a few mantis shrimp q's

A

appleajax

New member
I just got a mantis from my lfs 2 days ago. He (or she) is doing really well right now. I borrowed some cycled gravel from someone and set up a 10 gallon for him. I am pretty sure that he is a peacock smasher and he's about 3-4" long

My question is what else can I keep safely with him? Would one of those spiny urchins be alright with him? After a while I'm goin to get some algae and those guys eat it so that would be pretty cool. Or could I get a pretty quick fish that would be able to survive with him? Or could I keep another peacock mantis with him? My lfs has another one in and that would be pretty sweet to have a pair of them. Or since mine has already kinda set up his territory would they fight?

thanks for any help, I'll try to get some pics of him later


edit: I just noticed that his burrow reached the bottom of the tank. should this be a problem? like will he punch the glass down there?
 
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Peacocks get fairly large, but even if they didn't, I wouldn't keep two in a 10gallon (or at all probably). Keep in mind that most fish are going to spend some time on the bottom of the tank at night to rest. My G. ternatensis smasher likes a challenge, so I would never put a fish in with him that I was really attached to or that cost a lot of money. I don't know about the spiny urchin, but MT has never bothered a hermit crab. He does enjoy snails though, as well as ghost shrimp, guppies, etc. Hope that helps.
 
a 10 gallon is pretty small for O. scyllarus. Keep in mind, they can reach over 7", and a 10g is barely over a cubic foot. Fish are okay with most any smashers, as long as the tank is a reasonables size. (Peacocks may occasionally hit a fish if it gets to curious about its den.)
2 mantises in a single tank is asking for trouble. They MAY co-exist for a while, but eventually there's gonna be trouble...
 
10 gal. is pushing it for a peacock. I've got my 6" in a 55.

Gravel is not ok for a mantis. I would replace it with sand...and make a deep sand bed. Most of the time, when you hear people say their mantis smashed their glass, it was the bottom. They burrow and then the reach the glass, they try to keep burrowing.

If I were you, I'd upgrade to a 20gal. with a nice deep sand bed (4" - 5") and provide rock work for a cave. You can keep fish with your mantis. I'm on my second peacock. My first one was housed with a domino damsel for a long time.

The peacock I have now has been housed with a Coral Banded Shrimp, misc. snails and hermits, and a 3" Vanuautau Yellow Belly Dog Faced Puffer.

Can you show us any pics of yours?
 
I'm surprised to hear that gravel is not O.K. for a mantis given that O. scyllarus often live and burrow in course gravel. In my lab aquara I often use a mixture of sand, fine and course gravel and fragments of live rock. This seems to mimic the substrate they often are found on and it is easy for them to dig in and construct a burrow.

Roy
 
Sorry...I should have specified better.

I have always heard that regular aquarium gravel is not ok for a mantis. The mixture that you have Gonodactylus, along with nothing but sand is what I was meaning.....that's what I should have said.

Sorry.
 
Sorry :rolleyes: I meant to say sand not gravel.. too used to freshwater...

I have some extra sand so I'll put it in there later this week.

Let me go try and get a picture real quick
 
my peacock is in a 20L, he loves it in there swims alll around darting back and forth when he goes on little spaz attacks.. 2 peices of liverock to make a "den" and he dug out under it.. and takes live rock rubble and builds onto his fort. pretty interesting to watch him move his door form side to side.. which reminds me.. i need to get him more fragments!
 
here's a picture

74781mantis.JPG
 
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Would need a better picture to be 100% certain, and I'm sure that Gonodactylus could tell from certain, from that pic, but it looks like you have an O. scyllarus, or Peacock Mantis. Very cool mantis...that's what I have. Provide him a makeshift cave, which he'll modify to his liking, and provide some small live rock rubble...he'll use these tiny pieces as well.

I know you'll like keeping this species. They are very, very interesting to watch and most of the time, when you're watching him, he'll be watching you too. You can definately see a high form of intelligence in their creppy little alien eyes. :D
 
Gonodactylus said:
I'm surprised to hear that gravel is not O.K. for a mantis given that O. scyllarus often live and burrow in course gravel. In my lab aquara I often use a mixture of sand, fine and course gravel and fragments of live rock. This seems to mimic the substrate they often are found on and it is easy for them to dig in and construct a burrow.
Click to expand...

Roy, can you comment on a couple of things? How deep a sand/gravel bed one should have for O. scyllarus to keep them happy? Also I can understand that a 10G is too small for a 7" animal, but would a 10G work for one 3"-4" starting out? It seems to me that everyone is nervous about O. scyllarus in a 10G glass aquarium, but those 15G to 20G acrylic tanks don't seem to be made of anything that much thicker. Is a 10G or 20G glass tank that big a risk with O scyllarus?

Jay
 
In the field the burrow of a 4 inch O. s. would be about 10 inches deep and 14 - 18 inches long. It is unlikely that you could recreate the substrate conditions that would allow the animal to construct such a burrow in an aquarium. Some large pieces of live rock along with lots of smaller pieces and some gravel is probably as close as you can come. The substrate should probably be at least four or five inches deep, but the major support for the burrow will come from the live rock. The animal will fill in the gaps with smaller pieces.

