Still my favorite stomatopod

[Gonodactylus]

For activity, interactiveness, and beauty there is in my opinion no stomatopod that comes close to Odontodactylus japonicus. If I could have just one, this is the beast I would choose. Every time I photograph it, it gives me at least one good shot. Today while swimming, it rolled on its side for a good dorsal shot.

Roy

[Calappidae]

Amazing! I'm quite interested to hear their suitability in aquariums. Prone to shell disease, hardy, or as their appearence aside from colors look like, O. scyllarus in terms of same burrowing establishments and suitability etc.

[Gonodactylus]

I have not seen shell disease in this species. Survivorship seems about the same as O. scyllarus - although the jump more. Also, they seem to be fish eaters. The literally run (swim) down fish, kill and eat them. They would not tolerate a fishy tank mate. They also seem to burrow more than O. scyllarus. Also, their strike is weaker than that of an O. scyllarus. They will try to break snails, but generally can handle only thin shells.

[TJWho5986]

What is the toughest mantis shrimp .peacock ?

[Calappidae]

What is the toughest mantis shrimp .peacock ?

I think G. chiragra as they have the hardest hit for their adverage size. Only growing to 4".. almost half the size of a peacock (O. scyllarus) they are still capable of chipping glass.

[Kharn]

Toughest Stomatopod I think might be L.maculata

As Dr.Caldwell said in the past, this species is extremely durable and capable of taking damage that other species would succumb to.

L.maculata is likely my favorite as well, their size is to undeniably impressive :D

EDIT: O.scyllarus is probably one of the less hardy species, the whole Odontodactyl species (or for the most part) is a more touchy species that will succumb to things other species are either immune to or simply to tough to be hindered by.

[Gonodactylus]

I guess it depends on what one means by "toughness". L. maculata certainly can tolerate harsh physical conditions and can survive major injury, but they rarely fight and aren't that aggressive. A large O scyllarus has the most powerful strike, but they rarely use it against other stomatopod. For its size, probably the most aggressive, powerful stomatopod is Gonodactylus chiragra. They live in extreme conditons (low intertidal), specialize on large, armored snails and hermits, and don't engage in much ritualized fighting. Rather, they go for the kill. Most are not very interactive with humans, but if I were 10 cm tall living in the low intertidal, the predator that I would probably least like to encounter would be G. chiragra.

Roy

[Islandoftiki]

Rumor has it that there's an O. japonicus in the local fish store north of me. I'm planning to make a trip up there this weekend to confirm the ID. The guy making the ID has familiarity with mantis shrimp, so he is probably right. Probably hard to get O. japonicus wrong. I'll try to get pictures.

[Fartin'Gary]

Rumor has it that there's an O. japonicus in the local fish store north of me. I'm planning to make a trip up there this weekend to confirm the ID. The guy making the ID has familiarity with mantis shrimp, so he is probably right. Probably hard to get O. japonicus wrong. I'll try to get pictures.

When I got my first one in Vegas the store owners are also experienced. They get their shipments direct from Indonesia and his guy over there said they could get one. Upon arrival it turned out to be a very pretty large female O. Scyllarus. To say getting a Japonicus is rare is an understatement. But if it is, then you just won the lottery!

[Islandoftiki]

When I got my first one in Vegas the store owners are also experienced. They get their shipments direct from Indonesia and his guy over there said they could get one. Upon arrival it turned out to be a very pretty large female O. Scyllarus. To say getting a Japonicus is rare is an understatement. But if it is, then you just won the lottery!

The person who ID'd it is a friend of mine who also keeps mantis shrimp, he was thinking about getting it, but his new 40 gallon tank won't be up and running for a while still.

I'd take it, but I really don't have any business getting another mantis at this point. I'm going to have to break down both of my tanks in the fall when we move to Hawaii. Otherwise, I'd be putting it in my 25 gallon tank that used to house my G. Ternatensis.

[Fartin'Gary]

Yea moving tanks is a huge pain. We are moving to Italy and I need to sell everything. I probably won't have another tank until we return to the states and even then I don't want to get into one unless I know we are going to stay put for a long time. I am wanting to get a 100 gal or bigger.

[Islandoftiki]

Ok, I went up to the LFS that was supposed to have the O. japonicus and they had just sold it a couple days before, but talking to the owner of the store, I instantly knew it wasn't an O. japonicus when he described it as "green with black streaks".

As luck would have it, we had a little saltwater club happy hour event at a bar full of saltwater tanks and they guy who bought the mantis was there and he thought it was actually a G. chiragra. Looking at a picture of it, it was very definitely a G. chiragra.

