First salt tank, going mantis

[MaskedRogue]

I am getting ready to set up my first salt tank, and I'm opting to go with a mantis.

A good friend of mine runs an aquarium business, and he has agreed to help me get the tank set up and start cycling. I'm trying not to overload him with a ton of questions while doing research, so I figured I'd come here and crowd source a bit.

First - the tank is going into my office, which is typically a dark room (I am a giant nerd, and it's Star Wars themed. Dark walls, dark floors, with bookcases lit up by red LEDs). The only time there is really any light in the room is if we're in there on our computers. I know that mantis tend to like it more dark than not, but should I plan to keep some sort of light on it partially? Will it care about the constant red LED ambiance going on it there?

Second - I am going to put LR in the tank, but I was considering some other aquarium decor to maybe have it fit into theme of the room a bit more. So are those cheesy aquarium skull caves bad for a mantis? Am I better off having no artificial elements (except maybe some PVC pipe)?

I am going to probably go with a n. wennerae, since I'm in Miami and they are pretty plentiful (in fact, I popped into a LFS today just to see what sort of things I'd be needing to pick up, and the guy offered to give me a itty bitty one that hitchhiked on some rocks. Alas, no tank yet, so I turned it down). I'm not looking to get a peacock or anything that would require a bigger tank, as my husband is under the impression that it will punch its way out and then chase him through the house demanding fisticuffs (but I'm going with acrylic anyway.. )

I have some experience with fresh water tanks, but I know this is a whole new beast, so I'm trying to absorb as much information I can. I've scanned many of the mantis threads on the forum, but if there is any other advice you guys can impart for a noob mantis owner, I'd love to hear it.

 

[Fartin'Gary]

Wennerae are fine with light. It's the deeper water mantis shrimp like the peacock or O. havenensis that are more susceptible to shell rot that is caused by poor water quality and promoted by light.

Just use your nerd skills and keep the water clean and it will be fine. That goes to say for most salt water tanks.

Live rock is practically essential because it hosts the bacteria that clean the water. You can build a cave for it out of PVC pipe and it will live in there. Make the tube just big enough for it to turn around inside.

 

[Secondsbest]

Decor sold for aquarium use is all pretty safe. Soak them in luke warm distilled or RO/DI water to remove any contaminates. Feel free to theme the tank however you like, but a PVC tube in a U or long L shape can be hidden underneath. Since mantis are inverts, conditioned tap water is never a good idea. All your water should be store bought distilled. You could also purchase water from your LFS, or you can get an RO/DI unit to make your own. Be sure to read up on tank cycling before you pick one up. It's important to have your tank already running and stable before you add a mantis.

 

[Calappidae]

N. wennerae CANNOT chip through glass. Acrylic tank is extremely hard to clean and just another hole in the pocket.

As far as decor.. do note that these animals mine out their own cavities in live rock, especially the hitchhiking ones like N. wennerae and it can destroy your decorations.

 

[Fartin'Gary]

If you want your life to be easy then it's worthwhile to get an RO/DI unit to filter your water. That way you can ensure that you will keep good water parameters and it won't be a PITA to lug water around from the store.

 

[MaskedRogue]

I was considering getting a nano/biocube system, but being able to have a glass tank should open my options up a bit more. I am still looking at tanks that come with a lot of it. If anyone has any suggestions on that front, I'm all ears.

My reefer friend is definitely going to make sure I have all the different systems I need (and that I understand how they work) as we begin the tank cycle, so by the time it's ready for its inhabitant I should have a good handle on making sure the water remains healthy.

My main concern with the artificial aquarium decor was because of exactly that, I expect the mantis might decide to put some holes in it. I'm worried that the debris from that could be toxic, but if it's something that would just filter out and do no harm then I might put something thematic in there.

I'm also pretty fortunate to have a LFS pretty close by, and another few about 15 min away, so if I did need to run out on a water run it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience.

 

[MaskedRogue]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Fluval Edge 6 gallon? Would it be a good system for a beginner with a single wennerae?

 

[Secondsbest]

Decor rubble shouldn't be toxic. Most are made of acrylic resins, inert ceramics, or plastics of some sort. They are, by design, aquarium safe. Rinsing them for surface contaminates is adequate. If you choose something not intended for tanks, see if you can find out its materials. I would recommend soaking these for several days to weeks to remove potential toxins. If your desired decor is of the acrylic sort, your mantis will have a tough time doing any real damage. Scaled properly, it could be your own miniture rancor or acklay fighting pit!

 

[Calappidae]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Fluval Edge 6 gallon? Would it be a good system for a beginner with a single wennerae?

It'll be a nightmare to take care of My thoughts anyhow..

But on a more serious note, the larger the tank the easier it is. Alot of reefers dare not atempt anything smaller than a 29 because of the huge water quality swings in little time in the smaller tanks. Some people get rid of their nanos and upgrade, or sometimes it might be rather easy to keep.


I'd say that's a good size for this species because N. wennerae is mostly just be peeping out of it's cavity rather than out in the open wondering around like other species.

