Ever get that feeling something doesn't "sound" right in your aquarium

[r.rutan89]

I got that feeling once, I heard an odd clicking sound usually at night. I spent many nights trying to locate the culprit and I finally found him after a week.



At first you might mistake it for a worm, they'll only be about half an inch long but you'll soon realize your LR gave you the gift of a Mantis Shrimp that after several months of having his own tank I believe is a actually a Peacock Mantis. By far the coolest critter I have ever owned. He is actually trained now to eat from a skewer and won't go after snails, hermits, or fish.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Very cool!! Always thought those guys were real neat.

 

[bettaowner]

Neat shrimp.

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

It's not a peacock, I have a little one and the colour you would not confuse with any other shrimp. It's a lime mantis, anyways looks like one

 

[r.rutan89]

I need to get a new picture of him but he's never in a good spot that was from the night I caught him back in January. He is only about an inch long now, I looked at the lime ones but he has too much blue tint so it's more teal but I'm also not an expert I guess time will tell

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

I think I found your mantis?

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

This is Odontodactylus havanensis. They are fairly common off the coast of Florida and in the Caribbean. They are in the same family as the peacock mantis, but these only get about 2.5-3". They are one of the more peaceful species, but they like to snack on small hermit crabs. They are definitely the "cutest" mantids with huge buggy eyes. They come from deeper water than most other mantids, 60-100 feet down. These are my most active mantids, and the species I have the most of ( I ordered 3 online and the guy sent 8 of them). They come out and beg for food whenever I am in the room, and they will attack a bamboo skewer even if there is no food on it. My smallest one is only 1/2" long, and it is a struggle for her even to tackle an adult brine shrimp. The tiny one has taken up residence in an abandoned shell from a small hermit, and uses it as her burrow.