Looking for the low maintenance soulution to keeping a mantis

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kclauser

New member
I want a relatively inexpensive and easy to set up and care for mantis tank. I am currently leaning towards a biocube 14 gallon. I have worked at a LFS and realize all the options out there and know that all-in-ones are not the best value, I am also not a huge fan of the dimensions, i prefer a more rectangular shallow tank. However I LOVE the closed top design, they are very quiet, the lighting is adequate for a mantis and basic cheap corals, and most importantly I dont have to deal with evaporation. I have an open top pico with just 80watts of pc lighting right now and the light spillover is very bright and somewhat disruptive since its in my bedroom. Also the daily evaporation is huge and is a pain to deal with. Anyways I will be tearing down this tank and moving it over to whatever I end up using as a mantis tank.

My goal is to keep a smaller, hopefully interactive/active, smasher type mantis in a cheap, very low maintenance (Im talking feeding, sporadic cleaning, and a bi-weekly water change, thats it), and unobtrusive tank. Like I said, even though the BC14 isnt perfect, it is quiet, easy to set up and very clean looking, and wouldnt be a pain to deal with. However I am still trying to find the best deal possible and Im not against setting up an AGA or something, as long as I didnt have to deal with the two things I dislike most about having them as compared to an all in one, the intense light spillover/fan noise from the fixture, and the evaporation. If anyone has any suggestions or comments, Im all ears.
 
In your situation, I would go for the 14gal biocube or an AGA... i have no experience with the AGA though.

i have a G. smithii in an 8gal biocube reef and i find it to be pretty low maintenance. The trick, i think, is to stock it very full of rock... i think i have about 16 lbs. and also replace the stupid bioballs with LR rubble. just keep up with the bi-weekly water change and it should be fine. i also run a bit of carbon as well. oh, and replace the stock pump with a a maxi-jet... the increased flow helps. i leave a mag float in the tank to clean teh glass whenever im around there... the more often the better... it saves me from having to do large scale glass cleanings.

one thing i have to mention though, is that you still have to worry about evaporation. it'll happen, no way around it. the nice thing is that a closed top tank will limit evaporation... but you still gotta top up once in a while. i only have to top up about a cup every week (i live in a cooler climate though).

another thing is that you have to consider ambient temperature. You live in a pretty hot climate and with a closed top, water temperature can go up fast... especially in such a small tank. so during hot days you could leave the front flap (at least on the biocube) open. maybe even point a small fan into the hole to be safe. obviously evaporation would increase, but it will cool off the water too. you'll want a thermometer in there for monitoring purposes on hot days too.

Now, mantis selection. you live in florida. that simplifies things. tampabaysaltwater.com sells N. wennerae for 10$ (50$ shipped to your door). it is important to note that the species is N. wennerae... most online vendors suck at mantis IDs, but for whatever reason TBS only ever gets N. wennerae. the wennies are great little mantids that wont outgrow your tank, but are still generally super interactive, while being as bulletproof as a mantis can be. a ncie thing is that they stay small enough that they usually cant prey on large snails like turbos. this allows you to have a CUC (at least the snails) in your tank. i assume you know that most other inverts (excluding coral) will end up as food. here's a link to em...

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthro...costraca/royslist/species.php?name=n_wennerae

food: you only have to feed the mantis once every 2-3 days (id go 3 for you to reduce bioload) frozen meaty food. a few times a month you have to feed hard shelled stuff like a small crab, hermit or snail. if you can find a nearby CLEAN beach you could probably even feed wild live food.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10826852#post10826852 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by justinl
In your situation, I would go for the 14gal biocube or an AGA... i have no experience with the AGA though.

i have a G. smithii in an 8gal biocube reef and i find it to be pretty low maintenance. The trick, i think, is to stock it very full of rock... i think i have about 16 lbs. and also replace the stupid bioballs with LR rubble. just keep up with the bi-weekly water change and it should be fine. i also run a bit of carbon as well. oh, and replace the stock pump with a a maxi-jet... the increased flow helps. i leave a mag float in the tank to clean teh glass whenever im around there... the more often the better... it saves me from having to do large scale glass cleanings.

one thing i have to mention though, is that you still have to worry about evaporation. it'll happen, no way around it. the nice thing is that a closed top tank will limit evaporation... but you still gotta top up once in a while. i only have to top up about a cup every week (i live in a cooler climate though).

another thing is that you have to consider ambient temperature. You live in a pretty hot climate and with a closed top, water temperature can go up fast... especially in such a small tank. so during hot days you could leave the front flap (at least on the biocube) open. maybe even point a small fan into the hole to be safe. obviously evaporation would increase, but it will cool off the water too. you'll want a thermometer in there for monitoring purposes on hot days too.

Now, mantis selection. you live in florida. that simplifies things. tampabaysaltwater.com sells N. wennerae for 10$ (50$ shipped to your door). it is important to note that the species is N. wennerae... most online vendors suck at mantis IDs, but for whatever reason TBS only ever gets N. wennerae. the wennies are great little mantids that wont outgrow your tank, but are still generally super interactive, while being as bulletproof as a mantis can be. a ncie thing is that they stay small enough that they usually cant prey on large snails like turbos. this allows you to have a CUC (at least the snails) in your tank. i assume you know that most other inverts (excluding coral) will end up as food. here's a link to em...

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthro...costraca/royslist/species.php?name=n_wennerae

food: you only have to feed the mantis once every 2-3 days (id go 3 for you to reduce bioload) frozen meaty food. a few times a month you have to feed hard shelled stuff like a small crab, hermit or snail. if you can find a nearby CLEAN beach you could probably even feed wild live food.
Click to expand...

