They grow so fast!

[Alexraptor]

I can scarcely believe that I have had my little mantis for nearly 9 months now.
He's molted and grown so much!

Brand new video taken a few days ago.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/voxV06CtdjA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Video from 9 months ago.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8okLJfelS7w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Have to say this all has been a truly remarkable experience so far.
Stomatopods truly are unique and wonderful animals and really do not deserve their label as a "pest".

[Dana42078]

Nice looking mantis....def could tell he grew quite a bit.:D

[TundraGuy]

Hell of a nice update thanks for sharing.

[gnasher]

That is some impressive growth!

[Fretfreak13]

HES SO CUTE! Not only has he grown in size, but in the pld video he was so timid about the fork, and in the one from a few days ago hes all, "come at me bro!". Amazing. =)

[Kharn]

Sure is a cute lil' fella :) reminds me of my male G.smithii - Adam.

Something I have noticed with my female G.smithii - Eve is that her meral spots seem to be different o_O her right spot is pure black with white ring around it whilst her left spot appears to be a blueish color with a white ring around it, both of my other G.smithii - Adams meral spots center are pitch black no difference.

I have never seen Eve with a missing appendage o_O

[Recty]

Very cool. And holy twitchy fork, Batman... steady that hand :)

It's cool your G. smithii comes out and does the challenge pose, mine did that in the LFS but now that he is in a nice big tank he doesnt even care about me being outside anymore. I never see a challenge posture at all. Of course, he is also living on easy street now with regular feedings and lots of them, in the LFS I'm sure he had to go a lot longer between meals so he was probably more territorial and combative.

[Alexraptor]

Its kind of funny, a lot of the time when I approach the tank he will start challenging me.
But he's insanely curious when I just do things around the room, and I can sometimes spot him over my shoulder peeking over the ridge of a rock.

And the twitching back then was actually intentional and my attempt to make the shrimp piece seem a bit more lively lol.

[lionbacker54]

enjoyed those videos, thanks for posting. it was cool to see how much you obviously like mantis shrimp. good owner.

[Veganbrian]

wow, he did grow fast, awesome update!

[Alexraptor]

enjoyed those videos, thanks for posting. it was cool to see how much you obviously like mantis shrimp. good owner.

Thanks, should also mention that he was completely unplanned.
He rode in on a piece of Live Rock that went into my main reef tank last year *shudder*.
But fortunately for both of us I managed to lure him out and gave him a home of his own. :D

And now I got two additional tanks on 5 and 10 gallons being prepared for future inhabitation. ;)

[Alexraptor]

Didn't catch it on video, but reached a new milestone today.
My first hand feeding. :)

Gave him a piece of shrimp that he cautiously pulled from my fingers after a mock try lol. :)

[TundraGuy]

:wildone:lol next you should put your head in and try to feed him like a baby bird. please post this video.:wildone:

[Alexraptor]

Alas my head would probally not fit between the rim of the tank and the mounted light.
And if it did I would probally empty out half the tank on the floor in the process! :D

[LetsGetTanked]

haha, so cool. I want one now!