getting a mantis
- Thread starter kfra
- Start date
you can feed it frozen stuff with forceps or chopsticks. but you should give it something with a tough shell once in a while to keep it's raptorial appendages in shape(assuming it's a smasher). You should feed it anywhere from once a day to twice a week, if you want him vicious. maybe a live fish once a month or more to give it something to chase. they like snails, hermits, shrimp. I don't know if they will eat the crayfish or just tear it up cuz of its intrusion. http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/ has a lot of great info.
5g acrylic is probably just fine assuming you're not getting a huge one. They're typically hardy, though stress can cause them to lose their raptorial appendages.
I don't actually have one yet but I've been doing a lot of reading on them (as should you). I plan to get one as soon as I can though...
5g acrylic is probably just fine assuming you're not getting a huge one. They're typically hardy, though stress can cause them to lose their raptorial appendages.
I don't actually have one yet but I've been doing a lot of reading on them (as should you). I plan to get one as soon as I can though...
O'Coralman
In Memoriam
food...
food...
kfra....mine gets an ocasional crayfish(I always find parts latter if the c-fish was too big)....utherwise Ben hoards silversides. He is a smasher and by the "book' is not suppose to like the silverfellows(as spearers do)...he is growing nicely, so a crayfish every week or so and silversideers the rest of the way. I do let him slam a gravel cleaner just to keep him spritely:smokin: . He chases it and pops it untill hes had enough....then he goes under his rocks. The sil-sides, he carries around like a dog does a rawhide chew....then hides and eats Happy mantis keeping. I am waing for my LFS to get me some others as I do enjoy "playing pop the gravel cleaner with Ben:lol: ...........Steve:dance:
food...
kfra....mine gets an ocasional crayfish(I always find parts latter if the c-fish was too big)....utherwise Ben hoards silversides. He is a smasher and by the "book' is not suppose to like the silverfellows(as spearers do)...he is growing nicely, so a crayfish every week or so and silversideers the rest of the way. I do let him slam a gravel cleaner just to keep him spritely:smokin: . He chases it and pops it untill hes had enough....then he goes under his rocks. The sil-sides, he carries around like a dog does a rawhide chew....then hides and eats Happy mantis keeping. I am waing for my LFS to get me some others as I do enjoy "playing pop the gravel cleaner with Ben:lol: ...........Steve:dance:
I'd try to vary it's diet a little. If you're buying by the dozen you're not really just gonna throw them all in are you? It'd be a good idea to get some frozen food and maybe some snails(which you can just throw in there to keep the algae down before meeting their gruesome fate, same with crabs).
If you phone order from a supplier that sells them you'll probably be able to request a smaller one. Depending on the species (i'm guessing Odontodactylus Scyllarus) 5 gallon would probably be ok for anything that you'll get. The Odontodactylus scyllarii grow to about 6 inches and spend most of their time in their burrow anyways.
If you phone order from a supplier that sells them you'll probably be able to request a smaller one. Depending on the species (i'm guessing Odontodactylus Scyllarus) 5 gallon would probably be ok for anything that you'll get. The Odontodactylus scyllarii grow to about 6 inches and spend most of their time in their burrow anyways.
crafty_50mitchell
New member
...I would do some research on your potential mantis species before you buy him/her. Specifically the O.Scyllarus would not be a good choice for a five gallon, just do some research or search on the forums for similar setups concerning your potential species.
Regarding cycling your tank fast, the quickest way would be to get some rock/sand from an established tank and essentially "seed" your tank, otherwise there are no tricks to speeding up the cycle, there are many products out there that claim to speed the process up but are far and wide innefective and a waste of money. Again waiting for your tank to cycle (should be around 6 weeks, but you should always test to gauge this) gives you ample time to research your set up and mantis so that everything runs nice and smooth.
Hope that helps.
Brian
Regarding cycling your tank fast, the quickest way would be to get some rock/sand from an established tank and essentially "seed" your tank, otherwise there are no tricks to speeding up the cycle, there are many products out there that claim to speed the process up but are far and wide innefective and a waste of money. Again waiting for your tank to cycle (should be around 6 weeks, but you should always test to gauge this) gives you ample time to research your set up and mantis so that everything runs nice and smooth.
