New nano for the mantis

[Creekview]

Well, I guess it had to happen. My snowflake eel has gotten big enough to want to eat the mantis. The mantis already thumped him on the nose, so I'm putting up a 5.5 gallon nano for the mantis and the chunk of live rock his cave is in. Built a 3 LED scrubber out of a Tetra PF10 HOB filter. Drilled holes in the filter, epoxied 120 degree lenses over the holes. 2 red LEDs and a blue on a dimmer. Potted everything with RTV, glued on a heat sink. Glued poly screen to the filter frame that came with the filter. The screen size is approx 6"x3". Should be more than enough. Pics to come.

 

[Creekview]

And the scrubber pics.......

Screen hasn't been roughed up yet.......

 

[Creekview]

Nano and scrubber pics

The nano has been up for a week now. The mantis had sealed up his cave from inside before the move. He has yet to appear, but he's done this before. Seal up the cave for a week or more, the reappear. I'm hoping he does. The scrubber is working flawlessly, save for a trimming of the screen for a better fit. I scrapped the filter frame, and just put the screen in the slot furthest from the LEDs. You'll notice a burn hole in the center of the bottom algae growth. A bowing of the screen put it too close to the LED. The top LED is a 455nm blue, next down is a 630nm red, then the 660nm with the burn hole. I think it's pretty obvious that different wavelength LEDs grow different algae.

 

[Andy]

Looks great. Mantis shrimp are amazing. What sort have u got? I fink give it a couple of months n put the mantis back in with the eel and watcg the showdown!

 

[Creekview]

He's a havanensis. He already whacked the eel pretty hard on the nose. That's why I moved him.

 

[DianaKay]

Hope you can lure him out & get some good pictures of him to post!

 

[Creekview]

Well, the mantis is MIA. I used a fiber optic scope to look into his cave. Not home. No sign of him in the other tank, though either. I've not given up hope. He was really too big for the snowflake to eat, and they are sure as heck capable of defending themselves. The 33 long he shared with the snowflake has a deep crushed coral and shell bed, and lots of live rock to bury under and hide in. Hopefully he'll show up.

So the new nano won't go to waste. I ordered another havanensis mantis from KP Aquatics down in the Keys for a measly $20. Ordered a bunch of other stuff to justify the $40 FedEx overnight. They have some good prices on their live caught and collected stuff.

 

[Creekview]

Well, looks like the mantis thumped the snowflake again. Looks like he took a left hook to the jaw. His lower jaw is way outta whack, though he's still eating just fine.

 

[DianaKay]

Yikes, I hope you find the mantis & get them separated before one or the other doesn't survive the fight

 

[Oxylebius]

Poor snowflake!

 

[jimmy]

Too funny... So how big is your mantis? Saw one in the LFS the other day His head was the size of a half dollar. Looked to be everybit of 8 inch or more

 

[Creekview]

The big ones are usually indo-pacific, some get a foot or more long. Those are the ones that can break a glass tank. They eat them in some countries. The one that is still MIA is/was a hitchhiker on a chunk of uncured ocean cultured live rock from the Gulf of Mexico. He was about 2 inches long. I had ordered another for the nano, unfortunately it didn't make the trip. His replacement is on a plane from the Florida Keys right now. Should be here first thing in the morning.

 

[DianaKay]

Did the new Mantis addition arrive alive this time?
Did you get any new pictures to share?

 

[Creekview]

Ya he's here and very cool. I posted photos in the Mantis Attacks thread. Snid posted the funniest video I've ever seen. I've watched it a dozen times.

 

[ReefConstrictor]

Not to get off topic but I also have a mantis nano. I have a HOB refugium but I really like that scrubber. I would love to make one. Could u possible pm how u did it ? Thanks

 

[Creekview]

Sure. I'll get with you this weekend

 

[Creekview]

Well the new mantis is all settled in, and has built his burrow under a piece of live rock. It's fascinating to watch him go about choosing stones, shell fragments and gravel and meticulously fitting them together. He must have picked up on being in Kentucky, where the dry laid farm walls from the 17&1800's are common. His "dry laid" fortress has the opening surrounded with 3-4 layers of mostly flat pieces. Dry laid means no mortar or cement is used.