Yea I have a 29 Biocube that I have modded pretty heavily and I have done standard tanks too so I have a decent foundation with both. And the one cup a week you deal with is probably about 1/10 of what Im dealing with with the open top and the tank still gets just as warm due to the close proximity of the lights. This is of course a reference to the AGA, the biocube 29 is a different story.

I know about tbs as well, they are about a 15 minute drive from my house :D for that reason I am heavily considering a mantis from them, unless I could somehow find a smithii.
 
I have a Gonodactylus platysoma in a 5 g...

The tank is split the long way with a piece of plexi glass 60% display 40% fuge... In the back I have it filled with crushed coral, and carbon.. the display side has 3 small live rocks that form a small cave for him then about 2" of sand... He's been doing just fine, costs me next to nothing to keep it... so far the total investment mantis included is under $100... I do a 10% change every week

I feed meaty foods three times a week and at least once a month I drop in a crab or some type of cleaner

I don't think I'd ever see him if he were in anything too much bigger...
 
That sounds like a good idea, thats part of the reason that A) Im not sure what I want to get tankwise and B) I wanna make sure I get an interactive species of mantis. I dont wanna loose track of my mantis. Is your tank covered at all? A cover is the main thing I want, I like to be able to leave for a few days at a time but evaporation in a small tank will keep me chained to it to prevent salinity swings. Plus I like to not have to worry about jumpers.
 
kclauser, good to hear you know what you're doing... hard to tell who knows what around here if they're new. Since you want a G. smithii, look around your lfses (how the hell do you say lfs in the plural?)... and learn how to ID them yourself (or get a good pic so we can)... lfs employees will never know and will call it a lime green or peacock 95% of the time. but if you dont find one in short time, i wouldnt bother looking too hard... N. wennerae are arguably just as cool a mantis as the rather less common smithii (as a smithii owner im a lil biased towars smithiii though :D).

ck1, I use an M900. some people find it hard to fit the MJ, but you just have to orient it the right way and it just slides right in.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10828103#post10828103 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kclauser
That sounds like a good idea, thats part of the reason that A) Im not sure what I want to get tankwise and B) I wanna make sure I get an interactive species of mantis. I dont wanna loose track of my mantis. Is your tank covered at all? A cover is the main thing I want, I like to be able to leave for a few days at a time but evaporation in a small tank will keep me chained to it to prevent salinity swings. Plus I like to not have to worry about jumpers.
Click to expand...

I cut a piece of clear plexi that covers the whole top of the tank, then I have a small wooden hood with 2 35w pc's in it...

I fit a piece of plexi on the floor of the tank... glad I did because I've observed the mantis trying to smash a hole in the floor after it removed all the sand from its cave... It gave up and just smashed a home for itself out of a rock...
 
Smashing the glass would only be harmful if its a G. chiragra, Peacock or other large mantis (not wennerae or smithii)

Dan
 
If you are debating between a 8 gallon or 14 gallon Biocube- I would get the 14 gallon.
I have the 8 gallon- I won it at as a raffle prize at a saltwater event. I think it will work out well for the smithii that I ordered. But when I am on vacation- I have experienced SW reefers that watch my tanks for me- they check them daily.
And by the time you add substrate and live rock- as an approximate guess I would have to say that I only have about 5 gallons of water in there. Even without the rock- the "display" part of the tank- is smaller than 8 gallons- due to the rear compartment capacity included into that figure.
So if you have the room for the 14 and the additional $ for the cost of upgrading- I would consider it.
I like my 8 gallon- but if I would have purchased it or had a chance to pay the "upgrade" I really think that I would have.

Julie
 
Yep, I ended up going with the 14. Now my hunt for a smithii. Anyone know of a reputable place to get them online? Id put my budget at around $50. Oh ya, heres another random question. Since Im shooting for a smithii I wanna epoxy my rocks together since I tend to put them in precarious positions and I dont want his smashing out a den to cause a collapse or anything. Do I have to get a specific reef safe epoxy or can I go with jb weld or something from my local autoparts/home improvement store?
 
i have had a smithii in a 7g minibow for about 6months, w/ an AC110 fuge on the back, he's about 1.5-2inches. but i NEVER see him out. he was a lucky hitch hiker catch at a LFS. he stays in his burrow 24/7, and sometimes i'll hear him smashing at something inside his rock, and sometimes he'll take down the shell to his door and peak outside for a while. but i only see eyes. when i feed some food into the tank, sometimes i'll see him come about half way out to grab something, only to dart straight back in.

in all honesty, if this is how most smithii interact.....i'm not that impressed.

i want something that which is bigger, and will go after snails/hermits/crabs, and is fairly aggressive.



i recently just aquired a 3"+ Gonodactylaceus ternatensis, and he's very pretty, very interactive, and much more spunky!

he's going in an AGA 10g ($12), with a glass top ($10), a coralife T5 normal output 20" light ($40'sh), AC110 converted fuge ($60).

doesn't get much cheaper and easier than that for a mantis tank.
 
My G. smithii is very active and I can often find him all over the tank. he likes to flash me the threat display pretty often too. i suppose experience may vary huh?

WHen sticking rocks together in my big tank, I drilled holes into the rock. then i just stuck them together with rigid tubing in the holes. the only thing is that it makes dismantling the setup kinda difficult as opposed to just stacking it properly. so make sure that you're happy with the look of the rock and be sure you wont have to mess around to much to accomodate frags. oh and think about where you would want your mantis's burrow to be and start making it for him if possible. no guarantee he'll take it, but it increases the chance at any rate.
 
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