Divider?

[Mr31415]

Would it be possible to successfully keep two peacock mantis shrimps in one 47g tank, with an acrylic or thick (10mm) glass divider to keep them apart from each other? Assume enough LR and DSB to keep them occupied and isolated.

 

[psychodave]

people have done that before, but i think in bigger tanks...youll need to stick to the smaller species though...

 

[Diet Plain]

I've used a divider of plasic egg crate, pretty brittle stuff if you ask me. It worked out well neither mantis tried to get through it to eachother. Only had my pseudosquilla try to get a lionfish on the otherside but it was a pretty feeble attempt. It was a 150g with a peacock and pseudosquilla ciliata. Worked very well until I had a small crash and both mantis a few corals and a few fish perished.

 

[Gonodactylus]

I don't recommend egg crate for O. scyllarus. My larger tanks are full of pieces of white plastic. It takes a while, but a 5 inch animal can break its way through. If you really like using it because of the better circulation, attach a three or four inch clear stripe of plastic to the base. That is were the stomatopods usually bash at it and this will generally hold up. I drill holes into the clear plastic and attach it with cable ties.

Plexi dividers work, but they need lots of holes to allow enough circulation.

I typically keep three large O. scyllaru per 100 gal tank, so I think a couple of 4-4.5 inch O. s could do well in a 40-50 gal system.


Roy