Coming back to Reefing, considering another mantis

[mndfreeze]

I got out of the hobby about 8 years ago after my custom tank cracked during a move. I rehomed googly, the ternatensis but that person has long since moved away, nor do I even know if he would still be alive anyway. No idea what the life span is for your average mantis.

Setting up a 29G biocube right now. It will house coral, and being a lover of inverts and weird things (fish are boring!) I'm contemplating another mantis.

Smithii can handle high light environments well, correct? And is there a size of snail they mostly will leave alone? I have no problem buying him/her feeder crabs and shrimp, and would expect to be replacing my clean up crew often. I did find that my Ternatensis left my large turbo snails alone even though he was more then capable of taking them out.

I would love a peacock but feel a 29cube is too small, and the light requirements for coral would be unfair for his amazing eyes.

 

[Vmazz]

That sounds great for a smithii, I'm pretty sure they are more tolerant of light then peacocks. I would do the minimum amount of light necessary for your corals so the shrimp will be the most active.

 

[Vmazz]

They should leave big snails like turbo snails and other big crustaceans alone, but don’t be surprised if they go missing.