Confirm mantis ID, please.

[damnedbee]

Having never heard of mantis shrimps a few months ago, I've become completely fascinated by them through watching my brother set up his reef tank this year. He had at least 5 or 6 hitchhikers in his LR from TBS, and he managed to capture this guy safely. Right now he's in my brother's quarantine tank, but I've decided I'd like to adopt him. I'm new to the hobby, but I'm doing as much research as possible to make sure I can responsibly care for him. I don't want to buy a tank until I decide what size would be best for this particular mantis.

I think this is an N. wennerae, but I was hoping someone could confirm that from the photo. Sorry there are no body shots, but he's green and about 1" long. I think his meral spots are white. He's pretty inquisitive and active.

I'm also wondering what kind of clean-up crew would be best in his tank and read that turbo snails are a good option. Will wennerae stay small enough that they'd leave turbos alone if they're well fed, or would something like an urchin be a better bet?

Beaker the mantis

 

[Pea-brain]

Yep, turbos are good, as are serpent start and urchins. Serpets seem to be the least likely to get killed with any mantis, followed by urchins, and turbos are near impenetrable to such a small mantis except for the most determined. A 10 gallon would be a good size for a starter. It give him some room to move and you some margin for mistakes. I've found smaller tanks aren't that much harder than larger tanks, they just require a bit more care. Just make sure to keep up with maintenance. Weekly water changes (about 10%) is what I do, along with removing uneaten food, and turkey basting the rocks. You'll also need a powerhead to move the water. Good luck.

Dan

 

[DanInSD]

Looks like a wennerae to me, given the white meral spots. A shot of the telson (the "tail") would be definitive.

 

[dismalorb]

Beaker... that's an appropriate name for him. He actually does kinda look like Beaker, sans the orange fluff on top of his head of course.

 

[deepboy]

You may want to go with a 20gal. just in case you want to get another one you can just put a divider in the tank instead of setting up more then one tank, I only say this because I started with one but ended up owning three