looking for tips

Rhab

Rhab

New member
Hey guys, new to the site.

After much trial and error I feel like I'm officially a journeyman freshwater aquarium hobbyist. I'm now getting ready for my first salt water project and would like some advice for the set up. I have decided to start with the cockroach of the sea, the mightly stomatopods. My research indicates that they are a hardy, robust species with only a few weaknesses (organic solvents?).

So what I want to know is this:

1, Is this truly a good first saltwater animal?

2, What species would you recommend, my LFS is run by a old salt who could probably find me a dolphin if I were willing to pay for it so suggest away, and

3, Finally how exactly to set it up?

a. what type of tank would you go for? I'm looking at a all in one biocube type setup but I'm not settled on a brand.
b. how much live rock, live sand?
c. size? I'm leaning heavily towards 15g I'm just not ready to add another big tank to my life.
d. any corals viable with the little guy?
e, lighting?
f, treated tap water is fine for these guys right?

My goal is a very simple, easily maintainable tank, a zen garden with a tiny monster in the middle.

I'm lookng for as much informatin as possible and am intrested particularily in brand name recomendations.

Thanks in advance,

Rob
 
1. I started out with a mantis shrimp and they are good beginner animals in my opinion (albeit slightly expensive and hard to find)

2. For a 15 g an neogonodactylus wennerae (most common) or a gonodactylus smithii (very colorful) will work well. Go to http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/ to see for yourself which one appeals to you.

3. a. A bio-cube type kit would work very well but I have found that it is a bit cheaper to put together your own tank (in the case of small tanks at least)

b. The more live rock the better. For the mantis shrimps burrowing enjoyment you should have at least 1.5 lbs per gallon and then a few lbs of rubble. L
Live sand is a waste of money imo. I have a argonite/crushed coral mix and it work very well.

c. For most mantis shrimp a 15 gallon will be fine. In fact, a ten gallon is plenty of room for many species. The best thing to do is base your tank size on the recommendations of Roy's list (link above)

d. Most soft corals will work but just make sure to glue the frag to a large piece of Lr so the mantis doesn't use it to redecorate. I don't keep any sps but your mantis may chip them if you put them in the tank.

e. All lighting works for the smaller mantis species but the larger species (peacocks) need low lighting as they are prone to shell disease.

f. I have heard of some people doing this but your water might contain trace solvents or just turn your tank into an algae fest. In my case i just buy premade water from my lfs. For a 15 gallon tank you will only have to buy 7.5 gallons a month (assuming your water changes add up to 50%). The other option is to get an reverse osmosis kit but I have no experience with these.


Welcome to the forums and I hope this helps


Written from iphone...
 
1, Is this truly a good first saltwater animal?

yes

2, What species would you recommend, my LFS is run by a old salt who could probably find me a dolphin if I were willing to pay for it so suggest away, and

n. wennerae

3, Finally how exactly to set it up?

a. what type of tank would you go for? I'm looking at a all in one biocube type setup but I'm not settled on a brand.

aquamedic nanowave 9. it's a german made biocube

b. how much live rock, live sand?

10lbs of live rock, 5 lbs of carib-sea live aragonite

c. size? I'm leaning heavily towards 15g I'm just not ready to add another big tank to my life.

9g is fine for n.wennerae and corals

d. any corals viable with the little guy?

they don't bother my kenya trees or xenia

e, lighting?

less is more for some species like peacocks, but wennerae can take anything

f, treated tap water is fine for these guys right?

fine for me
 
is treated water fine? well, that depends on where you are and what corals you want. Many SPS tanks need RO/DI filtration for even moderately clean tap water. for LPS and softies you can probably skip RO/DI though. As long as your tap water is moderately clean, I doubt the mantis itself would care that much as long as it's dechlorinated. Do you know what your tap water's TDS is?

I used to use a dechlorinator, but some time ago I stopped using it and just let a tote of it sit out for 48 hours without treatment. That said I live in vancouver, Canada and our tap water is some of the cleanest in the world.
 
Great replies guys, MrMorton I'm impressed by the length and quality of your reply given that you did it on your phone. Lionbacker 54 thanks for pointing me at the aquamedic nanowave 9. Seems that build quality for a lot of nanotanks can be surprisingly poor at times. When in doubt get German made I say. Justinl Vancouver truly is a great city eh.

Just a few details for anyone interested in making follow on posts.

I don't know anything about marine fish or animals, especially with regards to appropriate water parameters. I could bore you half to death with freshwate talk, but my OCD approach to fishkeeping is just now coming online WRT saltwater. This is why I decided on the Mantis Shrimp, its fine in a small tank and robust enough to cope with a few misteps along the way. I like the idea of a few simple living things in the tank, but I'm not at all picky. Certainly I don't want to complicate the tank by adding a something that would make water quality more of an issue. I was advised that Beadlet Anemones are good for a cleanup crew. Thoughts?

