Help me prepare my mantis shrimp tank please!

[hotelbravo]

I just set up a 20 gallon tall tank that had been sitting around for a long time. i added some dry rock and have been letting it cycle for about a week now. im planning on adding a mantis shrimp. i talked to my lfs today and he said he can almost certainly get a zebra in within the next few weeks. what i was really wondering was if that species is suitable for a 20 gallon and what are the care requirements of that species. also if unsuitable or maybe if a different species is better suited can you tell me what that is along with any other information about them?

things i need to know are what types of food do i need to feed them, snails, shrimp, and hermits are very bountiful here and would have no problem finding them but idk if some species prefer fish over inverts.

also i dont have sand in the tank im wondering if thats a problem. right now its just a bunch of rubble in the tank with a few larger pieces.
and im also wondering if any equipment is a must... im hoping to go minimalistic in everything but still be up to the standards of its needs

 

[Calappidae]

also i dont have sand in the tank im wondering if thats a problem.

That's a major problem, zebra (L. maculata) actually needs a VERY deep sandbed. The adverage calculation is 1.5x their length = height of sand (a full grown 15" L. maculata will need a 22" sandbed). I don't know if you even have that kind of height in a 20 tall, (most of us had to special order our custom L. mac tanks.)

I can't name a single thing in the hobby more demanding of sand.

You can substitute sand for a single verticle PVC pipe while you add sand, however note that they cannot close up PVC burrows as effienctly for molting, which is something they really do need sand for inorder to properly molt. PVC pipe is more of a time buyer than anything, otherwise I wouldn't recommend it IME. Both my L. macs eventually left the PVC burrows in favor of the sand around them anyway.

In regards to food, you can feed them krill or frozen silversides. I wouldn't use live feeder fish (most are freshwater, which isn't good for them) unless you're buying damsels or chromis. Frozen silversides with a feeding stick is just the better way to go.

Generally spearers do not appreciate hard shells food (crabs, snails, etc) like smashers.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/

and im also wondering if any equipment is a must... im hoping to go minimalistic in everything but still be up to the standards of its needs

A standard heater, filter, and perhaps a mini powerhead are pretty good investments. It's also a possibility to have a heater burried in the sand so any gas pockets rise to the surface from the heat. L. macs are hardy but you still need your adverage saltwater equiptment.

 

[hotelbravo]

okay so i can get sand pretty easily i do volunteer at the lfs in exchange for store credit and ive racked up a bit. im not sure if i want more than 4-5 inches of sand... so if the zebra needs more than that then i need to go with a different stomatopod. what are so other suggestions that arent impossible to find?

as far as fish to feed them goes i never plan on using freshwater fish for any feeding of a saltwater creature. i understand why its not good for them. i can feed damsels or chromis no problem. also i can easily get live saltwater bait fish

 

[nmotz]

If you want a spearer, I would recommend Pseudosquilla Ciliata for you. KPaquatics has some right now. They also have some pretty cool smashers that are great for beginners. If it were me, I'd go with an N. Wennerae or N. Oerstedii for a 20 gallon.

 

[hotelbravo]

If you want a spearer, I would recommend Pseudosquilla Ciliata for you. KPaquatics has some right now. They also have some pretty cool smashers that are great for beginners. If it were me, I'd go with an N. Wennerae or N. Oerstedii for a 20 gallon.

I appreciate your input. Ill look into those

 

[Calappidae]

P. Ciliata is pretty cool,

If your tank is bare bottom I wouldn't recommend a smasher since they can (1/1000ths chance) chip the bottom of the tank if there isn't an acrylic sheet laying.

P. Ciliata would probably be your best option.

 

[hotelbravo]

i will gladly get sand if that will open up my options. the species recommended to me were all tiny in the pictures. im not sure i was expecting such little guys. is that really all i can put in a 20g?

 

[Kharn]

1 mantis per tank.

Giant spearers do not NEED sand beds their quite happy in PVC piping.

 

[Calappidae]

1 mantis per tank.

Giant spearers do not NEED sand beds their quite happy in PVC piping.

IME I disagree. Both my L. Macs have had several difficulties and problems in vertical pvc pipe. Most notably, they had an extremely difficult time lining their pipes with sand, it simply wouldn't stick to the pipe, resulting in them just piling it on the bottom. The other detail is the need to close a burrow, which cannot be achieved that easily with the fore mentioned lack of sand lining, or rubble which mine really didn't seem to care for either. The interesting part, is when mine exited the burrow, it took about an hour of circling around the pipe to realize where it's burrow was located, despite the sand bed being only half an inch below the pipe.

Now with a horizontal burrow, things can be a bit different, however I think we're both on the same page with how much they better off in a vertical position.

Let's add the fun that is changing the burrow as they grow. I'm glad mine moved out of their PVC by themselves as they outgrew the burrows literally after 1 molt each.

