High5,
As you know in the wild they are killed by trigger fish, puffers , octopus and imagine few other animals so they are skittish . In captivity they realize that there are no predators and become "arrogant".
Several in a tank with uncured live rock which is cycling will kill each other if you put a piece of shrimp in a baby food jar and secure it so they cant steal it but it takes too long for only 1 to remain . Though you do see some amazing fights .
When the smasher (dull color) killed the much more colorful slasher . He than looked at me like saying 'you are next" and that was when I knew I was dealing with evil , lol.
I wonder in the wild how much territory one mantis holds because they don't like company .
Has anyone ever seen the bright yellow mantis ? I have never seen them other than youtube but they certainly are very pretty. Imagine from the Pacific but not sure .