Mantis shrimp spotted....

Ballyhoo

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Jun 27, 2010
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Fairfield, CA
Found a mantis shrimp in the sump of the SPS tank, which is now our only tank. Nothing new has been added to the sump in 6 months, no idea where he came from. His burrow is about an inch and a half wide. I haven't seen all of the shrimp yet, but he will eat shrimp pellets.
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A mandarin dragonette

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very cool! i like mantis shrimp, even if they can be troublesome in a tank. when i get up the guts to delve into saltwater, i'm getting me a mantis with its own dedicated little tank.

he could have been hiding really well and growing all this time, that's why you didn't see him.
 
Get your tank and ill send you my mantis :)

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He / she probably hitchhiked on a piece of rock when it was a tiny baby and survived off of left over food, pods and such until it was big enough to come out and say hello. Can you get a photo of it so some Mantis ppl (like me) can identify it for you. There are some species that will pray on fish and I'm a little worried for your mandarin guy. In the end do not kill it / flush it. They are very cool creatures that other aquarists would love to keep. If you keep it fed well in the mean time it won't feel the need to hunt. I have found that you can keep them in very small places as they can turn on a dime.
 
You could build a 10 gallon for these really cheap! 10 gallon tank, 10 lbs of sand, 1 nice chunk of live rock, and a power head! You're ready to go! Best lighting would be something really dim, so moon lights would be great for them. You're talking maybe $150?
 
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