My Mantis Shrimp Setup

[Reef Cloverson]

Hey guys!
I am a giant saltwater hobbyist. I’ve been taking care of saltwater aquariums my whole life! I focus mainly on coral aquaculture but check out my mantis shrimp tank! I do a lot of good photography and videography and I share the same content across instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. If you are active on any of those platforms, give me a follow on @reef.cloverson and send me a dm! Glad to chat and make knew friends

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

So you're a New York Giant? LoL

The mantis shrimp are cool. I'm just glad they're not in my tank.

 

[PharmrJohn]

So you're a New York Giant? LoL

The mantis shrimp are cool. I'm just glad they're not in my tank.

Yes they are. But I'd never get one, as I wouldn't want to get my hands anywhere NEAR it. Getting nailed by one of those would hurt.

 

[Reef Cloverson]

So you're a New York Giant? LoL

The mantis shrimp are cool. I'm just glad they're not in my tank.

good meme reference. Im glad to never put my hand in this tank, but he’s more shy than aggressive

 

[Reef Cloverson]

Yes they are. But I'd never get one, as I wouldn't want to get my hands anywhere NEAR it. Getting nailed by one of those would hurt.

I cant blame you. I just think their eyes, their color, their intelligence, and their superpowers (punching and vision) are too cool

 

[Reefering1]

@OrchidMiss

 

[Fish Fan]

Nice looking setup! I can't quite tell what you have there. If it's a peacock Odontodactylus scyllarus, you may need some more real estate. I think many keep one of those in a 40 gallon at a minimum, but I'm not an expert. I had until recently a Neogonodactulus wennerae, a much small species native to Florida, in a 10 gallon AIO. Mine unfortunately passed during an ATO malfunction that led to a salinity crash while I was out of town (always the way (RIP, little buddy!)).

I loved my guy, and I'm planning on getting another one once I get the tank back in order.

Yes they are. But I'd never get one, as I wouldn't want to get my hands anywhere NEAR it. Getting nailed by one of those would hurt.

The mantis I had is much smaller than what I believe the OP has, and I can't say he got me full on, but he did get me right in the pad of my thumb while I was trying to move a piece of 'his' rock. It was enough to make me jump, like I knew immediately what happened, but it didn't break the skin or cause anything more than a startle. I may have been lucky If the OP has an O. scyllarus, I wouldn't mess with it lol!

Good luck with your Mantis tank, keep us posted!

 

[PharmrJohn]

Nice looking setup! I can't quite tell what you have there. If it's a peacock Odontodactylus scyllarus, you may need some more real estate. I think many keep one of those in a 40 gallon at a minimum, but I'm not an expert. I had until recently a Neogonodactulus wennerae, a much small species native to Florida, in a 10 gallon AIO. Mine unfortunately passed during an ATO malfunction that led to a salinity crash while I was out of town (always the way (RIP, little buddy!)).

I loved my guy, and I'm planning on getting another one once I get the tank back in order.


The mantis I had is much smaller than what I believe the OP has, and I can't say he got me full on, but he did get me right in the pad of my thumb while I was trying to move a piece of 'his' rock. It was enough to make me jump, like I knew immediately what happened, but it didn't break the skin or cause anything more than a startle. I may have been lucky If the OP has an O. scyllarus, I wouldn't mess with it lol!

Good luck with your Mantis tank, keep us posted!

Yeah, I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that a full grown one, hitting you just right, can take a finger. Is there any truth to that? Or is it Urban Legend?

 

[Fish Fan]

Yeah, I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that a full grown one, hitting you just right, can take a finger. Is there any truth to that? Or is it Urban Legend?

I don't know for sure, I think they call the N. wennerae I had "thumb splitter" in the Florida area. I think they can smash right down through your finger nail pretty darn good. Maybe I got lucky and mine just grazed me. I think some of the larger Mantids could do some real damage.

I *do* think much of what you read about them smashing through glass aquariums is a bit of urban fish-legend. I'm not saying it's never happened, but it seems like there's a lot of folks here that keep them either intentionally or just got them as hitchhikers, and I don't think I've seen one (with pictures!) post of a Mantid that broke through the tank.

