What's in your aquarium?!?!?!

[sndtgr08]

Another member mentioned that he had a planted tank, and I was talking with fellow Nico members about photography and low light tanks. I thought it would be neat to share some pics and seeing what others have going on. First I want to apologize as I am a crappy photographer and most of these pics are a year or older

The fish tank: 120gal system, 200lbs+ live rock, 100lbs live sand, 7 fish, 25-30 corals, self made 100% all natural filtration system.


Crabs always looking for food.


Purple Tip Condy (anemone)


Yellow polyps


Cardinal and a Clown


These are the pics I have trouble with My camera sucks on with low light/back lit shots


Here is another.


Cleaner Shrimp and one of the Green Anemones


Various critter tanks:

My rose Hair Tarantula walking on water:


Random Lizard #1


Random Snake 1 and 2 intertwined


What happens when you catch 2 praying mantises?
Step 1


Step 2


Step 3


Video of Step 3
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oltBaQMcjf8[/youtube]

[telcoman]

Baby sitting for my neighbor.

Puff the magic dragon

His aquarium



Outside his aquarium



He takes a dump every other day



Telcoman

[Mr1der]

OH MAN LITTLE MANTI!

[sndtgr08]

Puff the magic dragon

Holy Moly, that thing looks as big as a dog!

[telcoman]

Puff the magic dragon

Holy Moly, that thing looks as big as a dog!

Not really

Taken last year





Puff is cute warm and cuddly

[AlexN09]

Hey nice tank!! I like those zoas but that mantis birthing vid really blew my mind!

Here's some shots of my stuff...

Here's a 10g aio that I built up, sporting a 175w 14k MH


This guy lived in there in my dorm room freshman year


Here's my 20gl planted tank in my apartment


And I have a 55g softie reef at home that I don't have any pics of but I'll get some!

Oh yeah I forgot about my 2.5g RCS tank!
These guys all sharing some din

[Ace 2.0]

i have a 55 gallon tank with 3 turtles

top left: Gimpy (she was picked up by a predator when she was a hatchling and made it out alive,but lost her one of her front feet in the process,i found her and it was just some meat with a bone sticking out.come to think of it,i should have named her peggy.)
bottom left: Fatso.(almost stepped on him,someone left him on my porch,he has been a trooper for about 10 years now.)
little guy to the right: Speedy(i picked him up on the side of the road while walking to the shop to pick up my integra that i had at the time.)

the little snapping turtle on the left: Zippy (R.I.P.)
I was in texas working and my girlfriend called sobbing her eyes out,fatso likes to shove the rocks around and Zippy liked to hide in a little cave we set up for him,fatso has collapsed the cave in the middle of the night somehow(pretty heavy rocks to move.) and poor little Zippy was drowned.
but a few months after i came home,i found speedy.

[VQpwrdSE-R]

Bart, that's quite the tank setup you have. I'm impressed with all the corals. My wife will be haunted by the praying mantis video.

[sndtgr08]

Bart, that's quite the tank setup you have. I'm impressed with all the corals. My wife will be haunted by the praying mantis video.

The baby ones are so cute! I set the tank out side for a few days with the lid off so they could escape. I put it back in place after that but there must have been a few hiding in the tank as we found a few in the house over the next couple of weeks I have 2 10gal takes that we rotate critters in. Kind of a catch and release thing where we catch them and keep them for like 3-4 months then set them free. One of the few benifits of living in the middle of nowhere is there is always fun wildlife close by.

We have cought a few bigger snapping turtles but I didt have a big enough spare tank to keep them, so I gave him to a buddy that has a pond way back in his woods. This was the meanest so far. I was comming down a back road, heading home. Its pretty twisty and known for deer so I was only going around 40-45. I come around a corner and I see what looks like a black bag of trash in the middle of the road before the next curve. I slam on my breaks and it starts to move across the the lane! I pulled into the next drive way, grabbed an old shirt and ran him down. After a small fight I got him into my trunk He was about 18" wide and almost 2' long in the shell, at a guess somewhere around 30-35lbs. head and tail came out about another 14"-16"

This is it in a normal sized row boat. It almost looks like he is smiling for the camera...





