Is there anywhere to even get a N.Wennerae anymore?

[LiverockRocks]

Oh wow I got TBS on my thread! We would love to see more photos to see the ID.

Day 3 with the N.Wennerae here. Still just poking it's head out of the burrow now and than. What would be a good first food for it? I have some hermits, snails, and frozen krill on stock. There are quite a few snails in its tank currently - not sure if they hunt Nassiarus snails.

Live crabs, shrimp bits, snails, clam meat is what we feed. Cool critters, enjoy!
We keep Florida tiger gobies in mantis tanks with no losses to date.

 

[SauceyReef]

Live crabs, shrimp bits, snails, clam meat is what we feed. Cool critters, enjoy!
We keep Florida tiger gobies in mantis tanks with no losses to date.

Thank you! Does it ever take some time to get them acquainted to a piece of raw clam vs a moving creature? May I ask how often you feed them and the longest you have kept?

Thats very interesting about the fish. I’ve heard most mantis aren’t interested in fish. Seen quite a few videos with fish in peacock tanks (damsels). When I had my last n.wennerae it shared a tank with a cherub angel no problems. That would be very cool to add a fish to this current mantis tank but it’s only a 6 gallon.

Me and the little guy had a stare off yesterday. I swear these things move their head like an owl, or velociraptor from j.park. Catching every movement with incredibly accuracy

 

[Hadla]

Looking forward to more pics also!

 

[SauceyReef]

Mantis seems happy and found a burrow in the rock right away. Now its making entrances to it on each side. Yesterday I walked up to the tank and in the middle of the day caught it carrying around a shell for its burrow. It looked at me, I looked at it, than it dropped the shell and shot back in the burrow haha. That is about the most I have seen it other than it staring out the burrow entrance now and than. I fed the tank some mysis yesterday, a few of the Nassiarus snails came out and I thought it would go for one, but just stared at them like a cat staring at a bird out the window haha.

 

[SauceyReef]

Heard it whacking something in the middle of the day today! Hoping its not the bottom of the glass haha

 

[SauceyReef]

I lucked out with this one. It seems to like exploring the tank during the day and its been less than a week. I caught it all the way on the top of the Mangrove stalk earlier!

@Stomatopods17 the meral spots are white - so definitely N.Wennerae. Ill get some photos when I can.

If I walk up to the tank while it is out, it does a "threat display" and puffs itself up, and spreads out its fan things and punchers. Looks quite funny and at first I was confused what was happening. Are the meral spots supposed to make it look like eyes? Similar to how a butterfly spreads its wings to make it seem like an animal face?

 

[SauceyReef]

A photo I found online of what it looks like:

 

[Stomatopods17]

yep!

Not sure what specifically they're mimicing but gives the impression they're a larger eel or fish (when probably just being a mantis is enough to scare the detritus outta anyone)

Not all species have defined murals though, most commonly spearers don't have them as much, Odontodactylus does the same threat display but no notable merals, it seems mostly the smaller species rely on this.

 

[SauceyReef]

yep!

Not sure what specifically they're mimicing but gives the impression they're a larger eel or fish (when probably just being a mantis is enough to scare the detritus outta anyone)

Not all species have defined murals though, most commonly spearers don't have them as much, Odontodactylus does the same threat display but no notable merals, it seems mostly the smaller species rely on this.

These little guys are incredibly interesting!

I would assume the meral spots create the illusion of eyes & a face in desperate situations as a last resort to intimidate something.

 

[LiverockRocks]

Thank you! Does it ever take some time to get them acquainted to a piece of raw clam vs a moving creature? May I ask how often you feed them and the longest you have kept?

Thats very interesting about the fish. I’ve heard most mantis aren’t interested in fish. Seen quite a few videos with fish in peacock tanks (damsels). When I had my last n.wennerae it shared a tank with a cherub angel no problems. That would be very cool to add a fish to this current mantis tank but it’s only a 6 gallon.

Me and the little guy had a stare off yesterday. I swear these things move their head like an owl, or velociraptor from j.park. Catching every movement with incredibly accuracy

J feeds them raw clam once a week, they always have live crabs available for snacking.

 

[SauceyReef]

J feeds them raw clam once a week, they always have live crabs available for snacking.

Where do you get the clams??

 

[LiverockRocks]

Where do you get the clams??

Costco, but most grocery stores would have them.
Buy live clams, place in freezer, thaw one at feeding time.

 

[SauceyReef]

Costco, but most grocery stores would have them.
Buy live clams, place in freezer, thaw one at feeding time.

