Companion for my Mantis

[rhiggsbear]

Hi you all. My Mantis is still doing fine - it has been about 18 months since I first found him in a small piece of live rock. He has more than doubled in size (approx 2" - 2 1/2" now) and is a little pig when it comes to eating.

So, here is my question. I am looking for a critter to put in with him that he won't eat. Something that will eat algae because I am constantly battling this problem. I tried two huge Turbo snails but the little pig kept harassing them until they died (wouldnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t let them get out of the shell to move around) and then started eating them.

How about a Pencil Urchin? Aren't these guys supposed to eat algae? I would also think they would help clean-up the pig's left-overs. Do you think my mantis will leave it alone?

How about a Chocolate Chip Starfish. Don't they eat some algae as well as clean-up scraps?

What do all you experts think?

 

[rhiggsbear]

Ok, so 72 views and no responses. Hummmmm?????

It there anything that moves that can be kept with a Mantis?:rollface:

 

[crafty_50mitchell]

For combating algae the best suggestions IMO would be using some macro algae either in a fuge, or an area of low flow and decent lighting in your main tank. Personally I have great luck with using macro, but then again my mantis is in a nano reef tank which is heavily stocked with sessile inverts, which in turn takes up a large percentage of the "stuff" algae uses. Another option is to cut down on phosphates (usually very heavy in tap water) by using RO or distilled water from the store. Couple the macro with using Ro water and you should see somewhat of an improvement, if not a great one.
Brian

 

[H2OLUVSME]

ive heard of mexican turbos with mantis, but it all depends on the mantis. i am only going to use the turbo if there is no other alternative. i found a gy who locally sells nassurias snails for 50 cents ea, so that will be a food source and clean-up for me. my main algae fighting plan is macro algae, though. i plan to add some halmeida (sp.?) to combat algae.

LT

 

[Mr.Lizard]

I have a Fiji Damsel (I think it is....white tail and a dark spot above the tail joint....) that digs in the gravel under the rock and the mantis (N. curacaoensis) shares the extra tunnels by chasing the damsel out when he wants in! The mantis is probably about 30% longer than the damsel at this point. I have very little algae of any kind in the 20 g. mantis tank....

 

[jchough79]

H2O I'd like to know where this "Snail Man" in??? I have mexican turbos in with my mantis ad he has not hurt any of them yet. I also have a Tomato Clown. Have not seen the Mantis messing with him either.

 

[Ken2001]

My peacock leaves the lone Turbo (golf-ball sized) in the tank alone. All other crabs and snails are fair game though. Also, so far, I've found that very small hermits have a much greater chance of living for several weeks then do larger hermits and crabs. It's almost as if they aren't worth the bother. However, my peacock (5"+) is considerably larger then your 2.5" mantis, so YMMV.

Ken

Ken