Mantis Tank

[Kev]

Wee Git. lol. I like that.

[Gillybaby]

Ok, I know its been a while but I have an update. Wee Git has been getting a bit more active. He's now knocked several escape holes in his rock and seems to have finished with the home improvements for the time being. He spends most of his days with his head hanging out of his smallest doorway watching the world go by and keeping an eye on Ian sitting at his computer. He's been eating flake and over the last week or so we've been tempting him to come out further with small shrimp so as to get a photograph. But he's been having none of it. He's so fast, the best we've got so far is a black blur.

We haven't even managed to get a good look at his meral spots but think they are white, which has changed our ID a bit. We now think he is either a Gonodactylus chiragra, a Neogonodactylus bredini or a Neogonodactylus wennerae.

The possible new ID is further supported by the fact that he took out one of our IO snails yesterday which is a good bit bigger than he is. I was a bit annoyed although I must admit it was fascinating to watch him in action smashing apart the shell. And this gave us an opportunity to photograph him but unfortunately, none of them really turned out too well.

This is the best we managed to get (and I took it :D ). So, without further ado, may I present to you all *cue trumpets*...Wee Git:

[Tetley]

Hi Gilly,

Good on you for your patience - looks good.:)

[trik]

i like it "wee git" that pic is so clear. fair play to you.

[callum_parsons]

wee git is a great name fair play to your patiences on gettin a photo. glad too see its made itself at home

[Gillybaby]

Now that I've remembered that I started this thread, I think its time for an update.

TBH nothing much has happened. The tank is very stable and Wee Git is always there sitting in his doorway watching Ian and the world go by in general. Seems a lot more relaxed. Hasn't gone for any other critters in the tank but we've been feeding him well on krill and mysis. He also still grabs any flakefood that floats past his hole.

Wee Git does have a new tankmate though in the form of a purple crab that I managed to catch in our 6fter. We've had this crab since we got our first batch of lr for the 4fter but now at least we can see him more. He's dug a hole in the sand right at the front of the tank and is quite comical to watch.

Now for the most important piece of news. Last night I was feeding flake to the firefish when Wee Git flew out of his hole and started chasing the flakefood around the tank alongside the fish :eek: Shocked the life out of me, thought he was after the fish to start with but he didn't interact with it at all, just grabbed the food.

As sods law would have it though, the camera was downstairs and he was so fast that I probably wouldn't have been able to capture him anyway. But...he did come out of his hole and looked very relaxed :D I think this may be the turning point.

And note to self, leave the camera beside Wee Git's tank ;)

[course-its-reefsafe]

Great thread Gilly :)


And what a stunning mantis :cool:


Congratulations on getting a picture, I think I'm a very long way off that :D




Cheers

Chris :)

[Tangman]

Hi Gilly nice pics there of wee git, well done as they are not easy when they are small to take pics of. :D Eric