM_zpsc0e10c56.png

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-05at110316AM_zps6baec181.png

Fartin'Gary

10/16/2013, 11:02 AM

Here are a few more pics. As of last night the little monster has finally remembered how to dig and build. Hurray! How exciting to hear all the clicks from her chipping rocks finally! My guess was that she was stuck in that fish shop tank for so long with almost no substrate and two large rocks that she forgot how to do what she is supposed to do. No PVC this time because the tank wasn't set up that way so I just added 18 more pounds of live rock and let her work it out. There are tunnels the go along almost all the way under the rocks and one smaller power head behind them pushing a current through and two 850's on a wave maker at ten second intervals. I also have that 30gal HOB fuge and a canister filter pushing current. It's plenty of flow but I would like a tank with crashing waves lol. Probably overkill.

Here she is with one of her flatmates. This dottyback likes to hang out with her and receive scraps from her feedings. It also likes to dig. It hates the three spot damsel though. Monster doesn't care about the fish at all so far. My last two were not so neutral about certain fish. Damsels were fine but I did lose two green chromis.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-16at124845PM_zps9e275579.png
Here is my mini maxi nem with it's local resident sexy shrimp.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-16at124801PM_zpsa7e860de.png
Here are a couple full tank shots. Hard to get with no glare in that room.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-16at124830PM_zpsc0c4bb1d.png
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-16at124813PM_zpsf7b2eddd.png
Photos are not that great, just camera phone but at least it's updated.

Kharn

10/19/2013, 03:42 PM

Calappidae

10/19/2013, 04:20 PM

I've wanted to delve into Nems for a long time with Stomatopods but my paranoia about the Stomatopods safety has always made me reconsider...having said that I will 1 day have both RBTA & O.scyllarus in the same tank, in the same photo/video!

As far as the anemone eating or stinging a stomatopod, very low risk consituring their shell structures.

If the anemone is attacked by a mantis (sometimes they will go crazy after contact) then the anemone could be damaged.. dying or dead anemones can also nuke an aquarium. IME

Fartin'Gary

10/19/2013, 05:59 PM

Kharn

10/19/2013, 05:59 PM

As far as the anemone eating or stinging a stomatopod, very low risk consituring their shell structures.

Tell that to Dr.Caldwell, he recently told us on here about how he knew a collector that had a batch of Stomatopods but nowhere to place them aside an anemone tank, many went in and only a few were rescued.

Kharn

10/19/2013, 06:07 PM

That mini maxi nem has lived with 3 different peacocks so far so good. The only critter to ever have any interest in it is that sexy shrimp. From day one when I put it in there it went right to it. It's a comical little shrimp to watch. It shakes it's butt all around.

That's great to here as some of those nems have great coloration and get to a good size, they remind me of Larger Aggressive Ric's :) my biggest fear with nems isn't really the Stomatopod(s) themselves but rather other coral inhabitants within the tank(s), nems 'like' to move and when they do, they sting all in their path.

Having said that I do know with 'confidence' that some BTAs have a very 'lite' sting less then the potency of certain LPS, which is giving me more confidence in my ability to keep one with a Stomatopod :).

Calappidae

10/19/2013, 06:13 PM

From what I researched, BTA do have a very weak sting compared to other anems. RBTA is just a different, more rare coloration of regular BTAs and recieve a high price tag.

What type of anem was it that got the stomatopods?

Fartin'Gary

10/19/2013, 07:19 PM

Yea the giant carpet nem at the store traveled all around the tank. It was huge like maybe a little over a foot all around. This little guy is as big as it will get. Hasn't moved since I put it on that rock which I am thankful for because I have moved that rock several times. It's been fine with moderate to low light as well. I feed it maybe once per month.

http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/mini-carpets-perfect-small-sea-anemones

Fartin'Gary

10/21/2013, 12:56 PM

This one is by far the most people hating peacock I have owned. Someone's mad!

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-21at25521PM_zps48a6798d.png

Calappidae

10/21/2013, 04:07 PM

This one is by far the most people hating peacock I have owned. Someone's mad!

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/bender75/Screenshot2013-10-21at25521PM_zps48a6798d.png

She just needs a hug.. or she is jealous of the sexy shrimp's new outfit..

Fartin'Gary

10/28/2013, 12:39 PM

This new peacock didn't close off her burrow to molt. I am watching it come out of it's old exoskeleton right now!

Islandoftiki

10/28/2013, 12:40 PM

This new peacock didn't close off her burrow to molt. I am watching it come out of it's old exoskeleton right now!

Very cool.

Fartin'Gary

10/28/2013, 12:42 PM

Very cool.

looks like a scene from Alien. I just covered the tank for good measure. I saw her slip out of one of her raptorals.

Islandoftiki

10/28/2013, 02:37 PM

I witnessed and caught on video one of my black mithrax crabs molting (http://youtu.be/GI38nnMbvgI). I'm sure not as epic as watching a mantis molt, but pretty wild just the same.

Fartin'Gary

10/28/2013, 03:24 PM

Yea, I'm glad we don't have to do that.

Calappidae

10/28/2013, 04:26 PM

When I had to move my O. scyllarus out of his home (long story..) he molted and all he had was a decorative log.. the way he wiggled around to remove his molt had me pretty worried at first...

Islandoftiki

10/29/2013, 12:46 AM

When I had to move my O. scyllarus out of his home (long story..) he molted and all he had was a decorative log..

A decorative log? Like, wood?

Calappidae

10/29/2013, 08:04 AM

A decorative log? Like, wood?

http://i43.*******.com/35mfbk1.jpg

Sadly this is the best I can offer right now..:sad2:

Sorry for poor quality..

He did have a rock at the top to atleast cover the hole from light.. but he moved it..

As soon as I get my 125 up I'll be able to return him back in his original home :) or I was consituring upgrading him to a 55 gal..

Fartin'Gary

11/06/2013, 08:48 AM

Kharn

11/07/2013, 01:28 AM

Just got back from a 6 day trip and the tank did well with the auto set up. Eheim auto feeder for the fish and I gave the mantis a large feeding before we hit the road and did a water change. I left the light on in the mini fuge and the cheato is much more robust now haha. The tank lights were on a 4 hour on cycle. The room gets some natural sun but not directly on the tank. If I am away longer than that I will need a auto water topper offer.

This is one of the reasons why I want to create a very large ATO system just out of a 'small' rain water tank like 500L-1000L, I'm just going to fill it with RO/DI purchased water likely once every few months maybe once every 6months.

This I hope...will solve any evaporation problems I have :) and increased overall stability.

I want to go away for months :P....my last 'true' holiday (14days) was in 2007.

Fartin'Gary

11/07/2013, 08:22 AM

This is one of the reasons why I want to create a very large ATO system just out of a 'small' rain water tank like 500L-1000L, I'm just going to fill it with RO/DI purchased water likely once every few months maybe once every 6months.

This I hope...will solve any evaporation problems I have :) and increased overall stability.

I want to go away for months :P....my last 'true' holiday (14days) was in 2007.

You are long overdue for a vacation! This wasn't really a relaxing vacation. More of a forced one to go to a wedding. We didn't have a lot of alone time. But it was expensive!

That sounds like a great set up. We are renting for now so I am trying to keep the tank at a minimum because we move around quite often. It gets a bit frustrating tearing down and setting up the tank once per year. And dragging the live stock across the country in buckets isn't very fair either. Tundra had some kind of way to auto fill without the cost attached I am interested in.