what is the most clever tankmate?

[1seahorse]

Mine is the (skunk) cleaner shrimp, it has managed to figure out that the polyps on my NFS sea fan capture food particles. When feeding time is over for the fish, and the fish have eaten every last bit of food, the shrimp goes after the polyps that have managed to capture pods from the mixture, as a second round of food. It's like a buffet for it! I had to remove it from that tank and placed it in another one for now. I'm thankful my other fish have not caught on. lol

[Scutterborn]

That's funny. Mine figured the same with some meat eating corals. When I'd feed, he'd rush over and crawl all over it to close all of the polyps so not to lose out on anything!


-Ben-

[BBQHILLBILLY]

Mine was a hawkfish. When I looked at him I knew he was thinking of something.:bigsmile:Everytime I fed my fish he would block the shrimp, stand in front of them so they wouldnt eat.
When my shrimp disappeared, my falco hawkfish had to find another room. I dont know if thats clever but I thought it was weird how he would act like a dog and keep the cattle in a circle.

[Big_Pun]

i had a male red mandarin(Rossi) that i got to eat pellets, usualy i fed a lil pellets to get fish excited then i would do frozen. sometimes i would skip the pellets till one day i noticed rossi would tap on the glass with his mouth till i put pellets for him. i had him for almost 4 years, my fave fish.

[Fracture]

i had a male red mandarin(Rossi) that i got to eat pellets, usualy i fed a lil pellets to get fish excited then i would do frozen. sometimes i would skip the pellets till one day i noticed rossi would tap on the glass with his mouth till i put pellets for him. i had him for almost 4 years, my fave fish.

That is just way too cool I want a fish with personality

[hobogato]

when i feed mysis to the ritteri anemone, the vlamingi tangs puff water into it to knock some free so they can eat them without risking getting stung

[Southern Flame]

My scooter blenny eats baby brittle stars for some odd reason and loves to have his photo taken

[1seahorse]

Ben, I'm believing that it deliberately went to the sea fan towards the end to just close the polyps so it wouldn't eat. lol. Now that you had mentioned that about the meat coral. lol. I like the pellet eating mandarin just because I swear I've had one eat flakes when I first got into this hobby about 15 years ago. I didn't know any better. lol. But eating baby starfish ? wow.

[Southern Flame]

My scooter eats everything that fits in its mouth now he is a greedy lil guy

[MadReefer]

Mantis Shrimp: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uTdTRXNdEY

[SoLiD]

Mantis Shrimp in a mixed reef tank??? :what_smile: ^^^ they are clever though.

[ramsey]

I've had three animals that I wouldn't say we're clever, but I found them most interesting so far. The first was a peacock mantis. Besides constantly building his house by smashing rock, I swore he'd stare at me from across the room trying to figure out ways to take me out. Second, was a dwarf lion fish. That guy was the most interactive fish I've had. I swear he recognized me specifically since he'd get excited when I walked past the tank but not really with anyone else. Third was the skunk cleaner shrimp. Probably my favorite creature overall. If I was cleaning the tank, he'd happily crawl on my arm and start going to work cleaning it. He'd also reach INTO sun coral and scoly mouths and grab food out after I fed the corals. Originally he'd just wait for the turkey baster then steal the food before it hit the corals, but then I wised up and started using a grabber to try and block him. But he figured out that coral mouths could be his own personal lunch box. He used to **** me off so many nights when I tried to feed but I loved the little guy. They're fearless little buggers. His death was probably the hardest of the wet pet deaths I've had.

[1seahorse]

I'm feeling what you had gone through with that skunk shrimp. lol I'm glad I'm not the only one, I thought I had created a monster! lol. This morning I saw him snatching food from an SPS polyp after doing my no light feeding for the corals.

[rocketeer]

That rubiks cube video was pretty good!

Jack

[1seahorse]

Re: Mantis video, Was that for real? No special effects ? It's amazing if its legit.

