Such amazing creatures!

[Mantisshrimpman]

Stomatopods are utterly amazing! Just saw a special on natgeo last night on them which is how I fell in love with them in the first place! They are so evolutionarily specialized! They are so intelligent! They are one of the ultimate invertebrate predators of the world! And they thrive even though they are so specialized. Evolution tends to make predators specialize over time if they stay alive long enough but change is the downfall of specialization in nature. The sabertooth was extremely specialized to take down large prey. Large prey disappearing plus humans made them disappear. But mantis shrimp are highly specialized and remain alive and thriving. It all depends on how well they can adapt to change and with their intelligence they can do that pretty well and some are extremely hardy creatures which makes them perfect at thriving in a changing environment. I highly respect these creatures and that's why I want to be totally ready for one because it would be a tragedy if I tried to take care of one without knowing how to do it right. I would feel like I'd taken a masterpiece and ruined it because I didn't know how to preserve it! I love teaching people about amazing success stories in nature and the stomatopod is definitely one of them! I want to become a stomatopod master! Not some newb who didn't know what he was doing.

[Calappidae]

Unless Dr. caldwell was involved I don't think they're info was 100% accurate.

In all seriousiness there are alot of videos and documentaries that have a couple twist to them steering in the wrong direction whether it's saying the wrong number of species, mixing how many wavelengths they can see, using the term "hits with the force of a .22" rather than "hits with the Acceleration of a .22", never mentioning they're stomatopods which was corrected yesterday actually :D.

Natgeo also for entertainment purposes will twist a couple things.. look at their world's deadlist videos on their youtube channel.. although I can't anything about the stomatopod one, their pistol shrimp one was very very off.. they aren't predators like that, I've have soo many pistols in my 125g just roaming around with almost 1 of every shrimp avialible (except monkies and CBS) Never had a problem.. They use their claws for self defense and for finding a mate, and when mine snapped my watchman goby found it minutes later and paired so there's a posibility there.

Was this by chance called "Wet" or something like that? If so Roy was involved and everything you heard was correct. Other than that I can't say.

[Mantisshrimpman]

Roy was involved! Is he the Roy that we have here? And they did mention stomatopods I think. They said acceleration of a .22 caliber bullet. Although the woman researcher said force of I think. I caught a discrepancy after it was repeated a few times.

[Fartin'Gary]

Yes it's the same Dr. Roy. He comes down from upon high to give his minions knowledge.

[Mantisshrimpman]

Awesome! I was like ik I've heard that name somewhere! He's like a celebrity to me now! Lol

[Calappidae]

We cannot survive without his knowledge here :reading:

He was the one that corrected you with calling them shrimp earilier :D

[Mantisshrimpman]

Yeah and I already knew he was very knowledgeable about these amazing critters so I already had a lot of respect for him. And that is why I was so apologetic because I've wanted to be in the research field with animals but couldn't get my degree and I wouldn't want my special animal called something it's not. Thanks Roy!

[Kharn]

The 'Woman', is Dr. Sheila Patek unless I'm mistaken and she bases her studies with Stomatopods around their 'movements', she did a very passionate speech about how the Stomatopods use their appendage and how much damage they can do, she focuses on Stomatopods & Ants.
http://www.thepateklab.org/users/sheila-patek

Dr. Roy Caldwell who we all know quite well bases his research in the areas of invertebrate behavior and ecology specifically Stomatopods & Cephalopods.
http://ib.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/caldwellr

[Calappidae]

I was just watching her a few days ago.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RHTTIg7HY80" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Mantisshrimpman]

Wow that was amazing! That raptorial limb must be an architectual wonder to withstand those forces let alone produce them. How do they avoid pushing themselves backwards? Do they just grab onto the bottom? Because every action has to have a reaction. A fast powerful forwards motion creates a backwards reaction. They must brace themselves somehow or they'd shove themselves backwards especially since they are shoving all that water out at a fast rate.

