Id like to keep a mantis...

doryarlin955

doryarlin955

New member
Im kindof new to saltwater, my first tank was 2.5 gallons that I set up in decemder for dwarf seahorses (which I havent gotten yet....), and about a month ago I set up a 10 gallon tank to house caulerpa and raise copepods for the seahorses. Ive been really interested in mantis shrimp ever since I saw them and I was just thinking maybe I could have one in the macro tank!!! ATM I just have a little bit of chaeto, about 4 pounds of live rock, some mushrooms, still unopened star polyps, and some zoanthids. I have a 1 inch sand bed, two powerheads and a 200W heater in there and I try to change a couple gallons of water each week. I just emailed the lfs that Im going to on monday and Im hoping that they have a mantis I could keep in this tank. If they have one, could it live in there for about a month with just whats in there plus some caulerpa and more rocks?? My birthday is at the end of march and I think Ill be getting a 12 gallon nano cube to put the corals in.
What types of these shrimp could I keep in a 10 gallon tank with plants? I will definatley add more live rock especially if I get a shrimp.
Is there anything you would change about the equipment? I have been reading thouroughly over this forum and it seems that I should keep the tank at 80*, and I could just feed little chunks of frozen seafood every few days.

Thanks in advance and I cant wait to try keeping one!!
Matt
 
The best for a ten gallon would probably be either Gondactylus smithii or neogonodactylus wennerea. You can check out both these species in roy's list, the sticky up there. You should probably already know that mantises should be kept solo. you can get a wennerae at tampabaysaltwater.com for 50$ including shipping. I also suggest going to blueboard.com/mantis and checking out there if you haven't already. It is a great resource. The feeding schedule is pretty customizeable. You can feed every day, every other day, twice a week. Whatever you feel comfortable with the maximum being twice a week for a regular schedule. A mantis shrimp can go safely 2 weeks without food however. Frozen foods like shrimp, and squid are great. I've also been feeding wardley's freeze dried krill. Some mantises will also take pellet and flake food I hear.
 
What about hystrix?? I would rather get smithii but would hystrix work?? Im going to the lfs on monday and hopefully they might have one or maybe have one thats with the live rock. Do you know about how often these come in on live rock?? I really cant work 50$ into my budget right now so Im hoping I can get one that someone else didnt want or something...
 
They would work though I dont know why you want C. Hystrix. Its rather small, not very active, and rare. You would probably have a better chance of finding a smithii or wennerae at the LFS. Did the LFS email you back a description that matches hystrix or something?
 
No... I just was looking through the list and saw it and for some reason remember reading about someone that kept one. I think I just remembered wrong because I remember it being really brightly colored.
 
Well ask all your LFS what they do with mantis shrimp that come in. Offer to give them like 10$ for a shrimp they catch in their LR. And if you can't do that offer them 20-30$ to order a mantis from a supplier. (I've never done this, so I'm just guessing that would be enough)
 
Well hopefully I have luck tomorrow... Im going to try another lfs too just to see. If I find ANY shrimp there Im going to take it as long as the price is right, then I can identify it and decide to keep it or not.
 
lfs don't usually regard mantises very highly and would usually just want to get rid of it. Shouldn't be too expensive but that depends how much you feel like dishing out. As for ordering one... that's a gamble. Most species specific orders that come through end up being the wrong species. there was one person who ordered one and ended up with a pistol shrimp... go figure. In fact, it sounds like you'd probably have a better chance at ending up with the species you want if you put in an order for something completely different :D

Although C. hystrix is cool and unusual because of the spines on its telson, I wouldn't recommend it. Some people have trouble even finding a peacock and that's the common one. Plus like pea-brain said, not the most active critter. smithii would be your top candidate I think.
 
C hystrix will be fine. It only gets to 28mm or so, as per the website, and that is tiny.

As far as 10 gallons, stay away from peacocks, G chiraga, G ternatensis.
These get big.

note, I may sound like a hyprocrite, since I have several mantis in 6 gallon hex that should be in bigger tanks, but I am religious about keeping on top of the water quality, and will be moving the into larger tanks very soon.


The little fellow is listed as picking small crustaceans from the water. A 1" mantis is going to feed on your pods, just be aware. My G tern would chase after amphipods, which were about the size of chicken nuggets , relative to her. Not a great meal, though she chased them around quite a bit. maybe they are tasty...I sure like chicken nuggets.
As well, it is listed as not coming out of it's cavity often, though it does sit in the open.

Otherwise, the little C hystrix looks like a great mantis to start with.

-Uriel
 
Well thanks for the help, I doubt Ill find one today but Im crossing my fingers. I havent told my dad yet but Ill probably be standing there for an hour looking through their live rock tanks
 
If your willing to take a chance try liveaquaria.com and check the divers den section for luck on one they have pictures of.
Oh, you may just want to go to your LFS and tell them you'd be willing to spare someone or a worker a split thumb by going through the live rock and looking for a mantis shrimp. That should get you a free mantis in some cases so its 50/50. I know my local LFS gets them in alot 1 at a time but are overpriced.
 
In Liveaquaria.com diver's den the mantises are almost always 49.99$. In liveaquaria go in to the collectors corner and look down. There is a "lime green mantis shrimp" (or somethin like that) for 20$ You could go down the vendor forums on this site under drsfostersmith and go to liveaquaria forum and ask for pics if they all look the same or pics of 3 different looking ones. remember, you want pics from front, side, and top. Heck, I'd be willin to do it for ya if you want. LIveaquaria's people are pretty pleasant to discuss topics with.
 
The biggest problem with wanting a specific species of mantis is that most places don't ID them past "Mantis Shrimp" unless it's a Peacock. Tampabaysaltwater.com is the only place I know of that offers a specific species and thats probably because the vast majority of mantis that they get in with their LR are N.wennera. I bet though if you ordered 50 N.wennera from them, you wouldn't get 50 N.wennera. I could be wrong, I'm just guessing bassed on the fact that nobody else actually ID's their mantis and I have never seen them offer anything else.
 
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