Howdy ya'll...
I've been thinking about getting a Mantis for awhile now, and yesterday while perusing my LFS, they had a beautiful, about 3 inch Mantis (I have no idea of the exact species, but it came in with some Florida liverock.).
When I inquired how much it was, the guy at the LFS freaked a bit, and was suprised that I would actually want such a vile and evil creature. He gave it to me for free, so I went ahead and took it. He's now in an Eclipse 3 gallon acrylic tank with about 2 inches of crushed coral substrate, about 1 pound or so of smaller chunks of live rock that I fashioned into a crude cave for him.
However, ever since I put him in (Over 24 hours now) he's just been laying on his side or back, fanning his swimmerets constantly. I thought this might be osmotic shock as I admittedly was too excited/nervous/etc to properly acclimate him, but after 24 hours the osmotic shock should have either worn off or done him in, I would think.
About an hour ago I put in about a 4 inch piece of PVC pipe to see if he'd go into that and use it as a burrow, but he's still just laying there fanning the swimmerets.
I put in some mysis shrimp, and he ignore that, so I siphoned it back out.
For water, I pulled the water out of my 200 gallon reef system to be sure the water was well aged. I've done one, and plan on doing about 50% water changes with aged water until the biowheel becomes active.
I guess that's about it. Anything I should do beyond what I've done to make sure the little critter makes it? I've pretty much reached a sit and wait stage to see how he does, but I figured I'd ask some of ya'll that have more experience with Mantis to make sure I'm not missing something critical for their survival. Admittedly, I don't think he has been receiving the best of care since he was extracted from the live rock at the LFS, and put in a little cup to show people the horrors of the evil Mantis. To keep my own conscience clean, I keep telling myself that even if he doesn't make it with me, he's better off than sitting in that little betta cup waiting to die at the LFS... Oh well...
Thanks in advance for any assistance! So far if nothing else it's been worth it for the look on the LFS guy's face when I told him I wanted the Mantis...
I've been thinking about getting a Mantis for awhile now, and yesterday while perusing my LFS, they had a beautiful, about 3 inch Mantis (I have no idea of the exact species, but it came in with some Florida liverock.).
When I inquired how much it was, the guy at the LFS freaked a bit, and was suprised that I would actually want such a vile and evil creature. He gave it to me for free, so I went ahead and took it. He's now in an Eclipse 3 gallon acrylic tank with about 2 inches of crushed coral substrate, about 1 pound or so of smaller chunks of live rock that I fashioned into a crude cave for him.
However, ever since I put him in (Over 24 hours now) he's just been laying on his side or back, fanning his swimmerets constantly. I thought this might be osmotic shock as I admittedly was too excited/nervous/etc to properly acclimate him, but after 24 hours the osmotic shock should have either worn off or done him in, I would think.
About an hour ago I put in about a 4 inch piece of PVC pipe to see if he'd go into that and use it as a burrow, but he's still just laying there fanning the swimmerets.
I put in some mysis shrimp, and he ignore that, so I siphoned it back out.
For water, I pulled the water out of my 200 gallon reef system to be sure the water was well aged. I've done one, and plan on doing about 50% water changes with aged water until the biowheel becomes active.
I guess that's about it. Anything I should do beyond what I've done to make sure the little critter makes it? I've pretty much reached a sit and wait stage to see how he does, but I figured I'd ask some of ya'll that have more experience with Mantis to make sure I'm not missing something critical for their survival. Admittedly, I don't think he has been receiving the best of care since he was extracted from the live rock at the LFS, and put in a little cup to show people the horrors of the evil Mantis. To keep my own conscience clean, I keep telling myself that even if he doesn't make it with me, he's better off than sitting in that little betta cup waiting to die at the LFS... Oh well...
Thanks in advance for any assistance! So far if nothing else it's been worth it for the look on the LFS guy's face when I told him I wanted the Mantis...
