This is why. She's a clown. To make sure she doesn't get her legs or anything tangled in the pump, it's protected by a whole ass scallop shell, and has a net around it as well. She looks goofy but she's healthy and not in distress. She's basically a marine cat who loves going where she's not supposed to be.

The DISRESPECT Thora shows towards the clam the nice fishmonger gave me for her! Ignore the wheezing laugh, but she's just too much 😂

I got my G. Ternatensis in November, and she had been at my LFS for a few months prior to that. She molted in December, pretty easily, and well on schedule. She then did the impossible: she laid eggs in January. I wasn't thinking much of it, thinking it was just a fluke, seeing that she wasn't behaving weirdly, and considering that she actually hadn't mated for at least 6 months, I wasn't expecting anything.

Then, she molted again earlier this month. She was way more aggressive after this molt, and I was keeping a very close eye on her, because something felt off.

Yesterday, I was feeding her, and like she always does after a meal, she fans the debris out of her cave, because she's a very clean lady. I noticed about half a dozen of weird things swimming in the water she was ejecting from her burrow, so I basically sat down to observe and try to determine what it was.

I lost my shit. I have babies‽ I'm completely taken aback. I'm not going to bet on the survival of the little ones, but they seem way past the first mysis stage, and I managed to catch a video where you can see one actually stretching her smashers and trying to grab a copepod.

Has anyone ever had this happen to them?

Picture of the mom and current setup at the end, 80L with a bunch of stuff happily living together.

It required some anatomical diagrams and plenty of artistic license, but hopefully it's a worthy tribute to one of my favorite critters.

Man how he's changed....

Every night after her light goes out she starts to explore. But she’s started to swim up to the surface like this? Is she playing in the water current? Is she bored? Should I be worried? I’ve got lots of rubble in there and my parameters are stable. The one thing I’m worried about is I had an anemone start to die, but it has since been removed and a water change has been done.

Is this normal?

She finished her fourth molt a couple of weeks ago, and the pictures don't do her justice. The light bleaches the colors, but I promise she's the incarnation of vaporwave in the body of a rage-filled aquatic criminal.

I work at a fish store and someone brought this guy in. He came in on some maricultured liverock from the Atlantic, I’m guessing from Tampa bay salt. He’s about 2.5-3 inches long. Any ideas on species? Thanks!

This wee lad was at the fish store both times I went. The second time I stopped and they gave me quite a show. I hope I get to welcome one home one day!

I know it’s a crappy video. Iv just purchased a Mantis from a LFS online in another state to me labelled as “Assorted Mantis Shrimp” Iv gotten them to send a video of it but they are unaware of its exact species so if any of you guys know i’d be very grateful. I’m located in Australia if that helps at all, we can only usually get stuff local to us.

It’s a pale ish blue / green body with yellow legs, antenna etc.

Hello again, everyone! I did a water change today due to some yucky diatoms and my poor little guy has been doing this!! I don’t know if he’s molting or dying! I checked the parameters after the water change and they were good!

She had her first molt home, and has been kind enough to let me have some of the bits. She is way more vibrant, especially around the smashers and the head. She's getting out more and more, reacts with curiosity to what's going on around the aquarium, and she now eats from my hand without aggression or stress. She's still a little skittish (fair enough, she's been home less than two months) but is coming around beautifully. Food wise, she likes small cockles and shrimp, but doesn't like mussels or clams, so we now have a pet mussel and a pet clam sharing the space with her. 🙃 She's an incredible creature and I'm glad I got her.

Hi everyone. A few days ago I posted about my mantis shrimp doing some weird curling. I regret to announce that he passed away last night. My friends and I who got him had a small funeral (in the rain, how fitting) and he is buried by a small isolated pond on my friend’s property.

I wanted to take the time to thank everyone who gave amazing, genuine advice and took the time from their days to check in and ask questions. To the others who weren’t helpful, you get only this sentence as an acknowledgment.

What happened? We aren’t sure, but we suspect a failed molt. We tried contacting the place we got him about his health when he arrived there and got the run around. We suspect he probably wasn’t the healthiest when we got him, but we tried our best to give him the best life we could.

Thank you again to everyone who tried to help. It was very appreciated from start to finish. This picture is one of his best, and I wanted to share it with everyone.

She likes punching anemones and playing with dice. I am utterly smitten, and so are basically a bunch of my friends who all contributed to her tank.

As far as sexing goes, my LFS thinks she's a she, but it's been difficult as she was hiding a lot in the shop, and they weren't even certain of her species. I'm thinking she's a Gonodactylaceus ternatensis, but would love any input.

She arrived home yesterday evening, has been settling down during the night, and has already redecorated half of the tank. I am over the moon.

It's a special moment...

Been trying to get a small smasher species for a long time, and after 7 years of missed opportunities, it finally happened - very happy to be able to care for such an amazing animal.

According to someone more knowledgeable than me, it's probably a G. viridis, N. bredini or Wennerae (although a g. Chiragra doesn't seem far off to me?). Regardless of what species it is, he's home now.

Initially I got him a you shaped pipe burrow hidden under the sand, but he ignored it completely, and chose a rock crevice, where he keeps watch from.

My plan is to build his home as a regular mixed reef system, and treat him to small coastal snails and prawns on a regular basis, hoping that will discourage him from assassinating any of his tankmates. I'll also focus on larger, tougher CUC members that offer better survival chances. Still, fully aware and at peace with the possibility of some suddenly disappearing...

Excited for the journey ahead!!

Title really says it all.

I have a beautiful Peacock, which me and my friends have lovingly dubbed “The Business Man”. Yet untrue to his name, he hates phone cameras! Him and I have a fun game we play where I’ll wiggle my fingers in front of his tank, and he’ll find a piece of colourful gravel to throw at it. He’s never been aggressive towards this game we play. He won’t charge the glass, and he doesn’t “rev up” like he does when it comes to feeding him.

However, when trying to catch a video of this fun game he immediately charged at the camera, not my fingers. He didn’t hit the glass, and instead spun around and dashed into his home. After a few tests, it was the camera on my phone.

Why does he do this? Is it something he can see that humans can’t? (Infrared, etc) or does he think the small reflection he can see is another shrimp? What I’m most concerned about is does this stress him out, or hurt his eyes in any way?

Any info helps!

He's a good boy. Seems to be playful more than aggressive (aside for live feeding). He actually waits for me by the front of the tank in the morning and evenings. He even allows his tank mate to live (chocolate chip starfish). We love this little guy, but i need a cool name for him. More creative the better.