False alarm... nothing to see here.

[DarthNater]

what was the name of the bar tiki?

[Kharn]

I believe nothing no one tells me about an individual albeit wholesale/retail/personal...

Until I personally see a picture of the individual that they have.

And I do know some local stores that kept "stock photos" used on every mantis which I thought was a little sad obviously it was Peacock Mantis, so EVERY mantis that came through got priced and sold as 'Peacock Mantis'.

[Islandoftiki]

what was the name of the bar tiki?

Moloko is the name of the bar. http://www.molokopdx.com/ There are some pictures of their tanks. I was talking to the owner of the bar a while back and he was grilling me for information on mantis shrimp. Apparently he wanted to put one into one of his smaller tanks. I think the smallest tank there is like 70 gallons or something. I didn't see any mantis in there the other day though.


I believe nothing no one tells me about an individual albeit wholesale/retail/personal...

Until I personally see a picture of the individual that they have.

And I do know some local stores that kept "stock photos" used on every mantis which I thought was a little sad obviously it was Peacock Mantis, so EVERY mantis that came through got priced and sold as 'Peacock Mantis'.

So, I figured it all out. The supplier in Bali called it an O. japonicus on the packing list. The owner of the store couldn't tell the difference. My friend who is pretty good with mantis ID didn't get a very good look at it... I just assumed he had positively ID'ed it from a brief text message communication.

The guy who got the mantis knew it wasn't an O. japonicus when he bought it. He had already correctly ID'ed it by the time I met him the other night. I was happy to hear that he really did a lot of research on the proper habitat for a mantis and has an excellent setup for it. I wish everybody set up mantis tanks like he did. :)

[Kharn]

So, I figured it all out. The supplier in Bali called it an O. japonicus on the packing list. The owner of the store couldn't tell the difference. My friend who is pretty good with mantis ID didn't get a very good look at it... I just assumed he had positively ID'ed it from a brief text message communication.

The guy who got the mantis knew it wasn't an O. japonicus when he bought it. He had already correctly ID'ed it by the time I met him the other night. I was happy to hear that he really did a lot of research on the proper habitat for a mantis and has an excellent setup for it. I wish everybody set up mantis tanks like he did. :)

I just never like to get my hopes up anymore...

How surprised do you think I was when a store contacted me and said they had not 1 not 2 but 3 mantis shrimp, then with the pictures I learn that all 3 are small spearers and all 3 are super uber rare... R.komaii, P.richeri & P.megalopthalma .... I nearly had a heart attack =X

But I answered the phone expecting G.smithii/graphurus/falcatus

I just don't like to get my hopes up any more until I see physical evidence (a photo) of the individual(s) in question.

[Ruu]

Most are not very interactive with humans
Roy

Likely a stupid question, but have you had many long term chiragra specimens? My female was a total recluse (I actually assumed she was dead at one point, when she hasn't been seem for over 2 months), but now that she is past the year mark and well established in the tank she is really the most interactive mantis I have seen. I feed with a snail shell on some fishing line stuffed with krill, and she will happily interact with it out in the open when it is feeding time.

The wisdom of actively training a chiragra to associate snail shells with food is debatable, but I wouldn't swap her for anything at this point.

Dave

[Kharn]

Likely a stupid question, but have you had many long term chiragra specimens? My female was a total recluse (I actually assumed she was dead at one point, when she hasn't been seem for over 2 months), but now that she is past the year mark and well established in the tank she is really the most interactive mantis I have seen. I feed with a snail shell on some fishing line stuffed with krill, and she will happily interact with it out in the open when it is feeding time.

The wisdom of actively training a chiragra to associate snail shells with food is debatable, but I wouldn't swap her for anything at this point.

Dave

G.chiragra in my opinion are a truly unique small smasher specimen...I have kept dozens of species of small smashers and all of them showed me some signs of "acknowledgement" this was usually in the form of the classic threatening display of exposing the appendages and rearing up etc.

How my G.chiragra which I have had for a few years now....has NEVER ONCE acknowledged my presence, it freely comes out of the burrow and crawls right up to the camera lens, the flash will not startle it and it never tries to drag prey into corners etc. always open water middle of the tank or at the front fight, BRILLIANT for filming.

I like to THINK that the reason for this (as highly unlikely as it is to be) is that the reason it never threatens me or even notices me is because (as I said this is what I like to believe...) the little smasher KNOWS its a real badass and the true pound for pound king of ALL stomatopods...so why bother being afraid when it "is" the fear lol....but I don't know really they are very very 'fearless'.