[Scutterborn]

Re: Mantis video, Was that for real? No special effects ? It's amazing if its legit.

I don't buy it. At no point do they show it doing it. Only moving it around. While some animals may be able to problem solve to an extent. That's a bit overboard though. Still a cool video. I really like the Maria shrimp.


-Ben-

[FireWater]

Dude, don't ruin it for me. If I want to believe the mantis solved it then I will. Lol

What's next Ben? Easter bunny is not real. What about the fat guy in the red suit?

[Fracture]

According to the movie guardians I just watched the other day the guy in the red suit is a big Russian guy with lots of tattoos on his arms lol

[Scutterborn]

Dude, don't ruin it for me. If I want to believe the mantis solved it then I will. Lol

What's next Ben? Easter bunny is not real. What about the fat guy in the red suit?

I plead the 5th!! I'm not gonna be responsible for destroying your inner child!


-Ben-

[1seahorse]

spoiler alert!

If you want to know the history of the Mantis video produced by Dr Roy in the 1980s. Here is a link I found on google.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=893201

[malofish]

spoiler alert!

If you want to know the history of the Mantis video produced by Dr Roy in the 1980s. Here is a link I found on google.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=893201
DUDE YOUR THE MAN!!!!!!! I have been searching for a thread by destinyman for a long....long....long time! If you hadn't posted up that old thread by roy I might have never found it! Ill link it up as soon as I find the definitive thread!

[malofish]

Aaaaaaaannnnnnnnd here it is. To anyone who ever wanted to learn about mantis shrimp and have a good read....I introduce Tim the super Mantis! http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=266915

[1seahorse]

DUDE YOUR THE MAN!!!!!!! I have been searching for a thread by destinyman for a long....long....long time! If you hadn't posted up that old thread by roy I might have never found it! Ill link it up as soon as I find the definitive thread!

hey JJ! that's man. glad you liked it.

[Brickster]

Easy. This guy.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o27/prodigal_son_photo/Anemone%20Garden/BCE5CDD1-C72E-4FC0-8010-DDB83CE55A11-4464-000006D0B8EA798D_zps8511b7d5.jpg (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/prodigal_son_photo/media/Anemone%20Garden/BCE5CDD1-C72E-4FC0-8010-DDB83CE55A11-4464-000006D0B8EA798D_zps8511b7d5.jpg.html)

Clever little things. This little guy spent months tunneling in the boulder it lives in. I've watched it shape snail rubble to make 'doors.' One of very few things I have kept underwater that feels like it is looking back at you. And you can keep a mantis in a reef. Just make sure you choose roommates appropriately ;)

[350gt]

he looks awesome..

[1seahorse]

Easy. This guy.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o27/prodigal_son_photo/Anemone%20Garden/BCE5CDD1-C72E-4FC0-8010-DDB83CE55A11-4464-000006D0B8EA798D_zps8511b7d5.jpg (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/prodigal_son_photo/media/Anemone%20Garden/BCE5CDD1-C72E-4FC0-8010-DDB83CE55A11-4464-000006D0B8EA798D_zps8511b7d5.jpg.html)

Clever little things. This little guy spent months tunneling in the boulder it lives in. I've watched it shape snail rubble to make 'doors.' One of very few things I have kept underwater that feels like it is looking back at you. And you can keep a mantis in a reef. Just make sure you choose roommates appropriately ;)

I've always loved the insect praying mantis, so this mantis shrimp is really nice to see in a tank that's not isolated. The info I read about them is incredible!

[Brickster]

They are very neat little things, though I can see how one randomly showing up could ruin your tank. CUC needs to be specialized, with urchins and stars. No shrimp, no crabs. They can and do punch pieces of coral to bits to build with, though softies hold up well. When I add something new, the mantis will show up and decide if it is going to wear it for a hat. This one is tiny, only about 2" in a 40B which helps quite a bit.