 

[PharmrJohn]

I have heard the same thing about MS breaking tanks. But only the 10g size with thin glass.

 

[Stomatopods17]

It is O. scyllarus.

For both tank glass breaking and injury; its both overexaggerated and also underexaggerated.

Tank breaking is a genuine concern and has happened numerous times, its not something you catch on film on a whim as its overexaggerated they can just break out on demand, but rather its something that occurs under a couple conditions or over a long stretch of time. Infact part of the way mantis shrimp got kickstarted in popularity was because during an interview with roy caldwell, a marine biologist well known for stomatopods and cephalopods, completely off subject matter the interviewers got their attention drawn to stomatopods when one literally broke out unexpected during the interview in the room next door. The complete and utter shock of that event led to that knowledge of them being able to break out of aquariums more famous. When it happens normally, its because they tend to chip glass burrowing downwards since they can't distinguish rock from glass and just chip away for hours without end, this is solved via just laying acrylic/pexiglass on the bottom and calling it a day. The only time they ever break out the sides is if you very poorly setup their burrow against the glass where the glass itself is supposed to serve as part of the burrow's wall, in which expansion could hypothetically cause it. Typically though its the chemistry of Big mantis + thin glass + aged tank, however there are edge cases (I've had 3 N. wenneraes do break outs in very small setups when attempting to keep them in isolated containers in larger tanks, just does not work with kritter carries and my LFS later figured that out and that's how I ended up with one of them and they don't carry mantis shrimp regularly anymore.). You will never achieve setting up an aquarium with a mantis waving your finger on the glass and getting it to break on film, even your presence alone would ruin the conditions of them burrowing as they'll focus on you.

The injury aspect is overexaggerated in the sense of what they usually do and highly underexaggerated in what they can do. Frankly there's rarely an inbetween, you're either not experiencing a thing and its all placebo or you're in stitches potentially getting an amputation in extreme cases. Its not as simple as "break a finger" cause they're not particularly capable of that, they will break skin especially around joints and obviously if they hit a nerve its going to really sting, but generally mantis shrimp aren't as sadistic as they're made out to be and will just observe your actions and only give you a warning hit if you disrespect their personal space. They know better than to actually fight a predator that isn't picking a fight to begin with cause thats just more risk to them either from injuries or getting stuck in their predator.... and that's where things get very scary. Whats underexaggerated is all, not some, ALL, stomatopods have spearing capabilities, we know them for their loud cracking and punching, but their clubs actually split just like your typical spearer and within it is a serrated dagger and it is not meant to come out. If that gets stuck in you, frankly there isn't an ideal result, it will either be literally stuck in you and need surgically removed, or it will cause such a deep cut that you need stitches and you run a major infection risk (one individual who attempting to hold an O. scyllarus, after being warned not to, got impaled by it and lost a portion of their hand because the anti-biotics weren't working for the deep infection). Never attempt to hold, handfeed, or dare devil test their capabilities because even if the standard is overexaggerated, this is a really bad possibility that outweighs it all. You can also cut yourself just from their shells, especially the outter parts of their tails as they're extremely sharp and if they do a swift roll it'd be like a knife blade.

In 12 years of keeping, I've only been warning struck once. I got cut from the rim of the tank from the placebo effect of 'being hit', but all the close calls I had cleaning glass, the closest being when one blind spotted me and grabbed my hand with its little maxillipeds (their 6 "hands") and even that didn't result in any aggression. Just know when to back away if they seem a little too curious about your presence and don't even come close if they show defensive or aggressive signs in the slightest. I've had more painful injuries (overexaggerating play bites and scratches) playing with ferrets at pet stores in the past month than 12 years of mantis shrimp keeping.