As for water quality, here it is if your curious but feel no obligation to read it.

````````````````````````````````````units````````` ``max```````min``````average
Alkalinity```````````````````````mg/L```````````87.8``````80.8 `````85.2
Conductivity``````````````````mhos/cm`````398```````280```````307
Hardness ( as CaCO3 )``mg/L```````````125```````116```````122
pH```````````````````````````````````````````````` ``7.9```````7.4`````````7.7
Total Solids```````````````````mg/L```````````198```````168```````180

http://www.toronto.ca/water/publications/pdf/drinking_water_analysis_summary_2009.pdf

Thanks again for the advice.

Rob
 
Personally, I don't feel like a stomatopod is a good first marine animal. I suggest keeping some live rock alive and healthy first. The lack of a clean-up crew (snails/hermits) makes a stomatopod tank very unforgiving with respect to nutrient excess, which is a common problem in beginner tanks. So, an algae explosion is almost inevitable.

Start with some good books on marine aquaria, don't skimp on equipment (get a good skimmer and some good test kits), and keep a tank really healthy and with ideal parameters for a few months. Then worry about stocking it.

Regards,
Dan
 
I respect that. I've had my ups and downs with fish keeping and learned to be cautious in approaching new projects. I've factored a month of reading and prep. Followed by 2 months set-up and cycle. I've got a small library, maintenance schedules and a mildly obsessive approach to all things aquaria. Certainly I'm in no rush. Still I hear you. I guess I can add in another month. Thanks for your frankness.
 
if you really want to get into saltwater it's a whole lot more than just a months reading, your pretty much learning the entire time your in this hobby. it's something you really need to dedicate your self to or else your just throwing your money away.

i've been in the hobby 3 years and worked at a LFS for 2 and theres still quite a bit i can learn.
 
You are well ahead of the curve. Most people try to get the cheapest system they can buy (bare-minimum assuming small bioload), use dip-stick "test kits" until their ammonia and nitrate drop below "probably won't cause instant death", and then proceed to overload, overfeed, and undermaintain their tanks.

And of course everything dies.

That's what I was trying to prevent. If you have done this reading, have maintenance schedules thought out, etc., and have already planned a two-month break-in, then my hat's off to you.

Well done.

I think you're going to be just fine :)

Dan
 
in regards to the algae problems...

Solution A:
Get some branching soft corals (colt is what I have in my tank) and maybe an extra powerhead to keep the particles of food (mantis shrimp are messy eaters) suspended. The colt should get most of the suspended waste (and colt coral is usually cheaper than protein skimmers).

Solution B: Try to find some giant Turbo snails (2+ inches) and hopefully an n. wennerae will not be able to eat it (though it is always a toss up...).


Note: With a mantis you do not need to feed more than 3 times a week ( i feed mine a clam twice a week with a shrimp snack in between)
 
So to hash out a rough blueprint:

1. neogonodactylus wennerae or gonodactylus smithii, smithii prefered if available,

2. aquamedic nanowave 9 or oceanic biocube 14,

3. 10lbs of live rock, 5 lbs of carib-sea live aragonite,

4. Cladiella sp or Capnella sp in due course,

5. Premixed saltwater to start, make my own with tap water if I decide to go mantis only, or go RO if I want to get fancy.

VacavilleFC3S, I believe that attention to detail, a willingness to challenge yourself and steady work can accomplish most things.
 
+1 for the smithii i bought mine a few months ago. Shy at first but after a while it will become very active at feeding time. Also has some great colors
 
Use RO water. Tap water contains all kinds of evil stuff. In order to sequester the chlorine and other nasties, you need to use other chemicals. Just get yourself an RO/DI system and fuhgeddaboudit.

Dan
 
allways use RO water for a small tank there is no need for you to buy a RO unit and a couple 5 gal plastic water can or gas can and a trip to your LFS is all you realy need most stores charge 50 cents a gallon for RO and $1.25 for premixed saltwater , i do not suggest 50% water changes it will stress you animals and corals a 10% - 20% weekly change is all you need , since this is your first SW tank i recomend allto of research do some reading in the NEW to the hobby forum , dont rush paitents is the key in the hobby , another good word of advice is you get what you pay for , get what you need 1 time and you will save a bunch of money in the long run, Stamotopods seem to shy and hide in bright lighting from my experiance stay away from halides and HO t-5's ...... for a mantis and soft corals power compacts is all you need. as for the tank setup unlike FW where the filter does all the work , saltwater live rock , a decent protine skimmer waterchanges is your filtration, canister and hob filters are nitrate factorys and unless you are keeping the pads and media changed out on a regular basis you will have issues with water quality, otherwise decorate the tank as you see fit , make sure rock is set in place before the sand is added to keep for having a avalanch or crushing action when your mantis decides to tunnel under them, top off your water daily or more oftendepending on how much evaporation you have, test kits( not dip strips) and a good refractometer are needed. get you tank set up heater dialed in salinity correct and let it cycle most fish ,coral and inverts cannot handle the stress of nitrate and ammonia peeks........... and agian research and have fun
 
it says "email me" which I interpret as a special order kind of thing...I haven't emailed them so I could be wrong
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Sandbed depth question
Replies
9
Views
303
Guygettnby
Guygettnby
D
Filter and heater for 125G
Replies
4
Views
233
wvned
wvned
ClownBubbaJoe
Help To Build A Dream Anemone & Host Fish, Crab & Volcano Tank.
Replies
14
Views
288
vlangel
vlangel
Reefing102
Hey LIRA peeps!
Replies
0
Views
77
Reefing102
Reefing102
L
Lighting Advise for 36 x 18 SPS
Replies
7
Views
536
Uncle99
Uncle99
Back
Top