Mantis Shrimp

[JetJumper]

Anyone here keeping a mantis shrimp?  I think they are pretty cool looking and eventually might want to keep one.  Just wondering what people do for Aquariums for them.  Size?  Lighting? What you can get away with in the tank? (Obviously fish are food for him).

Just all from an initial curiosity point of view right now.  I think I remember someone found one in the rock they got during the summer and gave it away to come one on the forum here?  Still have it?  Hows it doing for you?

I don't think I would want to attempt this though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV9z5e1r2KM&feature=related

[az]

wow, some day that mantis will get him.

[nissannx]

i was waiting and waiting to see the mantis attack

[redbelly]

I kept a mantis shrimp for about 2-3 years.
I finally took the tank down in an effort to de-clutter my counter top. I miss it some day though and now I dont have anything to do with any evil crabs...

The mantis I had though was the caribbean variety. Much less aggresive that the indo sp but way less colorfull too.

Yeah that guy is crazy in that vid. Those mantis get CRAZY large too and need a very deep sandbed.

[Severum]

Holachicka has had a mantis for quite some time. Maybe she can chime in. I believe its a smasher.

[Riley]

The December issue of Coral http://www.coralmagazineus.com has a brilliant focus on Mantis Shrimps, you'll get most if not all of your answers here.

[laffy]

most people (99.9%) don't have the luxury of holding a mantis shrimp like that! this is what happens when you have a NORMAL mantis in your tank.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wRpTmcPC4I&feature=related

[White Lightning]

What the heck did he expect by waving his finger in front of it? Serves him right.

[Benja]

No one has mentioned this yet:

The dude in the first video was able to hold that striped mantis because it is a Spearer.
Spearers are generally known to be less aggressive in comparison to smashers.

As you can see from the second video posted... this misguided individual did not take into account that a G. Chiragra is a smasher.

I have had owned a peacock(smasher) for a few months... these creatures are very serious when it comes to defending their burrows.

This is my favorite video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-PShMgas-0&NR=1

This video isn't complete though... the mantis never faced off against it's most formidable foe:

the pistol shrimp.

[Stussi613]

This is my fav mantis shrimp video...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uTdTRXNdEY&feature=youtube_gdata_player