[Calappidae]

Some of them get pushed backwards, or go forward with the strike. As seen in that vid, which was something I didn't know before they do damage their raptorial appendages after awhile.

[Mantisshrimpman]

Yes they are unable to strike without damaging themselves but because they molt it's not a problem. I didn't know the smashers could stab. That amazed me. Do they ever stab in a strike or do the smashers almost always smash during a strike?

[Kharn]

Yes they are unable to strike without damaging themselves but because they molt it's not a problem. I didn't know the smashers could stab. That amazed me. Do they ever stab in a strike or do the smashers almost always smash during a strike?

Smashers will stab when they feel that they can do more damage with it, this will often be a finishing blow, not just with fleshy targets either due to the smashers incredible power.

My small female G.ternatensis, Nicole, Double impaled both her dactyls into a crab not much smaller then her, the result ended in a slight frustration of trying to remove the dactyls, but the crab was killed instantly.

[Islandoftiki]

My small female G.ternatensis, Nicole, Double impaled both her dactyls into a crab not much smaller then her, the result ended in a slight frustration of trying to remove the dactyls, but the crab was killed instantly.

That would definitely be an effective finishing move.

[Mantisshrimpman]

Very fascinating creatures! The more I learn about them the more I love them! I've known about stomatopods for years but hadn't really had much interest until seeing Roy on tv one day. He inspired me to know more about them. And then I was hooked!

[Islandoftiki]

Very fascinating creatures! The more I learn about them the more I love them! I've known about stomatopods for years but hadn't really had much interest until seeing Roy on tv one day. He inspired me to know more about them. And then I was hooked!

Sounds like you've been bit by the bug pretty bad. This is a good thing if you have enough patience to plan everything out thoroughly and learn the necessary mandatory stuff first. It sounds like you will, too. A voracious appetite for knowledge and information is a must in this hobby. There's new things to learn even for the most advanced level hobbyists and professionals.

Welcome to the hobby you will never get bored with.

[Mantisshrimpman]

Whoever gets bored with a hobby that involves living things puzzles me. Living things are amazing and if you learn about them enough to take care of them then they can teach you even more than a book ever could

[Calappidae]

I like the way this guy thinks.

You never get bored in this hobby, something new and different happens everyday in any little setup. Whether it's a new behavior from the livestock or random hitchhikers getting it, I can go on and on listing the possibilities but they're endless.

Everyday I keep finding new hitchhikers in my 10g (which concerns me actually..) The scariest being a small worm eating cone snail and an eunice worm (about 2 weeks ago found him). Both were sent to the LFS and who knows what was done with them there.

But then again I got a really bad "deco rock" from the Gulf of Mexico.

[Mantisshrimpman]

Sounds like I'd have a ball just with hitchhikers! I'd probably stare at my tank several hours a day once things started showing up just so I could see something new or rediscover something I'd forgotten or try to name everything in there. And thanks for the compliment Joe :)

[Islandoftiki]

Sounds like I'd have a ball just with hitchhikers! I'd probably stare at my tank several hours a day once things started showing up just so I could see something new or rediscover something I'd forgotten or try to name everything in there. And thanks for the compliment Joe :)

You can have a HUGE amount of fun with nothing more than unwanted hitchhikers and free invasive corals that people will give you for free. Check out what I did with this: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/297134-islandoftikis-mantispest-tank-pico-contest-winner/ It was more fun than any other tank I've run. It's an excellent idea for someone new to saltwater. Low cost of livestock and most of it is really difficult to kill.

[Calappidae]

Islandoftiki, buy a piece of Deco rock from the gulf of mexico.. you'll get the worse of the worse hitchhikers in that!

