# mantis shrimps



## nympho (Jul 19, 2008)

anyone keep these amazing animals.

where would you get them in the uk -never seen any for sale. are they hard to look after?

ive heard they are considered a pest in aquariums, but cant belive ppl would rather keep fish than these awesome critters! theyve got to be the kings of the invert world - intelligent , sophisticated behaviour, fast moving and interesting, and amazingly colourful , and to top it off, the ability to smash glass with club like weapons that move at the speed of bullets. what more could you want of a pet !


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## bugzilla (Jul 19, 2008)

I've not kept one intentionally but have had one turn up in my tank  

There are actually 2 types - clubbers and spearers and loads of species of each, most being quite small and relatively harmless. Mine was a spearer and took mysid shrimp from the water column by skewering them on its arms  

The good ones to keep as pets are the peacock mantis shrimps. These get to about 6" long (maybe more), have fabulous colours and are REALLY inteligent. They are'nt overly popular because you can't keep anything else with them (possibly corals I suppose :huh: ), they are very reclusive so you'll rarely see them, they can break the glass of the aquarium and the set-up required to keep one will set you back £hundreds .

If you don't mind the expense and other bad points these are fantastic pets IMO


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 19, 2008)

Never seen any, can you post a pic of one?


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## darkspeed (Jul 19, 2008)




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## bugzilla (Jul 19, 2008)

Love the last one, I've never heard of them being eaten before but makes sense given their size


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## mantidsandgeckos (Jul 20, 2008)

Mantis shrimps are delicious!!


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## chrisboy101 (Jul 20, 2008)

does *anyone* even keep these


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## bugzilla (Jul 20, 2008)

Plenty of people keep them and they are dead easy to get hold of, just have to order one from a marine retailer. You won't see one in a shop very often because of the issues I detailed above


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## chrisboy101 (Jul 20, 2008)

brekin a tank. how they manage that?


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## Peter Clausen (Jul 21, 2008)

I heard once that mantis shrimp have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. I'm not sure what they might mean, exactly, but does anybody have any additional info. to back this up? I remember reading once that birds had more kinds of "cones" in their eyes than people and that butterflies had like 5 different kinds, allowing them to see colors we can't and such.


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## chrisboy101 (Jul 21, 2008)

Peter said:


> I heard once that mantis shrimp have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. I'm not sure what they might mean, exactly, but does anybody have any additional info. to back this up? I remember reading once that birds had more kinds of "cones" in their eyes than people and that butterflies had like 5 different kinds, allowing them to see colors we can't and such.


i read that in a book called ''extreme nature'' which tells wat unique things certain animals do, and for mantis shrimps it says ''to be able to see colours we cant even imagine''


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## chrisboy101 (Jul 21, 2008)

so yes its true


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## idolomantis (Jul 21, 2008)

chrisboy101 said:


> i read that in a book called ''extreme nature'' which tells wat unique things certain animals do, and for mantis shrimps it says ''to be able to see colours we cant even imagine''


explains why its that colored too, it looks like a clown!


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## bugzilla (Jul 22, 2008)

chrisboy101 said:


> brekin a tank. how they manage that?


They get their name from their front arms(?) that they use to either club prey to pieces or to skewer them. Clubbers feed on crabs etc while spearers feed on things like smal fish.

It's the clubber species that can break glass. They literally punch their way through.

Their eyes are really cool. No idea what they see but more than likely will see alot in the blue spectrum of light (uv and the like) since red light is filtered out of water very quickly. The eyes are also independant of one another like a chameleons eyes.


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## acerbity (Jul 22, 2008)

I see these guys sometimes at a local aquarium specialty petshop "pet safari" I believe. They even had a Wobbygon (sp?).

Stranger still is the snapping shrimp. It creates a collapsing bubble that is 5 times hotter than the sun http://stilton.tnw.utwente.nl/shrimp/


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## macro junkie (Jul 22, 2008)

i seen a documentary on these once with david attenborough if u can find it u should watch it.


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## Morpheus uk (Jul 22, 2008)

OMFG i gots to get me one of those :blink:


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## idolomantis (Jul 22, 2008)

Morpheus uk said:


> OMFG i gots to get me one of those :blink:


4 words: they bite really hard... as long as you dont get bitten are they cool. lol


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## The_Asa (Jul 22, 2008)

I missed this thread...and those are some really, really, really, weird animals. Too weird for me.


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## idolomantis (Jul 22, 2008)

The_Asa said:


> I missed this thread...and those are some really, really, really, weird animals. Too weird for me.


is that possible?  :lol: 

there might be stuff for animal planets: nick bakers weird creatures


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## The_Asa (Jul 22, 2008)

I saw the thread, but thought " what the heck are mantids shrimp? " sounds like the mantis that come right out of the oothecae, y'know, the wiggly ones...newly hatched...not even sure if I'm making sense here...probably not...

This definitely needs to be on Animal Planet


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## TylerFerretLord (Aug 3, 2008)

Mantis shrimps are not very hard to keep. They're relatively hardy compared to other ornamental crustaceans.

It's the fact that you need to set up a reef-quality marine aquarium with a good amount of live-rock that makes it a bit difficult for someone who doesn't already keep marine tanks. Big learning curve involved(and usually a big cost as well).

If you want one I suggest you go to a reef aquarium site and read up. They're worth it.


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## Morpheus uk (Aug 3, 2008)

Say you look familiar :lol: (Deroplatys)


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## TylerFerretLord (Aug 3, 2008)

Shhhh...

You'll blow my cover... &lt;_&lt;


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