If we replace the terms sand and PVC, regardless the pipe would have to be pretty long, either as tall as the sand bed or horizontally long across the tank (where you'd need spearing room). At the end of the day both methods don't really change much, however pipe does have additional drawbacks.

 

[nmotz]

i will gladly get sand if that will open up my options. the species recommended to me were all tiny in the pictures. im not sure i was expecting such little guys. is that really all i can put in a 20g?

You could try an O. Havanensis. Small size, big personality. The thing is that the most interesting mantis shrimp need some room to move about and if you get a large one for such a small tank he's going to feel cramped. I have a 3" Peacock mantis in my 40B and he runs around all over that tank. I wish it was twice as big.

 

[EI Gringo]

My giant spearer loves her pvc burrow and she has filled it with sand so she can close it up, I agree with kharn on that one

 

[EI Gringo]

Here are my tanks just to share my sized compartments; 100L peacock mantis x2 (dont have these yet), 35 litres ant farm L.Sulcata, 30L cube Gonodactylus Chiragra, 30L cube gonodactylaceus ternatensis, 40L cuboid pseudosquilla Ciliata and 20L Cuboid gonodactylaceus Glabrous, also a 3L cuboid gonodactylellus viridis and a 60l sump with a smithii chucked in

 

[hotelbravo]

So would there be another material they can use for their burrow like vinyl tubing or something that the sand will stick to better. Or what if I take a wire brush and roughen the inside of the pipe/tubing to increase the chance of sand sticking to it??

 

[Calappidae]

Roughening it up would probably work. Although this doesn't fix the molting difficulty they have with placing sand around their entrance.

If it ever leaves the tubing, it may not find a way back in. (they're surprisingly dumb when it comes to getting lost, since they usually never leave their burrows anyway. All mine that swam for food often took hours of circling around the pipe to realize they needed to lift their heads up half an inch and crawl down in.)

You'll also be upgrading the pipe as it grows, I don't know the estimate of how much bigger they get per molt, but it would be a new pipe every month or two depending on age... not sure if anybody has a rough estimate but my 5" L. macs molted twice in the 3 months I've had them.

It's honestly more of a hassle when sand pretty much let's them take care of themselves. (expanding as they need, closing for molting easily, never getting lost with the level position. etc). I really don't see exactly why not use sand in the first place and let them settle in; besides keeping them in temporary homes (LFS) without the expense of sand for something not meant to stay long, or while you're adding sand to get an adverage measurement of the animal's needed height.

 

[Kharn]

The idea of a PVC pipe means no sand required at all.

The majority of Dr.Caldwells were kept in PVC pipes, even my own when I shut down his tank swiftly adapted to a PVC burrow in a tank with no sand.

PVC does NOT need to be vertical...nor the sand bed either I have seen horizontal L.mac burrows in sand.

Their an EXTREMELY adaptable and resilient species of mantis.

 

[Kharn]

This was his home for a while before I sold him and shutdown all the systems to move and begin rebuilding. He was very happy in this tank, I left him alone for 1 month and with 12 damsels in his tank, when I got back he was fine, all the damsels were gone...

FYI the new tank I'm building here for an L.mac possibly pair will have no sand either just a complex PVC burrow, only thing I would of done different for the burrow I gave him in that previous tank from the pics is make it larger stretching from one side of the tank to the other.

 

[EI Gringo]

My l.Sulcata made her burrow in a thick sand substrate that I wanted for her and then one day she ripped it apart and left it, made another burrow and ripped it apart and so on so I stuck a clear pvc pipe down into the sand which she swiftly adopted and has remained in ever since, the pipe doesnt reach the bottom so she has begun excavating underneath as well so it's an L shaped burrow at the moment

 

[hotelbravo]

I really don't see exactly why not use sand in the first place and let them settle in; besides keeping them in temporary homes (LFS) without the expense of sand for something not meant to stay long, or while you're adding sand to get an adverage measurement of the animal's needed height.

well the idea of 22 inches of sandbed like what was recommended to me in one of the first replies threw me off of the idea of sand... what im willing to put in there is 6 inch deep MAX

 

[Kharn]

well the idea of 22 inches of sandbed like what was recommended to me in one of the first replies threw me off of the idea of sand... what im willing to put in there is 6 inch deep MAX

You can have the exact same PVC burrow I used and just bury it in 6" sand if you want and have like 45degree entrys so that their pointed up out of the sand to make it easy and quick for adaptation.

I would of done that if it was going to be more long term but wasn't the L.mac's are EXTREMELY durable and adaptable.

 

[hotelbravo]

okay guys i added 50 lbs of sand to my 20 gallon tank today. i took about 5 lbs of well established rock from my 90g display and a bunch of rubble from my sump to seed the new tank. the tank is very cloudy as expected.. there is one problem. my lfs called me today and said he got a zebra mantis and it will be in the store tomorrow.. im not ready for it but they dont have the room to hold it for me they are getting a huge shipment of fish in and need all the tanks they can get. should i grab him and put him in my sump for the time being or what??