I'll make a list of everything I found in a 4.5 lb. peice of deco rock ;)

-5 micro brittlestars
-1 worm eating cone snail :eek2: (got rid of him ASAP.. to the lfs of course)
-1 eunice :eek2::eek2:
-5 fire worms
-8 bristleworms (minus 3 from an arrow crab :wave:)
-3 cluster dusters
-1 pink feather duster
-3 cocoworms
-4 tunicates
-2 sponges (sadly lost those..)
-12 key hole limpets and breeding
-1 H. glyptocercus lurking around there somewhere (smaller than a amphipod when I found it.. I honestly have no idea if it's still in there as there were no sightings since.. and I'm guessing it was a H. glyptocercus)
-a couple whelks
-some sort of crab I couldn't catch and haven't seen since the first appearence..
-lotsa halimeda
-1 huge neon blue brain coral (keeper :thumbsup: )

and about 12 more things I can't seem to Id..

My 10g turned into a nightmare after that rock was added :crazy1:

In the rock holding tank at my lfs there was stars, cucumbers, snails, all crawling on the front glass.. big cucumbers too

[Mantisshrimpman]

Ooooo! I wanna try that! Omg you guys got me all excited lol that much life that I could observe makes me feel like a kid in a candy store! And hard to kill is always a plus!

[Mantisshrimpman]

I'm still so confused on pump setup and all that. You guys build yours to show off look good. I don't care about aesthetics. I just wanna see and keep creatures alive. Hopefully one of them will be a stomatopod someday.

[Calappidae]

I guess I should warn you not to touch anything unless you know about it before you get a little too excited. Half the stuff in this hobby sting, bite, cut, are toxic, can die and nuke a tank, etc. etc. Even the harmless peaceful looking yellow tangs you see in public aquariums and when diving have a small little "scapel" on their tail that can cut you badly. Some clownfish if you annoy them enough will put a pretty nasty whelt on your arm especially around their eggs or anemones out of protection ;) Not to scare you but just be careful.


I have yet to find a single hitchhiker in my 30g, or my 125.. my 10g didn't have anything before that single rock.. that rock I got was just terrible.. it has it's good hitchhikers but the bad ones.. such as the cone snail which is very very venomous and the eunice worm which is a nightmare hitchhiker to have isn't welcome in there. I don't kill any of my pest but give them away or to the lfs since they're not welcome in any of my systems.

That type of rock in perticular is nuts to have that much in such a tiny peice..

[Calappidae]

There's alot to play around with the filtration. I like to aim at turning the water over 10x per hour.. in other words a ten galln should have a 100gph filter of somekind but the bigger the better for sure. Alot of the filteration is actually customized.. either 100% made by us or modified versons of cheap equiptment from the LFS. Its a fun project to make your own equiptment for sure. I'm currently trying to build my own skimmer using a water bottle and an airstone.

My tanks are still being upgraded.. my filteration is poor at the momment.

[Mantisshrimpman]

Oh ik Joe lol I grew up off watching nature documentaries and later reading everything I could about critters on land and in the water. Cone snail though dangerous sounds kinda cool as long as you know it's reach. Are they delicate? Ik they pack a punch on the venom scale but I love predatory organisms. Predators are so cool! But sadly a lot of predators are hard or just plain insane to keep.

[Calappidae]

You can never buy a cone snail, no body is crazy enough to collect them. Hitchhiking cones is very very rare and usually those ones aren't deadly enough to seriously hurt someone.

Blue ring octopus on the other hand are commonly sold and exported and can kill you.. and they are escape artist yet.. scary.. to my knowledge on cone snails only the fish eating ones are strong enough to kill someone and I think there was only 15 reported deaths from cone snails which isn't THAT much.

[Mantisshrimpman]

Those cone snails are bad. I'd want one if I knew for sure I'd never get stung but from what I've read most people don't even know they have been stung so no thanks. I'm not good at tinkering :( I'd break a filter trying to modify it

[Calappidae]

Looks heres a perfect example of the constant surprises this hobby brings..


Ok so two weeks ago I purchased this birdnest coral for my 125 mixed reef. I put it in the best spot for viewing.. algae starts growing on it.. everyday I brushed off a little algae (gotta get my nutrients down..). I inspect the coral carefully DAILY and brush off any new algae. When I feed the tank I watch the coral's structure catch a little bit of the mysis floating around (even tho it does nothing it's somewhat entertaining to me for some reason :D.)

