Reef Discussion

['vspec']

Fantastic.
See the attention focus was 100% on the partner. For a species that doesn't often drop the guard, that was great to see.
I brought the popcorn machine beside me for this thread bud.

 

[Dr. Schell]

Hi Guys,
An update on the mantis shrimp breeding. Perfected the timing of mating, incubation and hatching, just got to work on the rearing of the larvae post hatching. These larvae are from a pair of Gonodactylus graphius, that were paired and mated whilst in captivity. Have learned to recognise the signs of mating readyness (facilitates non-leathal courtship and preserved the breeding stock) and determined that there is a 1 month incubation period in this species (from oviposition to hatching). I have included a video of the hatched larvae swiming around with their parents. This pair has produced a relatively large clutch. See video below:

 

[MTG]

Doc your back!! Seems like you have been busy good work!

 

[Dr. Schell]

still very busy!!!! Enjoy the vid!

 

[MTG]

Did you have any survive?

 

[Dr. Schell]

still have quite a few after 1 week. Will see how they go. I have run out of rotiers (lost to culture when I was away with work) so progress will be quite slow until I can secure another source and culture them up in sufficient numbers. Unfortunately things are very busy on the work front which does not leave me with much time to spend sorting out rearing methods. Will take longer that I would like it to!

 

['vspec']

 

[VaultBoy]

good job... its because of this sort of work that keeps this hobby evolving!

If you manage to raise any of the young I would love to keep a tank bred mantis... So keep me in mind if you succeed and run out of room in the "family home"

 

[Dr. Schell]

will do, if they get sucessfully raised, they will be dispersed free of charge to all those willing to give these lovely, intellegent animals a safe home. These are remarkable animals it is just a shame that they are generally considered a pest rather than appreciated for what they are.

 

[Dr. Schell]

if this is meant for me, many thanks

 

['vspec']

Just dont use it all at once. :)

 

[VaultBoy]

will do, if they get sucessfully raised, they will be dispersed free of charge to all those willing to give these lovely, intellegent animals a safe home. These are remarkable animals it is just a shame that they are generally considered a pest rather than appreciated for what they are.

I am about to setup a ~100l tank inline with my current system, to increase system volume and stability, about a third of this tank will prob be filled with either live rock rubble or a DSB and the other two thirds will be set up as a species specific system for either an anemone or I was thinking red reef lobster but since I have been reading a bit about these beautiful mantis' I think they would be even cooler.

How big a tank do they need to thrive? is approx 60L of volume enough? and can they be kept in pairs or do you seperate yours after each pairing?

 

[Dr. Schell]

this species can thrive in a tank as small at 10L. Water quality is the big thing. You must also remember that these species feed on animals that make up the CUC.

 

[VaultBoy]

They will be well and truly seperated from the main DT while having their own home so I will be the clean up crew in their section, water quality should be fine as the total system volume should nearly 400L with a lot of live rock and a large DSB and I have been religious with my water changes (every sunday) unlike my freshwater tanks in the past

So you keep your pairs together or are they only kept together for breeding and then seperated after the dirty deed?

 

[Dr. Schell]

kept separate until they show signs of readyness to mate. I then remove the seperater and the mate immediately. After mating (about 10mins) they then return to their teritories at either side of the tank and I replace the seperator. I think that they are use to the drill :-)

 

['vspec']

10min, wow, I can only manage 2 min. Thats pretty good going :)

 

[Dr. Schell]

that 10 minutes includes the foreplay!!!!!

 

[VaultBoy]

my 2 minutes includes the fore play :D

 

[MTG]

10min, wow, I can only manage 2 min. Thats pretty good going :)

:eek:worship

 

[MTG]

kept separate until they show signs of readyness to mate. I then remove the seperater and the mate immediately. After mating (about 10mins) they then return to their teritories at either side of the tank and I replace the seperator. I think that they are use to the drill :)

if only life was like this haha :D