Here is the Mantis mom eating a huge black cricket we found out side. Near the end I think she bites a nerve cuz the cricket starts to twitch and move, even with most of its head obliterated.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMjoo31H38[/youtube]

A larger bristle worm searching for food in the salt tank. They have thousands and thousands of barbed hairs that are poisonous.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaBzkucIYiw[/youtube]

Blue Legged Hermit with hitch hicker Colt Coral. He watches me as I watch him.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QDtu6Liduo[/youtube]

[DJ_B_Easy]

Bart WTF, I had no idea. Is this why you were asking for specs on my tank?

BTW I think you should have your own reality series, like Swamp People or whatever it is.

[300ZXttZMAN]

OP, In step 2 of the praying mantis is that what normally happens to the male after teh sex?

Also what did you do with all the babies? Let them go?

[sndtgr08]

Bart WTF, I had no idea. Is this why you were asking for specs on my tank?

BTW I think you should have your own reality series, like Swamp People or whatever it is.

I am an animal lover, with A.D.D.

OP, In step 2 of the praying mantis is that what normally happens to the male after teh sex?

Also what did you do with all the babies? Let them go?

Unfortunately for the male, thats usualy his end. They mated nearly nonstop for almost 3 weeks. She laid 2 "pods" in the 3 weeks, then ate Him. Then she made a 3rd pod. I let all(most) baby Manti out side to fend for them selfs. Mantis eat tiny pests at that age and up to 400 little ones can come out of 1 "pod" I have no way to provide food for 1000+ baby Mantis's not to mention after they get older, it would take thousands of crickets a day to feed them all....even at $0.10 a cricket I would go broke fast. Better to spend that money on car parts

[alms24sebring]

OP, In step 2 of the praying mantis is that what normally happens to the male after teh sex?

Also what did you do with all the babies? Let them go?

Yeah the females eat the heads of the males. Thats a hard way to go right? Imagine, have the best sex ever then let her eat your freakin head... thats some wtf biology right there. Screw that, Id be a virgin forever. Nala would be an elder King Mantis

Mantis's are awesome tho. They sell the pods in a paper cup at this one store by my house, which also has alot of other very cool overpriced items. We got one one year and they kept bugs out of the garden.

[Ace 2.0]

sndtgr08,i have caught a few snappers that big,they calm down after a few minutes,i am still amazed that their jaws are so powerful.
those baby mantii are adorable,i had a pet mantis when i was young and i could sit and watch him for hours.
this thread makes me happy for some reason.

[DJ_B_Easy]

I always thought that the Praying Mantis was endangered and protected? Yet you can go and buy the pods, let alone hatch two of them in your home?

Maybe its something I am carrying over from when I was younger...

[sndtgr08]

There is not (and never has been) any federal or state law proscribing the killing of praying mantises. I can't see any reason for someone to kill them as they are so helpful. You really have no clue how many bugs these things can eat in a day. Look at the pic of the male above....she didt eat just his head. She ate the whole top half of his body, big arms included. The head just wend 1st. It may have been due to it was breeding season for them, but they eat close to there weight a day in crickets. I was going to petsmart AND sending the kid out to forage for crickets every other day and it seemed like every time I looked in there they were all eaten. I can't imagine what 1000 of them let lose in a yard go through. Thank god for critters that eat bugs. We had a box turtle and a bull frog in the same cage for about a month and they are pigs. every day I stop after work and get 20 crickets and throw them in, and in less then 10 minutes they were all gone. Very cool watching both of them snaching crickets left and right! The turtle would munch on the salad fixings we throw in but when the crickets get tossed in he went nuts

[300ZXttZMAN]

Unfortunately for the male, thats usualy his end. They mated nearly nonstop for almost 3 weeks. She laid 2 "pods" in the 3 weeks, then ate Him. Then she made a 3rd pod. I let all(most) baby Manti out side to fend for them selfs. Mantis eat tiny pests at that age and up to 400 little ones can come out of 1 "pod" I have no way to provide food for 1000+ baby Mantis's not to mention after they get older, it would take thousands of crickets a day to feed them all....even at $0.10 a cricket I would go broke fast. Better to spend that money on car parts

So how many total mantis would you estimate that you let go and are they still hanging around outside?!?