As for size of aquarium and glass vs. acrylic, the largest O.s. I would keep in a 10 gal. aquarium would be about 3 inches. This is not because of the risk of breaking the glass, but because of the bioload that might occur. While it is possible that a four inch O. s. could break a 1o gal. glass aquarium, it is highly improbable.

As for glass vs. acrylic, the major difference is that the plastic is pliable. I have several plexi tanks that I keep O. s. in and while they are dented by strikes, they do not break. Glass will chip and occasionally crack. If the stomatopod is over 4-5 inches, I would advise acrylic or at least 7 or 8 mm glass.
 
Gonodactylus said:
As for size of aquarium and glass vs. acrylic, the largest O.s. I would keep in a 10 gal. aquarium would be about 3 inches. This is not because of the risk of breaking the glass, but because of the bioload that might occur. While it is possible that a four inch O. s. could break a 1o gal. glass aquarium, it is highly improbable.

As for glass vs. acrylic, the major difference is that the plastic is pliable. I have several plexi tanks that I keep O. s. in and while they are dented by strikes, they do not break. Glass will chip and occasionally crack. If the stomatopod is over 4-5 inches, I would advise acrylic or at least 7 or 8 mm glass.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! This is good stuff. Continuing on, what is the realistically appropriate size tank for keeping O. s. at 7-8 inches? This in terms of both the bio-load as well as a quality permanent environment for the animal to be happy in. I've read several threads where the "great unwashed" (that's us :lol: ) have opinions, but haven't really read a good answer from someone who has the experience in years and numbers of animals that you have. How big are those plexi tanks that you use? I have a 20G long, but it is glass and it sounds to me like a high tank is better from your earlier comments about the 4-5 inch sand bed desired.

With regard to the live rock, am I better putting a lot of rock in to give him lots of nooks and cranies to hide in or do I want to leave a fair amount of "open" sand bottom for him to roam across?

The main thrust of this is that I'd like to get an O. s. myself, but want to do it right ahead of time. I've taken the time to read as much as I can online, but some questions don't seem to have a firm answer out there and others seem to have every opinion under the sun expressed, hence I ask.

Thanks again for your time.

Jay
 
Seven inches is the maximum size that O. scyllarus get. For an animal that large I like to devote at least 40 gal per animal. Our subdivided tanks are 80 gal with two compartments. If we are keeping 4 or 5 inch animals, we can go with 4 compartments. I like to have as much roaming room for the animals as possible Our typical layout is a burrow in a pile of live rock and then and 18 x 18 inch area of sand, gravel and the occasional small rock. I wish I could provide more area, but with 15 - 20 O.s in the lab, that is all the room I can spare.

The main reason that I like high tanks is that it provides additional water to buffer any nitrogen problems. O.s. have a nasty habit of burying partially consumed prey, molt skins, etc. The more water (and bacteria), the better. I also try to use UV sterilization and skimming which really seems to benefit the animals.

Roy
 
Dr Roy,

I have a 55 gallon tank that I am setting up as a 3 compartment mantis hotel, with the sections (not finalized yet) being aprox 22,13 and 20 gallon.

I am wanting to put an O. Scyllarus in the 22 gallon section, with my G Viridis in the center (13) and another larger species in the other end section.

Does 22 gallon seem adequate for a larger (5-6") peacock? There will be a refugium and/or sump as well for keeping the water in good shape.
In a side question, do you thnk that my G. Viridis might get too intimidated by such big neighbors? He lived in a little section next to an O. Scyllarus in the store where i picked him up, and he didn't seem to care (In fact, he was more outgoing than he has been since I bought him, grumble...)

Lastly, any chance that you might ever let a group of we local Stomatofanatics have a look around your facilities to get a look at your set-up?
If this is a rude or improper request, I apologize in advance.

-Ron
 
This should work for the O.s although it would probably like a bit more roaming room.

The G. viridis will be fine as long as it has a decent cavity. They often live in proximity to O. s. in the field. Mind you, O. s will prey on G. viridis, so make sure your divider will keep them apart. When an O.s has a mind to, it can break through some pretty formidable barriers. I usually tak advantage of the fact that they usually try to break through partitions near the substrate, so we install a four or five inch solid strip of plexiglass to the bottom of the partition.

Roy
 
Ack!!! I'm not going to take a chance on Dagon (my soon-to-be-acquired Peacock) making a meal of the Baron.
Perhaps I'll keep him in the 6 that he is in right now. He seems to like it well enough (he gets room service ) .

I guess I can move the dividers a bit and give him (Dagon) maybe 30 gallons or so. That would leave some room and still leave 25 gallons for 2 smaller sections/mantis.

I had better get some thicker plexi, since the 1/8" (I think) that my dad brought over already has me nervous.
I will make sure to reinforce it at the bottom as well.


Thanks Dr. Roy.


-Ron
 
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