aquarium setup foGonodactylus smithii

[ryano]

I am planning on setting up an aquarium for a Gonodactylus smithii within the next couple of months, and have some questions about it.
1- Would a Eclipse 6 gallon aquarium be large enough for this species?
2- Would the filtration that comes with this be enough? I know it has a bio-wheel, but I dont know about the chemical or mechanical abilities of this aquarium. (cant find that much info on it yet).
3- Is there any websites that sell this species, or am I going to have to try forever through my lfs?
4- any other info for setting up a mantis tank would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[Flusher]

The tank size is fine. I'd go with live rock for filtration and remove the bio-wheel, etc.

G. smithiis are apparently super hard to find. I lucked out and ended up with one within a few months. I was actually the first mantis I came across.

 

[ryano]

Ive heard of several people only using live rock as filtration. On my show tank I have about a 1.25 lbs on live rock per gallon, but I still run mechanical, bio, and chemical filtration. Is live rock actually enough? Would I have to put a power head in the tank for some movement? I have read that Gonodactylus smithii are interactive, and from the pictures I have seen they are very colorful compared to a lot of other manits shrimps. I know there are several hundred species of mantis shrimp, but are there any with these same characteristics that I might have an easier time finding?

 

[Thurge]

Rock should be fine. It was nerve wracking the first time I removed the Bioballs from my big tank, but its fine years later and IMO healthier. I do still have filter floss to strain out the large chunks of detritus, and occasionally run charcoal, but other than that I have about 2# of LR per gallon of rated ater volume. You will probably need to add a powerhead to increase the water movement in the tank.

Part of the problem in finding a G.smithii (or any other specific mantis species) is that the people in the chain leading to your LFS don't know how to identify mantis. The excepton is the Peacock mantis (O.scyllarus) and even then its not uncommon to find out that your peacock, isn't. The other exception is Tampabaysaltwater.com, who collects N.wennera from their Live Rock pile in the gulf. Other than that though, and you are probably going to have to either ID the mantis yourself, or have someone else ID the species.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/
Mantis ID cheat sheet

 

[travisurfer]

My lfs called a Gonodcatulus graphurus/glabrous(not sure yet) a peacock mantis when I aksed which species it was. Ive found that most people dont really care, besides us that is.