Mantis and black sand

[baller71ss]

Anyone ever house a mantis with black sand substrate? I'm thinking ahead (way ahead) to the future where I plan a large reef tank and ~30 gallon manits tank, and think it would be cool to have black sand in it. Any cons to black sand overall? I think maybe with a smasher and black sand the shell bits left over from eating may turn the sand "salt and pepper" in no time. Any experience, examples or suggestions???

Also, is it possible to keep a peacock with a RBTA and pair of clowns? I kept my old peacock with a damsel which he never went after, but we all know those things are invincible.

 

[rwhhunt]

I think you could keep your mantis with a clown and anemone

 

[Kinetic]

black sand is hard to keep clean, a lot of detritus looks dark colored, but shows up very well on black sand. it's also silicate based... in most cases anyway.

 

[SunDragon]

I have black sand in my mantis tank and it does fine. The stuff is hard, so if it gets stuck in a pump impeller it will usualy bind it up pretty quickly. Other than that I havent had any problems.

 

[baller71ss]

Thnaks for the info everyone. Sundragon, what about keeping it clean?

 

[SunDragon]

I havent had any problems with keeping it clean, but I always have a couple hermits running around cleaning up until they become dinner themselves.