The MANTIS Shrimp Club!

[vdituri]

Nice color!

 

[in_a_days]

Alright, I'm bidding to purchase this tank for my Mantis...

It's 5 gallons and acrylic. Hopefully it will be suitable for some time to come.

I see the little guy about every other day. But he's still so small and timid that it's tough to see any discernible visual characteristics by which to identify him. Right now he's kind of a dark purple with what appear to be two parallel lines of tiny light blue spots running along his back. Right now he's holed up in a piece of live rock.

So hopefully I can get that tank and introduce some of the sand and live rock from my current tank to help it cycle. With a tank this small and some good live rock and live sand I'm hoping cycling wont take longer than a few weeks. But I'll be patient and wait 'till everything tests to zero.

In the meantime does anybody have advice for feeding a very small mantis? He's housed with a lion so any kind of meat I put in on a feeding stick gets ambushed by the lion. Should I try to get a little piece of silverside meat stuck on the live rock or something?

 

[BEELZEBOB]

In the meantime does anybody have advice for feeding a very small mantis? He's housed with a lion so any kind of meat I put in on a feeding stick gets ambushed by the lion. Should I try to get a little piece of silverside meat stuck on the live rock or something?

Hey dude, just a word of warning, mantis' and lions for some reason seem to be like mortal enemies.

they wont always "search" eachother out but an encounter is inevitable, and almost garuntees a casualty.

soo, first, dont feed the lion near the mantis.

then maybe give the lion somethin he has to work on for a minute, and quickly turkeybaste the mantis

 

[in_a_days]

Hey dude, just a word of warning, mantis' and lions for some reason seem to be like mortal enemies.

they wont always "search" eachother out but an encounter is inevitable, and almost garuntees a casualty.

soo, first, dont feed the lion near the mantis.

then maybe give the lion somethin he has to work on for a minute, and quickly turkeybaste the mantis

Well that makes me a little nervous... but thanks for the warning and suggestion.

Right now I think that would be a terribly unfair contest as the lion is a little over 10" and the Mantis is still probably just under an inch long. My hope is that I'll have a separate tank cycled and set up for him long before he's big enough to attract the Lion's attention.

I will definitely try basting a portion of meat in the little guy's direction while the big guy is distracted with food of his own.

 

[Dentoid]

In a Days, have you given any thought to how your going to catch this mantis to move it to another tank?

 

[in_a_days]

In a Days, have you given any thought to how your going to catch this mantis to move it to another tank?

Right now he just hides out in a couple of the holes on a very small piece of live rock... I was just gonna put on some gardening gloves grab the rock and transplant it. I've handled the rock since I noticed him and he shoots into it whenever he sees any kind of movement.

The piece he seems to live in could literally fit in a big gulp cup, so if I want to be really really cautious I could just kinda scoop up the rock and a cup full of water I suppose. Certainly if ya'll think that is a safer/smarter way to go that's what I'll do.

Again, I really don't know how fast they grow at this stage, but my hope is that I'll have his tank ready to go before he gets too big to manage.

 

[in_a_days]

Alrighty, my five gallon acrylic is on the way! :whstlr:

I picked up a ten gallon that I'm going to turn into a refugium for my main tank in a couple weeks. In the meantime I'm using the tank to cycle a new Fluval 1 that I picked up at the LFS (also added some sand from my main tank). Hopefully this will start to build the biological filtration in the filter. I also ordered up 30 pounds of live sand.

I figure with 5-10 pounds of pre-cured live sand and a filter that has already been cycling for a week or two hopefully my Mantis Tank will be ready to go in just a couple weeks. But I've never cycled saltwater from anything but scratch so I don't know for sure how long it's gonna take the amonia & nitrites to drop. But as soon as it does my Mantis has his new home. I must admit I'm getting a little anxious as Mr. Mantis is becoming increasingly active & brave.

If 5 gallons proves to be too small I'll upgrade to a 10, as you can get either one for fairly cheap.

I think he's still too small for me to ID. I've looked through all the species on that link Bob provided. But he doesn't quite look like any of them yet and I can't yet pick out anything terribly distinguishing.

 

[BEELZEBOB]

Post a Pic!


also, i just wanna counter sink a nail here, there is no MEDIA in the cannister right?

You're just using it for flow and extra water capacity, right?

 

[in_a_days]

Post a Pic!


also, i just wanna counter sink a nail here, there is no MEDIA in the cannister right?

You're just using it for flow and extra water capacity, right?

Well... it's got the standard foam filter pad on the inside

But no carbon or anything like that. Is that a bad thing?