TYVM! We’ll get some for it this week.

How often do they molt? Haven’t seen it in a couple days and all the burrow entrances are plugged up so I think it’s molting

 

[SauceyReef]

A little concerned. It has been hiding in the burrow for close to 5 days now.

Is this normal after they eat and when they are in a new system??

 

[Stomatopods17]

Stress molt maybe. N. wennerae actually does close the cavity with fine pieces of rock, gravel, or sand both at night time and during molts, it'd be weirder if it didn't. They're a day time species which is uncommon with crustaceans.

If its any morale boost, here's a story:

I had an N. wennerae that was hitchhiked on some live rock, I bought the rock cause the staff told me it was there. I had it in one system for a good bit, and relocated it into the sump of my 125 gallon where it made a cavity and lived in the rock there.

Well my sump wasn't well designed for this... it constantly would go for a swim and end up in the wrong compartment and I'd have to play cat and mouse to move it back all the time, it passed this way too idk if it was the primary factor but that's where I found the corpse about a year and a half after owning it and down in that compartment.

Well inbetween that, there was a time when it closed up, and I never saw it for a literal month straight. I actually pronounced it dead cause I couldn't find it, I never seen it come out, hole was still closed, 0 signs of life so I moved on. Another month passes. My aunt comes over and I show her the bottom of my sump and go "there used to be a mantis down here as wel-" and two eyes just peep out of that rock suddenly and it survived whatever was going on + me not feeding for a month cause I thought it was gone. Must've lived off amphipods or something. 2 whole months without any interaction and I find it exactly where it was before the close up.

They're very self sufficient and hardy, unlike O. scyllarus which yesterday just molted on me and I feel like i flipped a coin and got really lucky it went as smooth as it did.

 

[SauceyReef]

Stress molt maybe. N. wennerae actually does close the cavity with fine pieces of rock, gravel, or sand both at night time and during molts, it'd be weirder if it didn't. They're a day time species which is uncommon with crustaceans.

If its any morale boost, here's a story:

I had an N. wennerae that was hitchhiked on some live rock, I bought the rock cause the staff told me it was there. I had it in one system for a good bit, and relocated it into the sump of my 125 gallon where it made a cavity and lived in the rock there.

Well my sump wasn't well designed for this... it constantly would go for a swim and end up in the wrong compartment and I'd have to play cat and mouse to move it back all the time, it passed this way too idk if it was the primary factor but that's where I found the corpse about a year and a half after owning it and down in that compartment.

Well inbetween that, there was a time when it closed up, and I never saw it for a literal month straight. I actually pronounced it dead cause I couldn't find it, I never seen it come out, hole was still closed, 0 signs of life so I moved on. Another month passes. My aunt comes over and I show her the bottom of my sump and go "there used to be a mantis down here as wel-" and two eyes just peep out of that rock suddenly and it survived whatever was going on + me not feeding for a month cause I thought it was gone. Must've lived off amphipods or something. 2 whole months without any interaction and I find it exactly where it was before the close up.

They're very self sufficient and hardy, unlike O. scyllarus which yesterday just molted on me and I feel like i flipped a coin and got really lucky it went as smooth as it did.

I appreciate your replies, and helping me calm down! That is a very interesting story and keeps me hopeful.

I am honestly not sure what is going on with the Mantis. For the first few days when I made that last reply, it plugged up all the holes after I think eating. But now the main burrow is wide open, and I see it just hanging out in there each day. I stopped shining the light because I know they have crazy good eyes, and I dont want to disturb it. Kind of strange because the first week it was incredibly active. Now for about a week it has just been hiding in the rockwork, and it wont even come to the entrance of the burrow. I am hoping with the big asteria snail meal it had last week, it is just finally realizing it has a little utopia it can sit back and relax in. If it is molting, really hoping all goes well! I added a big plethora of snails in the tank yesterday, so it can get meals whenever it wants.

 

[Hadla]

Haha you think it’s gone then you see two tiny eyes staring at you

 

[SauceyReef]

Haha you think it’s gone then you see two tiny eyes staring at you

I am waiting for that again! Worried how long its been, but I will let it rest for another week or two.

 

[SauceyReef]

It’s been near 3 months and the little guy just came out today for the first time that I could see since I made that last post.

 

[Andrew Mc]

If anyone might be interested, I've got a very small mantis that hitched a ride in on some live rock from Gulf Live Rock. I haven't been able to get a good enough look to identify the species, but my guess would be a N. Wennerae. I'm in the FL Panhandle btw...