Check out my MANTIS SHRIMP!!!

[Frogking]

Here is my Odontodactylus havanensis(smasher) he is a smaller species only 3 inches but 3 inches of death to a would be crab or shrimp as this being the main diet of mantis shrimp in the ocean. Their are two types of mantis shrimp smashers and spearers. Mines is from the Florida Keys hand picked off a reef from Sea Life Inc.. Mantis shrimp are one of the most feared animals in the salt water trade. People have stories of putting live rock in their reef tank and all hell brakes loose. You wake up in the middle of the night hearing the mantis smashing rocks and eating and smashing what ever inhabitants you have in your tank. But thats how mantis shrimp sometime sneak into peoples tanks . If you can set up a species tank their the coolest and most deadliest pet to have also one of the smartest. A 7 inch peacock mantis shrimp has the same force as a 22cal pistal. This is why you must take great care when cleaning the tank.(they call it thumb splitters ). A active species like mines can identify with you and do tricks at your command. The also have one of the most complex eye system in the animal kingdom. They will also look you right in the eye . If you have and coral or loose object lying around they will also move everything in you tank around at their will. At night they close up their burrow with rubble.

[Whistly]

Hey I have always wanted a Mantis Shrimp I've seen a few documentries on them, absolutely great hunters maybe you could get a video of it attacking a crab.

[DonLisk]

I had one come in with some live rock and yes, all hell broke loose. He didn't show up for at least a month but he eventually did come out It was an all poisonous tank too. Lions, Sea Cucumbers, crocodile stone fish and the sound of a bullet going off in the middle of the night. Took days to find the rock he was in.

[Kurt]

Very cool.

[Frogking]

thanks guys. I had 100 of pets and a mantis shrimp is by far the smartest animal I ever had. They will also look you right in the eye and if you move your head they will move with you. I will post a video of him smashing someones lights out have to many of them lol. When they smell potential food they will fight to the death for a simple meal. You def don't want one sneaking into your pretty peaceful reef tank because as soon as the lights go out its killing season!

[Whistly]

On one of the Documentrys they did a slow motion video of it attacking a crab and when they played it in slowmo a flash appeared and it turned out that it hit stuff with such force that the water was actually vapourizing because of the intense pressure.

[Frogking]

they kill with no mercy!

[Elliriyanna]

He sounds so awesome If I ever get the nerve to set up a salt water tank I want one

[Frogking]

You can have a small tank my Odontodactylus havanensis only gets about 3inches. Mines is also a smasher so he can sometimes live with a fish or two. Fish must be big and tuff and you cant be mad if your fish ends up as rubble bits on the floor. Smashers like to smash open hard prey like snails and crabs. But I have seen people keep a mantis with some species of fish. The other species of mantis spearers they eat soft prey like small fish and shrimp. They do not have the smashing ability theirs method is to hunt like a cat as they are considered the lions of the mantis family.

[gtr319]

Sweet thang u got there bro!! Hows the set up? I've never set up a salt tank before... is it hard? And what do you need??

[Frogking]

It depends on how crazy you want to go but its not hard. All you need is some sea salt,live sand,live rock to get the tank going. As far as filtration thats wear the tricky part comes into play. The key to a healthy salt water tank is water flow and filtration. Adding things like live sand and live rock give your tank the bacteria thats very important in a new tank. The method behind a protein skimmer is instead of you old fashion fish tank filter. A protein skimmer makes bubbles like 1,000,000 of bubbles that catch little bits of dirt that the naked human eye cant see. (you can see my protein skimmer in the last pictuer and the cut of dirt at top)The bubbles rise to the top of skimmer and pop inside a cup which collects dirt . You also want to have a powerhead which simply blows water and creates a ocean like current which is also important for filtration.
Mantis shrimp need to have good filtration because they are bad eaters( body parts all over the tank and they sometimes burry their food around the tank and dig it up to eat when food is low.

Just to let you know I had freash water tanks all my life and always thought salt water was so hard to do. I tried it and it was just as easy as any pet hobby as long as you do research you will win! ITS NOT HARD