Found Manti

mbauma

mbauma

New member
Hi, i've had a mantis since I got part 1 from TBS 2 weeks ago, but he didn't show his face until this morning after I put part 2 in last night. He is really cool looking and about 2.5 inches long.

Here is a pic with my new camera(nikon 5200, kit lens).
 
I'm tempted to keep him :)

I assume he will eat cleaner shrimp? It looks like these guys don't get too big. He hasn't eaten any of the small hermits yet.
 
mbauma said:
I'm tempted to keep him :)

I assume he will eat cleaner shrimp? It looks like these guys don't get too big. He hasn't eaten any of the small hermits yet.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it will probably eat cleaner shrimp.

Ask any of us on this forum and you know what the answer will be. Keep it!
 
It's so fun to watch, but this is a reef tank and he's not big yet. I can always take him out later right?

This thing has a ton of personality and swims quite a bit. I just don't want to have everything wiped out. This tank is brand new so all that's in it now is the package from TBS.

Will probably add a couple fish in a few weeks and was going to add some corals and cleaner shrimp. If I could find a couple big cleaners, maybe it would work.

I have a ton of live rock in this tank and his favorite spot seems to be in the far right corner.

Has anyone ever kept a smaller mantis like this in a large reef tank?
 
Will this thing take out fish too, or just shrimp, snails etc? Was thinking of stocking this with some smaller reef fish like wrasse, anthias, cardinals and maybe a few others when it's all done.

I have probably 100 snails and 140 small hermits from TBS in there now. How big of snails will this guy take out when fully grown?

It looks like he only gets about 3 inches?
 
No body here will say yes he'll kill everything.. and no body here will say no he's harmless.

One thing about mantis shrimp is they are very very dog like.. their personality varies. Sometimes one will eat frozen and not hurt a fly.. others will kill anything on sight.

N. wennerae is generally one of the more passive one but like I said it's a big risk as there is no guarentee.

I have an N. wennerae in my refugium that I can hand feed and lives with a calico crab.

My one O. scyllarus let's a damsel sleep in his burrow.

My other O. scyllarus is killing my live rock dry.

Either way, the only thing that prevented me from throwing my N. wennerae in the 125 is the fact he'll get lost in that big tank and probably never seen again.
 
Ok, thanks.

His favorite hide out is right up front, at least right now :) He hasn't killed anything yet that I can see, but it's only been a couple weeks and a couple days since I put in part 2.
 
My O. Scyllarus does fine with one damsel fish tank mate. NO snails of hermits with her. She'll kill them all.

My old G. Ternatensis was safe with fish, hermits, snails, etc. You name it, he was fine with it. He was happy to eat prepared frozen shellfish.

Like others have mentioned, every one has a different personality.
 
Maybe try feeding it frozen before there's anything for him to snack on, that way he'll (hopefully) get used to the frozen and stick with it! In my experience, and this goes for like dwarf angels and the like, is that once they get a taste (be it corals or whatever we're talking about) it's all over. Good luck.
 
You can always catch it later if it becomes a problem. I had one for a while. Lots of personality. Would actually close a "door" to its lair at night. Took out a lot of snails though, but I rarely target fed it.
 
My wennerae hasn't killed anything in it's tank (four hermits, four turbos, four emeralds) that I've seen. The only thing it's ever done is try and use the smaller hermit's shell to decorate his doorstep with, and then he gets kind of annoyed when it walks off.

I target feed him frozen mysis shrimp on a pike, and I guess that's enough for him. That said, he will punch the emerald crabs if they bother him. He's taken off a couple legs on one, but nothing lasting.

So YMMV, each one has their own personality.
 
I saw him again yesterday and fed him a couple small shrimp which he took right away. Seems to be a little bigger. He was hanging out with my cleaner shrimp for a while actually :)

They are about twice his size.
 
Some fish might be aggressive toward it. The wrasse might see it as a threat or food. Depends on the type. If you get some aggressive fish in there, it will probably hide a lot. It's best to set up a smaller tank for it alone. That way everyone's happy.

If you keep it well fed there is a better chance that it'll leave your CUC alone.
 
The wrasse is a very small yellow coris, so he hasn't even seen the mantis yet and usually stays on the other side of the tank. He's about 2/3 the size of the mantis so I don't think he's a threat.

I am not adding any aggressive fish. I have 3 lyretails in QT now and 5 bangai cardinals that come today from LA. Will probably add a yellow watchman, maybe another reef safe wrasse and a purple tang at some point.

I see your point though, I may move him so he has a bachelor pad :)
 
They are lazy in the sense that if they don't have to work for food, then they won't. For fun you can stuff soft food into a snail shell and watch it smash the shell to get the food.
 
My GF has one that lives with a 3 stripe damsel without issue. Never tried hermits, but it seems to leave any snails larger than an inch or so alone.
 
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