Getting a peacock mantis shrimp again!

[EI Gringo]

So here's my story, I bought one peacock mantis in 2012 but I didn't know what I was doing... I put a material into the tank which caused a big ammonia spike and I killed it over night it was only maybe 2 inches long and to be fair it may very well have not even been an o scyllarus, can't remember and have no pictures.

I got my **** together then and I bought another peacock mantis in September that year, I ordered her online (NEVER AGAIN) she came pretty much dead in very cold water, she was left outside by the courier in a big polystyrene box labelled CAUTION, LIVE FISH and the company I ordered from wrote on the box leave at number 42 if there's no body in (!!!!!) and her water was 13 degrees when I got home she died after 2 days of struggling :'(

I get a full adult peacock in the new year 2013 who I had up until Halloween when she passed away peacefully, old age I presume, she was a whopper at around 7 inches

I then got another peacock fully adult who I had up until June this year when she died through a nitrate spike because my mother was overfeeding the cohabitants and wiped out the tank -_-

I also got sent a male earlier this year but he was covered in she'll rot and after a few weeks he just stopped eating and died.


Sooooooo basically I have not had the best of luck with peacock mantis, I currently have 7 stomatopods and will be giving one away to my sister where my peacock will replace before Christmas. I have only had 2 other mantis losses other than peacocks and they were both lysiosquilloids which died very peculiarly with seemingly no explanation.

I'm desperately hoping that this relatively small female peacock (3 1/2 inch) should live for years as opposed to months, fingers crossed guys! I think everything is right this time, even down to reduced lighting, a much bigger enclosure, a better burrow and a young specimen, wish her luck and I'll post pics when I get her next week

 

[subversion]

Can't wait to see pictures of her! Hopefully 6 is your lucky number and she lives a good long while

Will you post pictures of her setup too? I'd love to see it as well.

 

[EI Gringo]

Hahaha... Basically my supplier has sold it to another buyer... Got a couple coming in Thursday so I'll take my pick of them after I've seen the force awakens

 

[nmotz]

Nice man, Peacocks are really fun. Hope yours turns out to be really amazing. I've had mine for going on six months now and definitely think he's the coolest. Just keep it simple and don't overthink everything. I barely mess with my tank other than to add coral. Best of luck!

 

[Kharn]

I like to think of Peacocks as the most difficult to care for common species in the hobby.

Mantis Shrimp don't normally need much catering for but when it comes to peacocks there almost another animal entirely due to their requirements!

I think if you want a peace of mind system that can tell you physically if something is bad rather then via testings etc.

Try and grow some SPS first if you can grow SPS in your system you can have a Peacock no problems (even with the lighting SPS need), simply because through the process of logic...

Shell Rot is a disease organism pathogen that lives in dirty water.
Bright lights also increase the spreading rate of afflicted organisms with shell rot.
You cannot grow SPS in dirty water or without bright lights.
Shell Rot cannot live in clean water even with bright lights.

There for with clean water, SPS growing & bright lighting you can have your O.scyllarus

A friend of mine who is basically the "Prof.Caldwell of Australia" Prof.Ahyong, has had an O.scyllarus in his big fully stocked reef tank with all sorts of coral including SPS for over 8years now.

I think many people try and go with "the bare limits" of what they have read in places online and from credible resources.

One way I simply beat a lot of the chemical issues in water within aquariums specifically with Stomatopods and even more specifically with O.scyllarus/Peacocks is to simply increase the overall display (& sump) sizes.

For example on Prof. Caldwells website it says 100L minimum for Peacock tank but me personally I would go much higher 250L-300L the tank I am almost finished building is enormous for the simplicity of 2-3 mantis shrimp (1xPeacock & 1-2xL.mac(maybe pair)) the tank and sump together are over 1600L (there will be no corals or fish etc either).

I did it this way simply because my primary method of filtration is weekly/biweekly water changes.

Point is I would go much larger then 100L for a peacock personally (even my old giant peacock was in a 115L BUT connected to 3 other 115L tanks 1 of which was a refugium).

 

[EI Gringo]

My system will be 400L kharn and very understocked, I intend on growing sps within the system at some point as well as soft corals but asides from that the only other inhabitants will be a few small fish and my other stomatopods (+a decent clean up crew consisting essentially of live food)

 

[EI Gringo]

All my testing since setting this tank up has been reading next to 0 nitrates and 0 nitrites and ammonia, haven't tested for anything else but the temperature is a fairly consistent 23 degrees Celsius

 

[Jlentz]

I'd thought I saw you write something about this before Kharn. I'm just about ready to move my 90gal peacock tank next to my 90gal reef so I can plumb them together into a 60gal sump.

Im planning on doing the lower light corals in the mantis tank and keeping most of the sps in the reef.