Right now the 10 gallon is not connected to the main tank, just water, the filter, and a thin layer of sand (and a tiny bit of flake). The 5 gallon has a built in filter, but I figured if I could "jump start" another small filter it might save me some cycling time (I know, I know, patience is the essence).

But I'm a humble noob so if I'm doing something wrong please... my ears are wide open.

And BTW I'll try to snap some pics of my tank and the little guy when I get home. I have a digital camera, but it's not great and I doubt it's going to produce any clear, up-close shots. But I'll do what I can.

 

[BEELZEBOB]

just from experience, with the addition carnage that a mantis tank harbors, anything that can trap nitrates, will.

i would suggest replacing any empty space in a hob or cannister filter with LR rubble. it wont "saturate" with detritus and other biological wastes, making then inaccesable to yer NO cycle

 

[in_a_days]

just from experience, with the addition carnage that a mantis tank harbors, anything that can trap nitrates, will.

i would suggest replacing any empty space in a hob or cannister filter with LR rubble. it wont "saturate" with detritus and other biological wastes, making then inaccesable to yer NO cycle

Gotcha... thanks very much for all the information.

Naturally, I have more questions now. :away:

Am I likely to save myself any cycling time by introducing this filter when I first get the tank (presumably to be removed when sufficiently cycled)? Or am I likely to see very similar results using rubble from day 1?

Secondly, am I going to have to upgrade the lighting if I'm going to expect LR to do its thing? It's 17" along the back, semi-hex along the front, and only 9" deep. The attached hood only comes with two little 15 watt fluorescents. 9 inches is shallow, but is 30W enough to do anything at all?

 

[BEELZEBOB]

use ruble from day one. adding later could cause a mini-cycle ( 3 short lived spikes)

LR doesnt need any LR to be bennificial.

 

[Wolfgang8810]

If it were to dig out my old 10 gallon tank would a mantis shrimp do ok in it? What would i be required to buy equipment wise?

 

[BEELZEBOB]

If it were to dig out my old 10 gallon tank would a mantis shrimp do ok in it? What would i be required to buy equipment wise?

yes indeedy.


youd need.
10-15lbs LR
heater
small skimmer maybe? (ive heard good things about this nano rio for like $40)
200-400 gph of flow runnin in there (id say 1-2 nano korillas)
DSB if you wanna (id suggest)
light according to mantis species and what else you want to keep.
and a mantis.

thats it. (assuming you have like test kits, a refractometer etc)

 

[Wolfgang8810]

what is a refractometer? he would be int her by himself no corals or fish. Like you said earlier i will get a number of different snails and see what it likes. I have a hob filter made for 40 gallon tanks if i used that could i eliminate one of the hydor nanos? I have one in my 24 gallon reef and it really takes up alot of room. What would you suguest light wise? Im gonna try to keep this relativly cheep so something under 50 bucks would be nice. Are they jumpers, do i need a tight fitting lid?

 

[BEELZEBOB]

ID SUGGEST THE hoB W/ YOU HEATER AND SOME lr IN IT, AND ONE KORILLA, OVER MY PRIOR SUGGESTION

 

[Wolfgang8810]

sweet. Ill be asking around my local fish stores if they get one in their LR ill Take it for 10 bucks lol. If it never comes oh well ill just have a frag tank

 

[YumSaltWater]

So i want to keep a mantis in my 24 gallon nano....

But now im scared after reading some horror stories of keeping a mantis (I wanted to keep a peacock) in a glass aquarium.....

I mean how likely is it that he will actually break the glass?
Im so far only really interested in peacocks.

Not sure what to do!!!!!!

 

[goldenmean]

From Bob's informative post!
RE: can Mantis break glass.

But back to the original question Out of the hundreds of species of mantis, there are only a few species that get large enough to do so. These are ; Odontodactylus scyllarus, Gonodactylaceus ternatensis, Gonodactylaceus graphurus, Gonodactylaceus chiragra and Hemisquilla californiensis.

 

[panmanmatt]

So i want to keep a mantis in my 24 gallon nano....

But now im scared after reading some horror stories of keeping a mantis (I wanted to keep a peacock) in a glass aquarium.....

I mean how likely is it that he will actually break the glass?
Im so far only really interested in peacocks.

Not sure what to do!!!!!!

Put a piece of acrylic on the bottom of the tank. Most mantis tank breaks are o the bottom glass. In nature if they hit something hard while digging their burrow they smash through it. When they reach the bottom of the tank, they think it's a rock and try to smash through it. The acrylic will stop them from shattering the tank bottom.