Mantis Shrimp & Thomas the Octopus Have Been Co-Existing

[Black96WS6]

You're not going to believe this, but apparently I have had a mantis shrimp living in Thomas' 30 gallon tall Eclipse along with Thomas almost the entire time I've had him (we're talking almost a year now).

This is amazing, because I can't tell you how often I've put my hand in there, to clean the glass, to shoot pesky aiptasia with Joe's Juice, to play with Thomas, etc.

Last night, I was watching a bunch of copepods crawling around the live rock and thinking to myself "almost killed all the aiptasia, just need to keep it up, every day, see any of them, hit them with Joe's Juice, bye bye anemone" - when I see these 2 beady little eye stalks staring out at me, right at the front of the tank out of a piece of live rock!

My first thought, "What the ****!?!? That looks like a MANTIS SHRIMP?!?!" 8O

"No way", I say to myself, "It CAN'T BE! I haven't added any new live rock to the tank since a couple months after I got Thomas!" (back in May '05).

I take a closer look, and this "thing" ducks back into the rock slightly, but I can still see the eyes and the unmistakable mantis-like movements.

In complete shock, I head to the freezer, tear off a small piece of shrimp and put it on a feeding stick to see.

I get back to the tank, and slowly ease the stick down towards the Mantis. As the feeder stick gets close, "it" shows no interest and *BOOM* quicker then I've seen anything move in a long time it darts out of the hole and under another piece of live rock!

I had heard strange clicking noises from Thomas' aquarium every so often in the past, but thought it was just a piece of equipment "ticking" or Thomas doing something. Apparently it was the Mantis digging a new hole or beating a helpless hermit crab to a pulp (I think it's a smasher, not a spearer, which I also believe are "slightly" less aggressive).

I still have only seen him once this entire time. I can't find him since, but I can hear him more now.

Also, Thomas is getting older now, his color has been a consistant whitish-grey the last 2 months instead of the normal brown.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? :?

 

[Anonymous]

Call the cops. Tell them they'll need backup.

 

[Fastmarc]

Thomas must be well fed or that is a crafty little mantis.
Then again, he did evade your keen eyes all this time as well.
You go, mantis. (you need to name him)

 

[fyrefysh]

If you're looking to get rid of the mantis, just don't feed Thomas for a few days.

 

[Nautilus1]

Th clicking may be a pistol shrimp. Ive never had a mantis that clicked

 

[jandree22]

Mantis don't click by their own devices like a Pistol. Mantis make clicking noises when they pommel open a cave in LR or break open the shell of a tasty snail.

 

[Black96WS6]

Here's some pics of Thomas, taken a few minutes ago.

I was "juicing" the aiptasia, trying to keep the tank clear for Thomas.

Of course, he couldn't stand that something was going on without his approval, so out he came! :mrgreen:

The last shot I tried to get my hand in there so you could see his size. He looks almost small compared to my hand due to the angle the picture was taken. In reality he's about as big as your hand with all your fingers spread wide, with his tentacles longer than that even.

Notice he's mostly white/grey now, only barely brown/reddish when he gets excited or has strong emotions (I assume it's because of his extreme age - he's almost 15 months old):

And here's a shot of Thomas' tank, it needs the weekly cleaning, didn't get around to it this weekend because of inlaws in town for Easter:

 

[Nautilus1]

Great job on keeping the octo for a long tim. Does Thomas need a bigger tank. IIn my experiece, Octopus require tanks that are long and wide. A tall tank does octos no good. Ya , you can keep one alive in tanks smaller than 55 gallons but does the octo suffer from boredom?

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting story.

I wonder, do some octopii know better than to mess with Mantis and Pistol Shrimp? I imagine they'd be something an octopus would quickly learn to avoid.

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting story!

 

[Chubosco]

Mantis shrimp are the devil's helper.

 

[Black96WS6]

Great job on keeping the octo for a long tim. Does Thomas need a bigger tank. IIn my experiece, Octopus require tanks that are long and wide. A tall tank does octos no good. Ya , you can keep one alive in tanks smaller than 55 gallons but does the octo suffer from boredom?

It really depends on the keeper, the equipment, and the octo. For dwarfs 30 is almost overkill, for bimacs (which is what Thomas is), 30 is probably the lowest you can go. I have the Eclipse bio-weel and carbon filtration going constantly, as well as a protein skimmer and a power head to increase flow through the live rock, plus weekly water changes. So as far as filtration goes, that's fine.

Then the next thing is to make sure they don't get bored. I know Thomas has never gotten bored because he's never tried to escape (notice the tank lid isn't even closed all the way). You can't make it out from the photo, but in addition to the live rock, Thomas has a pink vase to explore, a white PVC pipe, and a treasure chest. He also has floating toys which I put in there every so often for him to play with. And lastly, live food (shore crabs, hermit crabs, and shrimp) for him to hunt.

Keep in mind they hang out in their dens most of the time. The key really is to keep them from getting bored. :wink:

 

[Fastmarc]

That is really cool.
I have always wanted to keep one, but I would get attached and the life span is really short.
It would so cool if they lived much longer.

 

[gregx]

How long do they live for?