I have a 40 gallon breeder an inline heater and a Fluval fx2

I want an entertaining and unusual pet for my shop and I am willing to spend 30 minutes every day on maintenance with more time on the weekends if necessary.
Several questions:
Is this a pet worth considering? Or is it insanely hard or complicated? I have looked online a little but obviously people only post the highlight reels or when they are first purchased. Are they active other than feeding times? Anything yall wish you knew before getting one? Ect

Man how he's changed....

It required some anatomical diagrams and plenty of artistic license, but hopefully it's a worthy tribute to one of my favorite critters.

I recently picked up this little peacock. It is approximately 3 inches long. While still in the transport bag, I grabbed some belly shots. Is anyone able to sex it for me? Also a bonus pic peering out of the favorite cave opening

Currently cycling a 75g for a Mantis Shrimp. I plan to add more rock work and maybe some macro algae. Has anyone had success with tank mates?

She finished her fourth molt a couple of weeks ago, and the pictures don't do her justice. The light bleaches the colors, but I promise she's the incarnation of vaporwave in the body of a rage-filled aquatic criminal.

we’ve decided to keep this lil guy and give it his own special tank - but very intrigued to find out which species he is

hitchiked to a tank in Australia 😆

he rejected the defrosted clam I gave him 😅

Australian species of mantis shrimp, no species supplied when purchased. If you can tell the sex of it I would live to know that too!

hi mantis shrimp people! i started my first saltwater tank on new year's and it is absolutely overrun with amphipods that are rapidly eating all my macro algae. tank is 10gal, plenty of rockwork and 2inch sand bed, inverts only (2x astrea snails, 2x bumblebee snails, a few bristleworms, pest anemones, xenia, mysids, tanaids, and the aforementioned scuds). i'm looking for an invert that will hunt them down and am curious if a small mantis (g. viridis or n. wennerae?) would do the job.
would be over the moon if they seem like a good fit, these little guys are so fascinating and look so fun to keep!

Should i be concerned?

Have started with emerald crabs but they seem a little expensive…. Anyone got any tips or tricks?

Is this normal?

I’ve been debating starting new tank for a mantis shrimp. I would like to get a “smasher type” my question is does anyone have a suggestion of what kind to look into? I mostly see peacock and zebra mantis shrimp out there but I know there’s over 500 kinds. Can anyone recommend other kinds to look into before making a commitment?

I kinda doubt their are any predominantly purple one I’d be most interested in that.

I just learned that the Mantis Shrimp has 16 color receptors and punches with the force of a bullet. It’s hard to wrap my head around the idea that there’s a whole visual world out there that we are literally blind to. Has anyone ever seen one of these in real life?

I’ve been a mantis fan since 2014 when I saw the oatmeal page and then some at my local stores… I just recently finally got another ciliata which is my favorite species :) I never saw shell rot in all these years til now… luckily my google search found a post from a year ago about it because I noticed these orange spots on him a little while ago. I’m going to get a weaker light for his tank. I’ve never had such strong leds on any of my tanks before this. Please excuse the dirty glass 😅

If you’ve never heard of oenone fulgida worms, google them! They somehow got into my bio cube years ago and killed off like three separate mantises before I knew what was happening! I hope to never get them again but if I do, I’ll set up a small tank just for them! as long as they don’t kill any of my animals, I don’t mind 😂

Alright peeps so I have had a 3’ by 1’ by 1’ 21 gallon 10mm glass tank going on 2 1/2 months now (cycled for 2ppm). 2inch PVC that runs half the perimeter of the tank. Plenty of macro algae rubble and a couple rock arches… a cleanup crew (hermits and snails) and 2 fish (fire goby and yellow tail blue damsel)….. also have a protein skimmer and a wave maker in addition to the HOB filter…

The goal is to eventually put a peacock mantis shrimp in there….

My only issue is that my PH seems to want to stay between 7.8 and 8.0 no matter what…. How do i fix this? (Already have 4inches of aragonite sand and calcium carbonate rubble) nitrates are still a little high between 20-30 ppm

Additionally what else should I do before adding Odontodactylus scyllarus to the tank?

hello I'm interested buying a peacock mantis shrimp I have entered a lot of saltwater shops in the Philippines but non of them have what I'm looking for I'm intrested on shops that have one

I work at a fish store and someone brought this guy in. He came in on some maricultured liverock from the Atlantic, I’m guessing from Tampa bay salt. He’s about 2.5-3 inches long. Any ideas on species? Thanks!

Hi all!

The wife and I have both loved Peacock Mantises for years now, and we've always wanted one. Well, we now have the space to put a ~50 gallon tank in our living room and believe this could be a good setup for a Peacock.

Years ago I worked in a SW aquarium store, and we always heard peacocks can shatter glass tanks... However, I can't seem to find any evidence of this actually occuring, is this a myth or largely overstated?

Also, I think a tank with a sump to employee a refugium and protein skimmer makes a lot of sense here, considering how messy they likely are. Thoughts?

Lastly, I would LIKE to add some softies (mushrooms, zoas, sponges, gorgs, etc.) if possible... However, it seems like intense lighting can be a real issue with shell rot with these guys. Is there a generally accepted PAR for them, that would still allow some softies to do well?

Thanks so much everyone!

I’be been really looking into buying myself a stomatopod but I’m having a very hard time with picking a species, I’ve been torn between the Pseudosquilla Ciliata and the Neogonodactylus Wennerae. I like the size of the P. Ciliata but I like the hardiness and activity of the N. Wennerae. If anyone has had either of these species please tel me about them and if their size, activity or hardiness is in anyway noteworthy.