Mantis companion?
- Thread starter alistairf
- Start date
MrSexyShrimp
New member
lol...
MrSexyShrimp
New member
disclaimer: i have never even seen a mantis in real life, i have no idea what i'm talking about.
i take it that spearers are okay with inverts and will go after fish, whereas smashers will leave fish alone and make a buffet out of inverts.
i take it that spearers are okay with inverts and will go after fish, whereas smashers will leave fish alone and make a buffet out of inverts.
Wrong. They are all fairly territorial, from what I have read/gathered.
My G. Viridis (2" long) eats the snails peridocally, has eaten 2 hermits, left the other 5 alone for 2 weeks...
I added 2 Green Chromis to see if he would be able to live alongside fish (as some have found to be true).
Everything went well for 4 or 5 days, with my Mantis just watching them swim by with little interest. Then, one Chromis decided to go exploring into that kewl liverock cave in the center of the aquarium....I ended up with one dead Chromis (It wasn't pretty watching it die, btw...).
My Mantis lives in a temp 6 gallon eclipse, btw.
-Ron
MrSexyShrimp
New member
hence the disclaimer 
thanks for clearing that up
thanks for clearing that up
Well, a mantis that will fit in a 2.5 will probably do fine with a clean-up crew for a while if you feed him regularly. I have a healthy N. Wennerae which has "peacefully" co-existed 2 astrea, a turbo, a couple ceriths, and some hermits. Though admittedly the small blue legs have been dwindling, and he did take out a cerith. Thankfully, though, he'll eat flake food and frozen mysis like they were crack and that slows the thinning of the crew.
As far as fish; smaller fish are at risk because of the territorial nature of a mantis, and larger fish will just cause the mantis to hide more.
As far as fish; smaller fish are at risk because of the territorial nature of a mantis, and larger fish will just cause the mantis to hide more.
Ken2001
New member
My peacock lived with a Fiji Devil damsel for a week or so, and then one morning, I found the damsel dead and the mantis feasting on it. Don't know if Gojira took it out or not, during the night, but otherwise, I can't really imagine why the damsel died. Right now I've got a conch and an urchin in the tank, so I'll watch to see how they do, but no crab, large or small (including large hermits in Tulip snail shells) or snails (including golf-ball sized Turbos) have made it, though the larger tankmates have lasted several weeks before being eaten. One predictor of tankmate survival is how well fed the mantis is - if well fed, larger hermits and snails survive for several weeks - if regular meals (small hermits and snails) are not provided, anything goes (into the mantis' mouth, that is).
Ken
Ken
My mantis has a number of tankmates... Most of which came with him on the live rock. There is a smallish purple urchin, a few anemones, bristle worms, and a couple of un id'ed snails (I THINK that they are tulip snails) in there with him, that he has left alone so far. There WERE a number of barnacles in there, but they got smashed to bits.
My clean up crew consists of the urchin, and a couple of Limpets which were also hitchhikers on the liverock... They do a great job of algae control, and at least so far Mr. Bojangles has shown no interest in eating them, perhaps they are well enough camoflaged to keep from being dinner...
There are also 2 ocelaris clowns living with him- They have been in there for a month without any signs of aggression towards them, but they seem to know to stay away from the mantis 'lair'.
-Andrew
My clean up crew consists of the urchin, and a couple of Limpets which were also hitchhikers on the liverock... They do a great job of algae control, and at least so far Mr. Bojangles has shown no interest in eating them, perhaps they are well enough camoflaged to keep from being dinner...
There are also 2 ocelaris clowns living with him- They have been in there for a month without any signs of aggression towards them, but they seem to know to stay away from the mantis 'lair'.
-Andrew
Simms142
New member
My mantis almost 2" G. Smithii is in with a gold striped maroon. I have watched with horror as the mantis got ****ed off at him when the clown would take his food. But he leaves him alone except for that. Yes, the clown came up, and took the food away from him, out of his"hands" for lack of a better term. The mantis went running all over and the clown just swam away. I quick gave the mantis another piece though and everyone was happy.
Inigma
New member
I suppose that if he is small enough to live comfortably in a 2.5g then I don't imagine him being very large at all and I wouldn't imagine him attacking anything about his size or larger. You might not want to put in any crabs that are his size because they might fight and he might get hurt by a hermit crab his size. At the same time, a fish his size would probablly live fine, but would create too high a bio load.
Your mantis will probablly only attack and eat small hermits and small snails, but these are just my opinions.
I have a few hitch-hikers in mine that have been fine. 2 different kinds of snails, and a lil itty bitty serpent star, and a medium sized hermit. I keep a handful of small blue leg hermits in there as food since thats what he likes to eat. I'm thinking about putting my 2 damsels in there now too though, but they might make him shy away.
Your mantis will probablly only attack and eat small hermits and small snails, but these are just my opinions.
I have a few hitch-hikers in mine that have been fine. 2 different kinds of snails, and a lil itty bitty serpent star, and a medium sized hermit. I keep a handful of small blue leg hermits in there as food since thats what he likes to eat. I'm thinking about putting my 2 damsels in there now too though, but they might make him shy away.
