ID This: Mantis Shrimp?

Heres the story, my tank is almost done cycling. Mainly just high nitrate left to go. I've had some pantyhose in the tank with frozen shrimp to keep the cycle going. Well today I took the pantyhose out because this batch of shrimp was pretty much all gone, and I threw it out. I ran all my tests over about 20 minutes, then decided I wanted to put a few more shrimp in to keep ammonia in the tank to feed the bacteria. So I pulled the pantyhose back out of the trash, and this guy fell off of it onto the counter! At first I thought, man thats one big pod! But then I thought it was a Mantis. What do you guys think? I put him in a cup of tank water for now till I can figure him out. He's alive and moving now. Got a bubble stuck on his butt, lol. Thanks!

 

Harmless (actually a very beneficial) amphipod.

 

Yea after doing some research online, he does look like a pod. If thats the case, I'll put him in my fuge. Thats great because a Mandarin is definitely in my future, glad to see some pod growth already!

 

Oh man, after REALLY looking at my tanks glass right now, I'm seeing TONS of pods! AWESOME!

Excuse my excitement, but this has been an amazing time cycling to me! Tons of pods already including this giant guy, found a snail of some type, purple pink and red coralline is starting to grow on most of the rock! Almost ready for fish!!!