Ok everyone, what are some basic rules for setting up a mantis tank? Minimum tank size? tankmates? corals? sandbed? recommended species? any species that shouldn't be housed? and other tips and advice and maybe we can get this stickied if we get enough good info.
This is a ton of questions. I'll try to answer as many as i can with the knowledge i've gotten over the last couple of years, along with reading, and reading, and reading everywhere i can read.
there are over 500 species of KNOWN stomatopods, and who knows how many more are still hiding in cracks and crevices in the depths of the oceans, still waiting to be found.
This is hands down, one of the best websites with info about the multiple species:
Roy's List of Stomatopods for the Aquarium
The "rules" to keeping a mantis are all still mostly educated guesses. its almost impossible to say "what does a mantis need" without identifying the species first. they are too different.
common needs:
low to medium lighting
medium to decent flow
heavy skimming
coarse substrate with lots of rubble and rocks that the mantis is able to move around and design the entrance to its cave
tank size is totally dependent on species. there are some VERY small species of mantis, able to easily be kept in nano tanks like a 10 gallon, very comfortably.
as far as tank mates... its pretty much up to the mantis. some will eat everything, some will only eat what you feed it. if you have the stabber type of mantis, pretty much anything that swims by its den will get stabbed, killed, and eaten. the smasher types will generally leave larger fish alone, but will still eat ANY inverts or slow moving animals in the tank.
corals are fine, but SPS/LPS require higher lighting, which is commonly thought to be the cause of shell rot in most mantis. softies and other low light corals are fine, but pretty much expect the mantis to use them to decorate the cave entrance if they are on frag plugs, not glued down, sitting on the sand bed, or on smaller rocks.
as far as a species goes that can be recommended, most mantis lovers have their favorites, its tough to recommend one that i havent kept, as i dont know what to expect, but i believe most, if not all can be kept in captivity, given the proper environment, and care.
