good list of the basics?

[Coral Dilema]

OK guys, ive been planning on scale down or completly eliminate my 75G reef tank lately, but Ive been tossing the idea around of keeping the equipment and setting up a smaller mantis tank, 40 gallons or so. Ive been browsing these forums for a while and trying to get a good idea of the basics that are required for a mantis, about all ive been able to find is info about PVC burrows and that they dont like very strong lighting . . anyone got any more info for me?

 

[DanInSD]

Poke around here a bit more. Set up the tank like you would for, say, soft corals with a sand bed. Usual SW husbandry applies. No real magic to it. The specifics will vary species to species. With a 40, I assume you're interested in a peacock (O. scyllarus)?

Dan

 

[Coral Dilema]

yeah, i was thinking peacock, from what ive read they seem to be the easist to keep, plus their coloring is amazing. I have a 40 breeder (glass) and I like the size of it, I will definately be going to acrylic or possibly even building a custom plywood tank with 1 acrylic viewing pane. Im still digging, its at least a good month before I try to set anything up, replacing carpet in 2 weeks so gonna get that done first.

 

[Pea-brain]

Hmmm...You can use a glass tank. There are almost no instances of O. scyllarus breaking glass tanks. Most people line their tanks with acrylic on the bottom for safety since they usually break the glass when their digging (in the few cases it has happened)

You might wanna check out stomatopod.com/forum as well. There are some well written articles on there by some real geniuses (I'm trying to make myself look good because some of them are mine ) and its a pretty cool place. Also check out stomatopod.com for buying a mantis. None in stock right now but they have grade A customer service and should get some more stuff in the next 2 weeks or so.

I agree with (the other) Dan. It's no rocket science. Just avoid heavy chemicals around the tank, keep up water quality and offer a good diet.

Dan

 

[Coral Dilema]

Ive had a 75 in-wall reef for nearly 5 years now, but im trying to scale down to save on the power bill and free up another room in the house for other stuff. Its amazing how much . . .*stuff* you can have for a reef tank. Its equally amazing how the amount of stuff you have is directly proportional to the amount of space you can find to stuff it into. Gonna check out the forums at stomatopod.com. After everything ive read about them here, that is definately where Im going to purchase from.