Hope that helps.
Brian
O'Coralman
In Memoriam
housing....
housing....
....my advice is not actually....advice. It is only what I do. My mantis are kept in tuff boxes....10 gl approx. Sand/gravel mixture for substrate and flat rocks for burrowing under. Water is changed so often(due to the way ben tears up his food)...I have not had to worry about cycling(water params. test out with no traces of harmfull....anything). Filters are mini-penguins( a hole was cut in the top of the Tuff box top for water to flow back in). The tops are left off 1/2 the time and lighting is via long bulbs as the "tanks" sit next to each other. Several are now set-up to hold mantis(s)...when my LFS gets more in(i have a standing order for any the LFS can order....they are somewhat hard to procure)....diet is varied....snails added from time to time, as well. Crafish everyday not really needed....it will only get messy. Mine really eats only twice or so a week.....other food(as in feeding more often) is just drug all around and wasted...so I have cut back to what he will eat. Crayfish seem to last a day or so in the salt water.....that is if Ben does not see them:eek1: ........Just the way I do it....one more thing the temp in the room is constant for my coral tanks so no heater is needed....at this time. Steve:dance:
housing....
....my advice is not actually....advice. It is only what I do. My mantis are kept in tuff boxes....10 gl approx. Sand/gravel mixture for substrate and flat rocks for burrowing under. Water is changed so often(due to the way ben tears up his food)...I have not had to worry about cycling(water params. test out with no traces of harmfull....anything). Filters are mini-penguins( a hole was cut in the top of the Tuff box top for water to flow back in). The tops are left off 1/2 the time and lighting is via long bulbs as the "tanks" sit next to each other. Several are now set-up to hold mantis(s)...when my LFS gets more in(i have a standing order for any the LFS can order....they are somewhat hard to procure)....diet is varied....snails added from time to time, as well. Crafish everyday not really needed....it will only get messy. Mine really eats only twice or so a week.....other food(as in feeding more often) is just drug all around and wasted...so I have cut back to what he will eat. Crayfish seem to last a day or so in the salt water.....that is if Ben does not see them:eek1: ........Just the way I do it....one more thing the temp in the room is constant for my coral tanks so no heater is needed....at this time. Steve:dance:
bah! If you read the lurker's guide a lot of people have plenty of success with O. S. in something small. http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics/grendel2.htm
This guy is 5" in a 6gallon and seems in good shape!
This guy is 5" in a 6gallon and seems in good shape!
nub i would not throw them all in there at once i know better than that. Since one of myLFS's cures his own rock at his house, I am going to see how often if ever he finds a mantis. and if i can buy one that he finds. and maybe if he gets a lot i can take them off his hands and sell them on the internet.
I've heard of people keeping corals with stomatopods without a problem. I'd prolly put the coral in first so you get it in the right spot and don't have to mess with it while he's in there. I'd also glue it down, I've heard of them knocking corals off and the corals getting buried. Though I'm willing to bet they were glued on anyways.
Ken2001
New member
I kept a smaller smasher, a N. wennerai (sp?) from the Carribbean in a 5 g eclipse - I think it was a good size for the animal. I now have a O.Scyllarus in a 12 g eclipse - I can't imagine this big smasher in anything smaller (though of course you could put him into a smaller tank - but then again, you can also shove 20 college kids into a VW bug - anything's possible, but not that comfortable).
Anyway, a good mixed diet of crabs and snails seems to have worked well for my animals. If I were you, I'd just go to your LFS ever week or so and buy a clean up crew of hermits and crabs and let em go in your tank. An important thing to do is to keep the water quality high - lots of water changes. I didn't do this enough the first time around, and it probably cost me my first mantis.
As far as setting up the tank and cycling it, LR and substrate from an existing tank will speed up your cycle. If you are starting from scratch, especially if you use LR that isn't fully cured, then you'll probably need to wait a few weeks to get through most of the cycle before you add your mantis. Mantis' are pretty tough and often get introduced to tanks through cycled LR, but why put them through the stress?
