Stomatopod Images

My Little Garden: Peacock & Macroalgae

Frank and Jennifer Sronce own several different mantis shrimps, including some small gonodactylids and a couple of large Odontodactylus scyllarus Peacocks.

This gorgeous 13 cm Peacock is in a 10 gallon acrylic tank (shown on the right).

The large piece of live rock on the left is growing a little yellow sponge and three brown polyps. Its substrate is crushed coral over an undergravel with a powerhead, and it has a Penguin 110 retrofitted with a BioWheel. The light is from an OceanSun 10,000K. She moved everything around once she moved in! She built one long burrow between the cave on the right and under the large rock on the left, then built a wall out of small pieces of rock on the back of the tank. Gravel has been pushed into mounds protecting the front opening and the exits at each end of the burrow.

She's very inquisitive. That pic was taken a day or two after she molted, and she had "picked" pieces of macroalgae to disguise her tunnel entrance.

The other large, 16 cm female Peacock mantis shrimp lives in a 20 gallon tank, containing an aragonite substrate, a Skilter 250 and an Aquaclear 200. A 15" ordinary flourescent and an 18" Reef Sun 50/50 provide illumination.

Definitely visit their web site to see more pics of their other mantis shrimps!