ideal sand for peacock?

[bigfruits]

what kind/size aragonite is ideal for a peacock mantis to burrow?

thanks in advance
-z

 

[justinl]

oolitic (sugar sized) is ideal. crushed coral is too abrasive and will wear on the mantis' underside.

 

[Pea-brain]

Actually, if you think about what the mantis uses the sand for-digging, building, burrowing-a mixed grade sand would probably be better and wouldn't cause wear and tear like crushed coral. Oolitic is still a good sand and the difference between oolitic and mixed grade is probably negligible.....At least IMO

Dan

 

[Gonodactylus]

Actually, O. scyllarus can't burrow effectively in most aquarium sands. In the field they dig their burrows in a variety of substrates ranging from mud to muck and sand, but usually these have some cohesion. What O. scyllarus need to form a burrow is shell, gravel, and small to medium pieces of coral and coralline algae rubble. They line the inside of their burrow with such objects to stabilize it. I've seen burrow in shell beds that were entirely constructed out of poker chip sized pieces of shell and other burrows in fine sand lined with large forams and pieces of LR.

If you want your animal to "burrow" and not just dig a cave under a piece of LR, you need to provide lots of pieces of rubble, shell, etc.

Roy

 

[KafudaFish]

I used about 10 - 15 pounds of rubble plus crushed oyster shells from the local co-op for substrate. They are the size of aquarium gravel (like the blue colored) that you use in freshwater systems. When the mantis digs and re-arranges the substrate everything stays in place pretty well. I chose this because I figured a larger animal would do better with larger particles than fine sand.

A 50# bag costs about $5 at the local co-op and you can use it for making LR too.