 

[Fartin'Gary]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Fluval Edge 6 gallon? Would it be a good system for a beginner with a single wennerae?

Going to be in your office at home or away? Reason is because if you want to go on a 3 day vacation for the weekend then you are going to run into evaporation issues which will yo-yo salinity and be hard on the animal. The smaller the tank the quicker it will fluctuate. The larger the tank the less you have to worry about that.

Of course there are automatic water topper offers but you need to monitor the salinity:spin2:

 

[MaskedRogue]

I picked one up because it was on sale super cheap, but if I find that I have problems with it I'll switch to a different tank later on. I have some size constraints for where this one is going to go, but I am home quite a bit so I'll be able to keep a good eye on it.

It will be in my home office, and right now when we do go away for more than a few days we have friends stay over to take care of the cats and dog. They seem as excited about me getting this mantis as I am, so I hope to be able to train them to do basic maintenance for when we leave town.

My end goal is that if I can prove to my husband that I can maintain a smaller and more difficult tank, he'll eventually let me put a nice big one in our living room (as a general reef tank, I'll keep the mantis in my office). He's scared of making that sort of investment until he believes that I know what I'm doing though.

I just let my reefer friend know that I'm ready to start setting up shop, so once it's up and the cycle has begun I'll post an update!

 

[gozermantis]

I loved my wennerae's they were all very active and fun to keep. I always kept my in 20g long tanks with a ton of crush coral media and tons of live rock. Two of them were in a reef setup their colors looked amazing!

 

[MaskedRogue]

I went to the LFS to get live sand, rock, and water, and the guy there convinced me to also take home a mantis hitchhiker they just caught and had quarantined off. They wanted him gone so bad they didn't even charge me. I was extremely hesitant because the tank was just beginning... but they said the mantis may end up as fish food since no one usually wants them around here. The argument was at least he'd have a fighting chance in my tank, so I gave in.

It's definitely either a wennerae or bredini. He started off extremely dark almost black with white spots with blue-ish legs, but after being in the tank for a few hours he seemed to grow lighter in color and is now sort of greenish. He has excavated two different burrows under the rock, and seems pretty content there. The live rock also came with two different types of small crab hitchhikers, as well as a small hermit the LFS guy threw in with the mantis for a snack.

I'm hoping for the best, but I guess we'll see. I hated the idea of him getting frozen and fed to something.

He was super active early on while digging around, but the last few hours he's stuck to his burrow. I didn't turn the tank light off yet, I'm wondering if his biological clock just clued him in to sundown and bed time.

I made this video to show my friends on FB, but I figured I'd share it here to show off Darth Mantis' excavation expertise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeyWGppn_3I&feature=youtu.be

Should things go well, I'd like to add some corals in there. I also want to get him some more rubble so he can decorate as he pleases.

 

[dixiegirl21191]

I've got my N. wennerae in a ten gallon with rock rubble and a pipe burrow. I see him out and about every day.

 

[MaskedRogue]

I took a quick pictures of him as I was moving around some rocks (needed to be able to angle the tongs to feed him in there better since the tank opening is super small).

It's not the greatest of quality, but is anyone able to confirm this is either a bredini or wennerae?

 

[ryanfrantz]

I plan on using a 37 gal cube for my mantis set up . Should I be worried about glass breakage . No other tank mates

 

[Adetia]

I plan on using a 37 gal cube for my mantis set up . Should I be worried about glass breakage . No other tank mates

You should be fine, if it makes you feel better you can put a sheet of acrylic on the bottom of the tank but it's probably overkill.

 

[Calappidae]

The only species reported to chip glass IIRC are O. scyllarus, G. chiragra.. and a few other large Odontodactylids.. Nothing in neogonodactylus including wennerae can chip glass. I have mine running around in my glass 40 g sump which filters my entire 125 gallon system with some areas exposing glass on the bottom.. never had an issue.

N. wennerae is pretty good temperment wise.. not as destructive or mean to say the least. I just never see mine roaming around as much as others say..

 

[MaskedRogue]

A little bit of an update.

Darth Punchy (as my husband has dubbed him/her) seems pretty content in it's home. It's dug out at least three different burrows in the live rock, and splits it's time hanging out in all of them. It shares it's tank with four hermits of various size, four turbo snails of various size, and at least five emerald crabs of various size (two of them were initially hitchhikers). Surprisingly, Darth Punchy seems content to let them all live. The biggest of the emerald crabs is missing a couple of legs after accidentally wandering into one of Punchy's lairs, but otherwise it doesn't seem to have much interest in them yet. I feed it pieces of mysis shrimp with tongs, so I guess being well fed gives it less of a reason to go hunting.

It took a couple of weeks, but Punchy comes out a lot more to look at me when I'm near the tank. I hope to get a better picture soon, but this is better than the previous ones. I'm pretty sure it's a n. wennerae. Unsure about the sex still, but maybe I'll snap a picture of the undercarriage soon and you guys can help me figure that out.