You can keep coral, but my two mantis' like to move stuff around a lot - I'd bet any coral that wasn't attached to a heavy rock would end up as part of a burrow. I've had some success with shrooms that are attached to a large rock over my Mantis' burrow.
Ken
Anyway, a good mixed diet of crabs and snails seems to have worked well for my animals. If I were you, I'd just go to your LFS ever week or so and buy a clean up crew of hermits and crabs and let em go in your tank. An important thing to do is to keep the water quality high - lots of water changes. I didn't do this enough the first time around, and it probably cost me my first mantis.
As far as setting up the tank and cycling it, LR and substrate from an existing tank will speed up your cycle. If you are starting from scratch, especially if you use LR that isn't fully cured, then you'll probably need to wait a few weeks to get through most of the cycle before you add your mantis. Mantis' are pretty tough and often get introduced to tanks through cycled LR, but why put them through the stress?
You can keep coral, but my two mantis' like to move stuff around a lot - I'd bet any coral that wasn't attached to a heavy rock would end up as part of a burrow. I've had some success with shrooms that are attached to a large rock over my Mantis' burrow.
Ken
Gonodactylus
Premium Member
Why I don't recommend small aquaria for large O.s.
Why I don't recommend small aquaria for large O.s.
Why I don't recommend small aquaria for large O.s.
nubreefer said:
Gonodactylus
Premium Member
As I said, running around room is not really the issue. We keep our large O.s in 100 aquaria, each divided into 4 sections. That means that each animal has an area of roughly 18 x 14 inches. With a decent burrow (PVC) and some rubble to push around, that seems adequate. We had a lot of trouble finding good dividers that the animals would not destroy. I like plastic eggcrate because of the unrestricted water flow, but the animals break through it really quickly. We eventually found that the animals almost always try to break through at the base of the divider, so now we cable-tie a section of 4 inch high clear plexiglass to the base of the divider. The animals bang away at it, but can't break it and eventually give up.
We often gand tanks with great success. Our Lysiosquilla are in tall, thin tanks filled with a foot of sand and only a gallon or so of water above it, but with good flow to one of the 100 gal systems, they do very well..
Roy
We often gand tanks with great success. Our Lysiosquilla are in tall, thin tanks filled with a foot of sand and only a gallon or so of water above it, but with good flow to one of the 100 gal systems, they do very well..
Roy
crafty_50mitchell
New member
Nubreefer, the problems with putting an animal into a 5 gallon tank, as Dr.Roy pointed out, is primarily water chemistry, and to me anyway still not suitable room for a O.s. An example of how water chemistry/suitability for a living animal in a tank this size is this: The mantis just got fed, didnt finish its meal however he/she did drag it into borrow ,however you the reef keeper do not know about this (the food is gone, hungry guy at it all right?). Results likely would be: excess organics in the system (5 gallons), ph takes a drastic drop, ammonia starts to build up, then nitrite, and of coarse nitrate (which at this point should be a walk in the park for the mantis after possibly surviving through ammonia and nitrite spikes), we could identify effects on alkalinity as well of coarse and the list could go on. Of coarse if you were to plum the tank to a larger one it would help (your adding to the body of water which of coarse dilutes contaniments).A minimal tank size IMO would be a ten gallon, at that size weekly, or at the least every two week water changes should be done correctly.
Just to be sure here: a smaller tank is less expensive to set up and maintain, which I admit is very attractive but the pitfalls are much more likely and frequent to those less experienced, and experienced in saltwater/reef aquaria.
Hope that helps, a little long but hey I maintain and install reef systems during the day ya know.
Brian
Just to be sure here: a smaller tank is less expensive to set up and maintain, which I admit is very attractive but the pitfalls are much more likely and frequent to those less experienced, and experienced in saltwater/reef aquaria.
Hope that helps, a little long but hey I maintain and install reef systems during the day ya know.
Brian
