Here's a little 1 inch stomatopod. Note the stalked eyes and extended "hammer." ...not to be confused with Amphipods who scoot around in a "C" shaped posture.
I'm a bit biased, but Anthony Calfo spoke a little about mantis shrimp at our local meeting. He made a point that most hitchhiker mantises that you'll get are smashers who will rarely go after your fish and are mostly a threat to your snails and hermits. Mainly, that they are highly overrated as a terror in aquariums. Observe them and set traps, and keep them in a species tank once they are removed.
I think I even think that they're more of a threat than Anthony does. 99% of the time you'll get N. Wennerae from Gulf rock, which is a small smasher that maxes out at about 3 inches. These are too small to be any danger to glass aquariums or larger fish, since spearer species are the ones who are fish specialists.
When I got my gulf view LR, I left every bit of life on it, yeah there are some 'bad' critters and plants but my opinion is to just live with it. It looks more natural in the end. If you have some kind of coral eating snail or mantis shrimp, there are ways to get rid of them...
As far as what type of rock to get, when I ordered, I bought the 'coraline' and 'coral cluster' other than paying a few more bucks a pound, I didn't notice a difference. I didn't get any of the 'deco' though.
I got both types. If your paying a high price for all deco and sit other LR on top of it, seems like a waste to cover it. There is tons of life on it and is like X-mas, looking at it as you pick up each one.
I also did the high salinity and still ended up with a mantis that took me 4 months to figure out it was in there and catch it. I didn't take a turkey baster and clean each hole out and maybe try doing that. Dipping it in the bucket, did not bring the lil bugger out, but some Mantis are hardy when it comes to higher salinity. The rock is well worth it, just try doing a little extra as a pre-caution, so you don't have to pay the price later. I lost 4 fish before I caught mine.
1) What exactly does the mantis shrimp do? How does it kill your fish? What other bad stuff does it do? Would they multiply fast if I miss a few while checking?
99% of the time you'll get N. Wennerae from Gulf rock, which is a small smasher that maxes out at about 3 inches. These are too small to be any danger to glass aquariums or larger fish, since spearer species are the ones who are fish specialists.
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