holy g. ternatensis!

[Dakan]

so i finally got a good look at the mantis that came into my reef as a surprise on live rock... and he matches the picture and description EXACTLY of g. ternatensis on dr. roy's list. i know that is him... and i believe it is a male. so my question is... how the heck do i get him out?!? he wouldn't fall for the silverside in a water bottle trick. also, how rare are these guys?

[rwhhunt]

try garlic scallops, my peacock cant resist them! He is is not "rare" , but certaintly valuable enough to sell him to me!
Where are you located?

[bkmorris]

hi, that was actually me that posted this topic... was accidentally logged in to my boss' account at work :D i am in sacramento, CA...

[Uriel]

A male tern???

My female (Baba Yaga) is perking up as we speak...

OK, so she is sleeping, but still...

-Ron

[Thurge]

If you can find the rock it has its burrow in you can pull that rock. If its in a hole that runs through the rock you can try pushing it out with a chopstick or some such. If not then you can either blast fresh/soda water into the cavity its in with a turkey baster, trying to force it out. Or a fresh water dip but not too long.
Then sell it to me.

[bkmorris]

hehe, ok... sounds like there is some interest in this guy, i have gotten several requests to sell him once i get him out... so my question then would be: how much is he worth?

[rwhhunt]

If it is a ternatensis, i would be willing to pay around $40+shipping...

[Ms. K]

Argghhh...I miss my male G. ternatensis and would love another, but I'd say that plenty of people have beat me to it.

[Gonodactylus]

Not to quell the excitement over a male G. ternatensis, but this is not one of the hardier species to keep. They often do well for a few months, but I have had limited success keeping them for more than a year. I thin this may be because they normally live in branchy live corals and it is difficult to provide that habitat in the aquarium. Also, large male G.t are among the few gonodactyloids prone to shell disease. They are attractively colored and initially are fairly interactive, but frankly if I were choosing an animal to keep long term, I would take a G. smithii.

Roy

[Gonodactylus]

Also, I just wanted to mention that be sure to check the color of the meral spots. There is a color morph of G. smithii that has the same red intersegmental lines on a green mottled body that G. t have.

Roy

[pisces77]

Had pretty good luck with mine. I had him around 3 years, in a 20 g tank. He was one of the largest I have heard of for a ternatensis, and I think he just died of old age (he was over 3 inches when I got him, very close to five inches when he finally died). Here's the set-up/tankmates if anyone is curious.

20g glass tank
55w pc light split with one day bulb and one blue.
black sand with light rubble mixed in
18lbs LR
HOB filter
Prizm skimmer for (70g tank), I know they aren't great, but this one did ok.
Occelaris clown 2"
sixline wrasse 2"
Dwarf lion (until he was big enough for the other tanks)
RBTA anemone
Brittle stars (though he smashed a black one immediatly)
Hermits and snails (replenished when needed)

[Gonodactylus]

The largest reported G. ternatensis was 124 mm total length (tip of eyes to tip of telson). That was the largest gonodactylid ever recorded.

Roy

[Uriel]

I've had Baba-Yaga for just over a year and a half, with little problem.

I was worried that I hadn't provided a 'proper' burrow, since her tank is a jumble of live rock, some the doughnut-holed aquacultured stuff, some other, with several caves and overhangs. Perhaps this seems more matural to her, as she has one space near the bottom that she often sits in, and another underneath a rock where she spends a lor of time. I want to mobe her into a bigger tank, and she is the only one that I am nervous about moving, since she violently attacks whatever enters her tank, my only one that does this. The magno-cleaner has had a rough time of it, as she takes particular affront to it daring to operate in her domain.
She does seem to patrol a lot, btw.

Baba Yaga is probably just around 4 inches long, and she seems to have stayed this size for a bit now, probably her limit, or close to it.


-Ron

[PSEUDOREEFER]

The largest reported G. ternatensis was 124 mm total length (tip of eyes to tip of telson). That was the largest gonodactylid ever recorded.

Are you sure you don't mean cm? 124mm comes out to just under 5 inches ;)

[Gonodactylus]

Nope, I meant 12.4 cm or about 5 inches. Gonodactylids do not get that big. The largest gonodactyloid, Hemisquilla californiensis gets to about 30 cm and the largest of all stomatopods, Lysiosquillina maculata gets to 39 cm.

Roy