Wildinside
New member
First off I would like to say hello everyone! You have no idea how happy I am now that I have found this site/forum. Ok time to get to the business at hand.
Ok, so I recently set up a 30g tank for the purpose of keeping a Odontodactylus scyllarus (peacock mantis.) I am very excited about my new tank and I want to make sure I am creating a good environment.
The tank specs:
Its a 30g acrylic tank w/ a drilled overflow and wet dry that sits in the stand under the tank. The wet dry usually holds approx 12g (thinking about converting it to a refugium). I am currently running four 14w bulbs (56w total) on the tank but I only have one day light and one actinic light running on it right now because I have read that minimal lighting is better for these little guys. I made the substrate rather deep at roughly 4 1/2 inches so that my mantis can burrow. I have a few pounds of base rock and a few pounds of live rock in the tank right now with quite a few hermits crabs and cerith snails. Also in the tank is a small blue crab with no claws (for the moment). All current inhabitants are possible food for the mantis when I get one if he so chooses to make it so. I also have a small flounder but I will remove him before adding the mantis. I am planning on making him a home tomorrow made of pvc pipe. I am planning on using 2in pipe and possibly making it L-shaped. Should I go for the U-shape instead? Should I expand the middle so he has more room to move around inside? I was thinking about using larger pipe of maybe 3in and cutting it all in half and putting it against the side of the tank so that I can view him while he is in his home but he may feel too uncomfortable with half of his home being exposed. Maybe there is a way to fool him with window tinting or something? I know they have great eyes so I may be kidding myself. Anyways thats a few of my ideas as of right now.
Now that you know where everything is as of this moment please let me know your suggestions on what to do as far as lighting, salinity, calcium levels, iodine and whatever I am forgetting.
I just realized that some of that is in the id pages so void telling me what is posted there.
Thanks a lot guys and let me know if anyone is looking to get rid of a peacock around Daytona Beach, FL.
Ok, so I recently set up a 30g tank for the purpose of keeping a Odontodactylus scyllarus (peacock mantis.) I am very excited about my new tank and I want to make sure I am creating a good environment.
The tank specs:
Its a 30g acrylic tank w/ a drilled overflow and wet dry that sits in the stand under the tank. The wet dry usually holds approx 12g (thinking about converting it to a refugium). I am currently running four 14w bulbs (56w total) on the tank but I only have one day light and one actinic light running on it right now because I have read that minimal lighting is better for these little guys. I made the substrate rather deep at roughly 4 1/2 inches so that my mantis can burrow. I have a few pounds of base rock and a few pounds of live rock in the tank right now with quite a few hermits crabs and cerith snails. Also in the tank is a small blue crab with no claws (for the moment). All current inhabitants are possible food for the mantis when I get one if he so chooses to make it so. I also have a small flounder but I will remove him before adding the mantis. I am planning on making him a home tomorrow made of pvc pipe. I am planning on using 2in pipe and possibly making it L-shaped. Should I go for the U-shape instead? Should I expand the middle so he has more room to move around inside? I was thinking about using larger pipe of maybe 3in and cutting it all in half and putting it against the side of the tank so that I can view him while he is in his home but he may feel too uncomfortable with half of his home being exposed. Maybe there is a way to fool him with window tinting or something? I know they have great eyes so I may be kidding myself. Anyways thats a few of my ideas as of right now.
Now that you know where everything is as of this moment please let me know your suggestions on what to do as far as lighting, salinity, calcium levels, iodine and whatever I am forgetting.
I just realized that some of that is in the id pages so void telling me what is posted there.
Thanks a lot guys and let me know if anyone is looking to get rid of a peacock around Daytona Beach, FL.
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