Mantis and corals + inverts?

[MaroonFish]

Hi Guys,

I looking ar getting a Haptosquilla stoliura mantis. I have a tank just for him but I was thinking of add a few corals to the tank.\

Can I keep LPS in the same tank as a mantis?

Are there any other inverts I can keep to clean the tank? I know there is a chance he will eat them but what would be the best cheep ones to get?

Thanks,

Eric

 

[turnabod]

i tried to add some zoos and kenya trees to my mantis tank. he hid them all in his cave. i also keep a giant turbo snail in the tank to help clean, it's the size of a pool ball!! it seems to have a thick shell.

 

[seahorsedreams]

Yup, mine are into interior decorating as well. There's a colt coral he tried to stuff in but it wouldn't fit and he gave up after a few days. LPS definately wouldn't make it through the rough handling without damage.

 

[Thurge]

I had no problems with keeping LPS in with my mantis. Either get larger frags that obviously won't fit into his livingroom, or glue the frags to a laeger rock to keep them in place. Zoanthids are also nice, again just glue them where you want them so that the little bugger can't easily make off with them.

 

[MaroonFish]

Thanks for the input guys

How about inverts (I will onlyl have the mantis in a nano tank)

What would be the best cheep Urchins should I try in my small tank that the shrimp might not eat?

Would the mantis eat or kill sea apples, sea cucumbers or sea stars?

Thanks,

Eric

 

[rwhhunt]

I would recommend against the urchin, my peacock killed a pincushion after a few months of cahabitation...i started noticing flattened down spots of spines, then one day he disappeared only to find pieces of him weeks later... On the other hand, I have had extraordinary success keeping a choco chip star, Knobby star, and brittle star with my peacock. There was never any aggression whats so ever except this one time when the CCS tried to steal a piece of scallop that Boris wasn't finished with and it got a whack and then promptly decided to give up its scallops and high tail it out of her lair!
But the CCS's are hard skin and tough and sustained no damage. I was also able to keep the little black sand burrowing snails with no problem....occasionally when I wouldn't feed Boris, he would whack one, but would stop when I gave him food. The CCS posed a much larger threat to these snails than the mantis....
although im sure it would probably be okay, I wouldnt gamble with the sea apple b/c i believe they are poisonous. Cucumbers would prob be straight.

 

[Pea-brain]

While there is a chance that it would eat a urchin, it isn't set in stone. I depends on what mantis you have. From what i've read each mantis can have severely different personalities. Also I don't know if any living thing that doesn't carry lysol or floor wax in its liver is poisonous to a mantis shrimp. Some have been observed eating blue ring octopuss which carries tetradoxyn, one of the most dangerous natural poisons known to man (Other creatures that carry it are those deadly tree frogs and some species of puffer. Yeah, its that poison that some people say 1 of those tree frogs have enough of to kill 20 men:eek1: )

 

[fischcrazy]

i have a n. wannerae that has lived with a longspined urchin for a few months woth no problem...but i also feed the mantis pretty frequently

 

[rwhhunt]

i expressed concern for the sea apple b/c ive read that if it dies in the tank it releases a poision into the water that can kill the inhabitants... not by consumption...but i've never owned a sea apple so have no experience with that matter...

 

[DanInSD]

I second the sea apple concern. They are very hard to keep alive (they are filter feeders and require nanoplankton) and will wipe out the system if/when it dies. A small cuke should be fine. If you go for a N. wennerae, it should leave larger snails (e.g. turbos) alone.

 

[MaroonFish]

I got my mantis last night I think it is a Gonodactylellus viridis (Green Mantis Shrimp).

I have a small sea apple in the tank with it right now, but I am trying to sell it asap.

I also have 2 small snails in tank for his dinner.

What is the best thing to feed this mantis? How offten should I feed him?

I am going to pick up a choco chip star or a brittle star and a sea urchin next week.

What is the best urchin to try? (it has to be cheep incase it becomes dinner and I only have a 1G tank).

Thanks,

Eric

 

[DanInSD]

You need a bigger tank -- a 1-gal saltwater tank is courting disaster. Go for a five- or ten-gallon aquarium. Much better. Ideally, you should have a protein skimmer as well -- mantis are messy eaters.

A chocolate-chip starfish will starve in this small of a tank, in all likelihood. Don't do it. Likewise for the urchin, they are voracious vegetarians. A ten-gallon tank with live rock and a healthy macroalgae population could probably sustain a small urchin. A small brittle star should be fine -- you can get some that don't get much bigger than a quarter when full-grown. Look on eBay.

Feed the mantis a variety of meaty foods -- shrimp, squid, silversides, krill, scallop, etc. You can get a mixed frozen seafood assortment (for human consumption) at the grocery store (often sold as "seafood stew mix -- just add sauce!" or somesuch). Hack off a small chunk -- pea-sized or smaller -- and present to the mantis with a feeding stick (no fingers!). If it doesn't take it, wait a day. When the critter gets hungry, he'll take it.

Feed every other day, rotating foods.

Not to hound you or anything, but please research care and feeding *prior* to purchase!

Enjoy,
Dan

 

[MaroonFish]

Sorry I have a 10G tank "type-o".

I have a skimmer, LR, LS and a powerfillter with carbon and fillter floss in it to keep my tank clean.

I gave him some misys shrimp today and he eat it all.

And yes I did a lot of research, I just wanted to see what other reefers feed there mantis shrimps.

I also plan on feeding him some live snails I ordered 25 last week and they should be here soon. I have 2 in the tank just to hold him over.

Thanks,

Eric