 

[Hadla]

I’ve been hit dozens of times and the only one that hurt a little was on the edge of a fingernail where it meets the skin… before I knew of their hidden spears but it doesn’t keep me from interacting with them! I think most of them learn that human hands won’t hurt them and it’s where food comes from lol but that’s just me it’s the weirdest feeling to be grabbed by all their little claws

As stated above, let them come to you and if you don’t acknowledge the warning punch as a sign to back off, well good luck most won’t actively go after your hand, actually none of mine have but can’t speak for all species! The only one I wouldn’t go near with my hand was a big spearer, the squilla rugosa I had for a while. The only spearer I’ve loved keeping was a ciliata, they’re soo curious!

“All hail the New York giants!”

 

[Reef Cloverson]

It is O. scyllarus.

For both tank glass breaking and injury; its both overexaggerated and also underexaggerated.

Tank breaking is a genuine concern and has happened numerous times, its not something you catch on film on a whim as its overexaggerated they can just break out on demand, but rather its something that occurs under a couple conditions or over a long stretch of time. Infact part of the way mantis shrimp got kickstarted in popularity was because during an interview with roy caldwell, a marine biologist well known for stomatopods and cephalopods, completely off subject matter the interviewers got their attention drawn to stomatopods when one literally broke out unexpected during the interview in the room next door. The complete and utter shock of that event led to that knowledge of them being able to break out of aquariums more famous. When it happens normally, its because they tend to chip glass burrowing downwards since they can't distinguish rock from glass and just chip away for hours without end, this is solved via just laying acrylic/pexiglass on the bottom and calling it a day. The only time they ever break out the sides is if you very poorly setup their burrow against the glass where the glass itself is supposed to serve as part of the burrow's wall, in which expansion could hypothetically cause it. Typically though its the chemistry of Big mantis + thin glass + aged tank, however there are edge cases (I've had 3 N. wenneraes do break outs in very small setups when attempting to keep them in isolated containers in larger tanks, just does not work with kritter carries and my LFS later figured that out and that's how I ended up with one of them and they don't carry mantis shrimp regularly anymore.). You will never achieve setting up an aquarium with a mantis waving your finger on the glass and getting it to break on film, even your presence alone would ruin the conditions of them burrowing as they'll focus on you.

The injury aspect is overexaggerated in the sense of what they usually do and highly underexaggerated in what they can do. Frankly there's rarely an inbetween, you're either not experiencing a thing and its all placebo or you're in stitches potentially getting an amputation in extreme cases. Its not as simple as "break a finger" cause they're not particularly capable of that, they will break skin especially around joints and obviously if they hit a nerve its going to really sting, but generally mantis shrimp aren't as sadistic as they're made out to be and will just observe your actions and only give you a warning hit if you disrespect their personal space. They know better than to actually fight a predator that isn't picking a fight to begin with cause thats just more risk to them either from injuries or getting stuck in their predator.... and that's where things get very scary. Whats underexaggerated is all, not some, ALL, stomatopods have spearing capabilities, we know them for their loud cracking and punching, but their clubs actually split just like your typical spearer and within it is a serrated dagger and it is not meant to come out. If that gets stuck in you, frankly there isn't an ideal result, it will either be literally stuck in you and need surgically removed, or it will cause such a deep cut that you need stitches and you run a major infection risk (one individual who attempting to hold an O. scyllarus, after being warned not to, got impaled by it and lost a portion of their hand because the anti-biotics weren't working for the deep infection). Never attempt to hold, handfeed, or dare devil test their capabilities because even if the standard is overexaggerated, this is a really bad possibility that outweighs it all. You can also cut yourself just from their shells, especially the outter parts of their tails as they're extremely sharp and if they do a swift roll it'd be like a knife blade.

In 12 years of keeping, I've only been warning struck once. I got cut from the rim of the tank from the placebo effect of 'being hit', but all the close calls I had cleaning glass, the closest being when one blind spotted me and grabbed my hand with its little maxillipeds (their 6 "hands") and even that didn't result in any aggression. Just know when to back away if they seem a little too curious about your presence and don't even come close if they show defensive or aggressive signs in the slightest. I've had more painful injuries (overexaggerating play bites and scratches) playing with ferrets at pet stores in the past month than 12 years of mantis shrimp keeping.

Thank you for all your knowledge and sorry I am only reading it now. I am freaked out but still love them lol