Tonight... two weeks later... after all this time and carefully looking at the coral.. I found a small 3/4 inch Acro crab!

(look carefully in the center branches to see the crab hanging upside down. It has a redish pink under belly. )
http://i39.*******.com/6fqxq8.jpg

I seriously have no clue how I missed the little guy in there after all the inspectings, taking the coral out of the water and glueing it to a rock carefully examing it.. all this time staring at it.. and then just now I notice it, and no he did not come from a different rock, the birdnest is the only SPS coral in there and acro crabs live in SPS corals only.. ocassionally however you might end up lucky with the crab hitchhiking in an sps coral you purchased..

Yet another surprise :wildone:

[Islandoftiki]

Tonight... two weeks later... after all this time and carefully looking at the coral.. I found a small 3/4 inch Acro crab!

There's a little tiny cymo acro crab lurking in my G. Ternatensis tank. He must have been hiding in the birdsnest coral that I temporarily put in there. He must have been really tiny because I never saw him. Then one day when I'm feeding the tank, I see a little claw waving around from inside a hole in the live rock. He should be pretty safe in that tank since Chuck doesn't even bother with snails. The Cymo crabs stay really small.

[Kharn]

I was lucky enough to get a free porcelain crab hitchhike in on some Zoa's that I got from my LFS ages ago when I had my nano...

I had the crab for about 10mins...after I took the pics and uploaded them it was gone...Zuzu had grabbed it and pummeled it out...

[Mantisshrimpman]

Wow! I hope I get lucky with something. What if I get a mantis shrimp that I'm not ready to take care of as a hitchhiker?

[Kharn]

Contain it as best you can in a rigid container within a good stable tank, I use heavy duty critter keepers but even they only last a few days to a week tops...so buy a few xD

EDIT: One thing I took to help 'slow' their assault on the plastic critter keepers is to line the inside with eggcrate, for species that cannot fit through, this will work perfectly, for individuals that can...it will slow them down but they will still wedge through and strike the plastic keeper side.

[Calappidae]

or just a sheet of acrylic right? :idea:

[Kharn]

or just a sheet of acrylic right? :idea:

I find egg crate easier to come buy and easier to work with...just need clippers and you can form rigid shapes, like a square/rectangle to place within the actual critter keeper, as the reinforcement.

[Mantisshrimpman]

Well I meant if I'm not ready to keep one

[Calappidae]

Well I meant if I'm not ready to keep one

If a stomatopod hitchhikes in live rock, in no water during shipping, in the freezing cold seasons, then survives several tank moves..

how far off could you be?

[Mantisshrimpman]

True lol I didn't think of that Joe

[Kharn]

That is what was confusing me...

'What do you mean, if you not ready...why are you ordering a Stomatopod without an aquarium...'.

But as Calappidae said...even if you got a Stomatopod in the Live Rock for your tank that is cycling...the odds are that is one tough little individual and it would survive the cycle of your tank as well.

[Mantisshrimpman]

Well I meant if I wasn't set up to keep one and I was only dealing with live rock at the time kharn sorry for the confusion.

[Calappidae]

Well I meant if I wasn't set up to keep one and I was only dealing with live rock at the time kharn sorry for the confusion.

Well you got lucky and a free potental $50 stomatopod!



I actually did get a hitchhiking mantis in the deco rock I mentioned earlier.. and it was the only hitchhiker I actually wanted... and guess which genius caught it with a turkey baster and was holding the darn thing facing down walking around the house to put it in another tank..
http://i42.*******.com/2ijkods.gif
You should have seriously seen me ripping up the carpet looking for it.. I hope it slipped back in the tank when I pulled it out of the water..

[Kharn]

Stomatopods are every where....

I recall Dr.Caldwell saying how he retrieved a decent sized rock about the size of a basket ball and when he split it open over 40 individual stomatopods were inside, all the small species obviously.

[Mantisshrimpman]

Wow! That's amazing! They are incredible!