Say hello to Chucky!!

[NateL]

Here is my brother's new mantis shrimp.

http://bellinghamss.com/uploads/281107/4696804.jpeg
http://bellinghamss.com/uploads/281107/4634509.jpeg

[DanG]

Those are amazing colours!

[Moogled]

Aw, that is wicked.

Is he eating yet?

[NateL]

He has only been in the tank for about 5 hours and is currently building his burrow.

[Slipstream]

Thats an amazing looking shrimp.. Good catch :)

[Der_Iron_Chef]

What size aquarium is it in? And is it the only inhabitant?

[NateL]

Its in a 32G tank with hermits and snails to keep him company(maybe join Chucky for dinner).

He is from www.stomatopod.com and is almost 4 inches.

[lifemalfunction]

Hello, there! I'm new to Can-Reef, but I am the owner of Chucky, the peacock Mantis in this thread.

He's doing very well. He's been eating a lot (ate all my snails but one, and I swear he's been eying the hermits.) I've been feeding him frozen Krill and he'll take them daily.

My brother (NateL) turned me onto these amazing creatures, and I decided to set one up for my first tank. And amazing is truly an understatement. I can already tell he knows who feeds him. Every time I come into my room he'll dart out of his burrow to see what's up and greet me. It's incredible.

Oh, scratch that last snail. He's actually thwacking at it as I'm typing this. It'll probably be dead by morning. Oh well. Time to go get more, I guess :P

He's extremely photogenic and will pose for a picture, wait for the flash, then turn around and come back out -- but in a completely different pose this time! I couldn't believe that the first time he did it. I was actually stunned.

http://bellinghamss.com/uploads/261207/5495552.jpeg

There's one of his better recent pictures, his coloration is equally amazing.

I also decided to make a couple of YouTube videos of him... they aren't exciting "Mantis vs. Crab" videos yet, but they're still worth having a look at, imo.

one of him getting a krill from my "tongs" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=JQBREBJQwzQ)

I found out that they really don't like laser pointers, part 2 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=pBFoRM7OjWE)

mantis' don't like lasers part 2 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=1fgnUMYB9Eo)

All in all, I'm fascinated. Mantis Shrimps (Stomatopods) are probably the most unique and intriguing pet that you could possibly own.

I'm actually trying to hunt down a Picotope right now for a 3G tank that will host a G. Virdis in it, another smaller type of mantis.

If you have any questions or comments for or about Chucky, feel free to ask and I'll answer them the best I can! Thanks for a having a look, I'm really glad I got into this hobby. :)

-Ty

[banditpowdercoat]

Wow, that thing is HUGE

[PzReefer]

nice mantis

[SeaShell]

OMG! I'd have nightmares if he was in my house! Geez... aren't you afraid he'll climb those tongs and get you?!