Awesome video btw thats like some animal planet status footage.

Also what all animals do you have?? My buddy has a snake I am not sure of the kind but anyway feeding time is awesome he has a cardboard box that he puts his snake in then he puts the food (a live mouse) you can tell the snake gets happy because he starts slithering around alot and really just kinda taunting the mouse then he attacks..

[alms24sebring]

My friend has a snake but I forget what kind too. Its still young and small for its size. I think he neglects it like his dog... I have no idea the last time it was fed but when he does feed it, she perks up and curls her neck right away. She will even attack the glass as hes lifting up to the top of the cage.

I like fish though. I want to have a big fish tank later on. Its an expensive hobby I hear. Id rather have 20 small fish than 3 big ones.

[lovehateRBrelations]

My aussie bearded "Chester" basking on top of his castle. 40 gallon tank. He used to have a buddy in their named Marley, but unfortunately after 10 years he passed away.


my other reptilian companion: Vincent the ball python! Favorite pastime: slaying rodents

[DJ_B_Easy]

You guys are making me miss my reptiles...STOP IT!

[lovehateRBrelations]

You guys are making me miss my reptiles...STOP IT!

I have dogs and reptiles and its crazy how similar in personalities they are. My beardie has got his own attitude, personality, and is very aware of his surrounding. Its hilarious when i get his snack worms out, hell start waving his arm and bobbing his head. My snake is curious and loves attention. Its like if you move him away from you he tries to slither back up to you and want to curl up on your chest. My pups love em to they all get along famously lol. I am currently building a large habitat for reptiles, that will be heated and humidified and plan to get a couple of veiled chameleons to put in.

The platform that my dragon is basking on I built myself. Ive done other custom basking platforms for my friends, so if ne one on here would be interested dont be shy to give a holler lol

[sndtgr08]

That's the "Feed Me Now or Die Puny Earthling" look.

[DJ_B_Easy]

I had a Bearded as well and also a Savannah Monitor. The Beardies wave and head bob is actually a sign of aggression/a challenge. He is saying that's my food, come at me bro. It's a sign of dominance.

I built a similar custom basking area for my monitor. I'll post pics when I get back to a computer.

[DJ_B_Easy]

The Savannah's set-up.





And this is how I had it set-up for the Beardie.



The aquarium is now empty, and is for sale.

[lovehateRBrelations]

I had a Bearded as well and also a Savannah Monitor. The Beardies wave and head bob is actually a sign of aggression/a challenge. He is saying that's my food, come at me bro. It's a sign of dominance.

I built a similar custom basking area for my monitor. I'll post pics when I get back to a computer.

Lol Ive heard that about the bobbing and waving. He defiantly knows that its snack time and has that "give me my damn food simple human or i will eat your soul" kinda of aura about it. Its so funny. He has such a attitude. They best is when I try to give him new foods and he knocks over his dish then looks at me like "now clean this mess I made up and bring me something good". Beardies are a hoot.

this is typical "are you serious" look he gives me when he doesnt want to eat his dragon chow

[DJ_B_Easy]

My beardie LOVED live crickets, and it was entertaining to watch her catch them. They are pretty sly, they stalk and the whole nine yards.

The Monitor was another story, straight bloodbath.

[Rager]

well since we are on the topic of reptiles and stuff the eat, and since i done have an aquarium i will contribute with this gem i took a picture yesterday. i guess you could say its natures aquarium

[DJ_B_Easy]

Water Mocassin eating fish?

[Rager]

not to sure what kind of snake it is but i think its just a rat snake. ive never heard of a water macossin in ct before . it was about 3 and half feet long. i do know that hes eating a trout or baby salmon.

[lovehateRBrelations]

oh yea here are some pics of my favorite aquarium. . . .and it just so happens to have everything!





lol not thread jacking, just some neat pics from some dives Ive been on in earth's aquarium