Bio Cube 29

Shawn D

Member
I have been thinking about setting up my bc29 as a mantis tank. Would this work or is it to small? It is acrylic so i wouldnt have to worry about him cracking the tank right??? Also show some pics of your tanks to convince me :D
 
A bc29 would be fine for a variety of mantids, you'll have to choose carefully though since they vary by species pretty drastically.

do your research a lil better. biocubes are glass. I wouldnt house a heavy hitter like a large peacock in there because of that, but i do believe some people have, given a few simple extra precautionary measures.
 
im sorry for my lack of research, so everyone just ignore this thread and i will post again after I do more research
 
i have a good sized peacock in a 24 and can't imagine having any other mantis. they're smart creatures, i used to worry about him hitting the glass for who knows what reason but after he accidentally hit the glass once trying to kill a goldfish nothing happened and i'm not afraid anymore.
 
I would go for a peacock as well. But if you do put a peacock in that tank line the bottom with plexi. I am going to have to do it for mine in a 75 gal tank.
 
I am going with a peacock but I already have my sand in the tank and it just finished cycling, so should i take out all the sand and add the plexi glass
 
Hey Shawn D,

I'm setting up a 29g BioCube as well for a O. Scyllarus. This is what I have in mine:

Oceanic BioCube Protein Skimmer
40lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Indo-Pacific Black
25lbs Fiji Live Rock
Lee's Ghost House 6 1/2" x 2" clear tube
Visitherm Stealth Heater 100wt
The lighting consists of:
1 â€"œ Coralife 10,000K 36Watt Compact Fluorescent lamps
1 â€"œ Coralife Actinic 36Watt Compact Fluorescent lamps
3 â€"œ 3/4Wt Lunar Blue, Moon Glow LED lights.
 
How deep of a sand bed does that give you? I have 30lbs in there now and might add more. Is the Lees ghost house just like a clear tube for his burrow?
 
Hey Shawn D,

With the 40lbs I've got roughly about a 4" sand bed in there. And yes all it is is a clear tube it has 2 stand like pieces coming off of it to help secure it in place. You can just use a piece of pvc if you'd like I just liked the way the clear plastic looked in there with the sand.
 
Hey Shawn D,

With that much sand, I didn't put any plexi glass down. But that's up to you. As long as the li'l guy has plenty of room to burrow around shouldn't have any problems.

Nicki
 
Thanks for all your help Nicki. R you having heat issues? With my back lid fully open my bc is still running at 85 degrees. Youll have to show me some pics of your setup when you get your mantis too :D
 
Shawn D,

Not a problem sweetie, glad to help. Yeah I'll definitely have to post the pics for ya as soon as I get my li'l one.

Not having any heating probs in my tank. What kind of heater do you have? I've got mine set to 78/80 and it's at 80 degrees. Got another ? for ya though. What temp is it in your house, that might be factoring in why the tank is getting so hot.

Nicki
 
Pulled the heater out today and temp is now a stable 78, good thing the problem fixed but now i have to buy a new heater and more snails:(
 
Shawn D,

Glad to see the prob got fixed, I know how it is having to restock a tank. Let me know how things are going and if there's anything else I can help with.

Nicki
 
Does anyone think that this would classify as bright light that might induce shell disease? Its 2 36 watt PC 10000K and an actinic
 
no, it should be fine as far as i know metal halides are too strong, my tank has about 104w pc for a 24 and my peacock is fine
 
It would become a meal...I've read that you can get away with some clown species, but that all depends on each mantis and it's personality!

You could always just get a very large clean up crew, I cant remmember the exact species of snail that targets hair algae but I know there is a few, and throw some medium sized hermits in there. They will control some of your algae problem and also add a mixture of food choices for your mantis!

If your tank is fairly new, less than a year, you can have hair algae problems, but just keep up a constant 10-15% water change schedule and you can control your algae growth a little better. Another great thing for controling algae would be to add a refugium to the tank and cut down the time your lights run (say 7-8 hrs instead of 10-12)

Good Luck
 
Red legged hermits from the Caribbean. They love hair algae, and any algae you throw at them. Very slow, pretty big, lest annoying hermits I've ever owned;Knock stuff down sometimes but never kill snails. Also thick shells, so it might be able to survive a while (unless the mantis figures out that it can pull it out!). Also large turbo snails might survive a while and serpent starfish and urchins tend to be ignored (serpents more tan urchins)

As for the lawnmower: Most likely food, but it depends on your mantis. Their have been some crazy mantis living with fish stories, one even mentioning a six line wrasse sleeping with a peacock in its den at night if i remember right.

Dan
 
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