Mantis Tank Project (lots of photos)

[zero_one]

So I got a manits tank up and running this week, I thought everyone would enjoy, ask any questions you like!

> here is my reef tank, 40 gallon cubeish tank, 240 watts of light (4x65 PCs currently) a remora pro skimmer and a whole lot of other stuff.

>here's my "temporary" free Mantis shrimp (don't know what he is) I'm wainting for a great local LFS (aquaserene) to get my peakcock in for me (about 3 weeks I'm told), they had this guy killing stuff in the display tanks and I said I'd take me off their hands untill I get my "real" manits in. (note you can't see him this was his home , a 5 gallon bucked for 4 days).

> here the ****-poor shape $20 tank I found last week. Its a 35 gallon hex made of acrylic. I spent 2 days refinishing it with near perfect results!

>another tank shot (about 50% done with the sanding and buffing)

>Here is the awsome (read cheep) stand I made, super strong and looks ok.

 

[zero_one]

>up and running (lots of silt in sand and crused coral I put in)

 

[zero_one]

> here is his home today!

> picked up a canister filter today.

>here is his house.... his name is Pete.

> more mantis shots

 

[zero_one]

> Pete is about 1 inch long, don't know what he is. He hides alot, so far he has eaten all 8 hermits i put in the tank. Anyone know what he is?

 

[zero_one]

I'm in the process of adding a new light and hanging it from the celing right now, I'll posts new shots soon. I'm going with all Actinic and 7100K blue bulbs so I can keep the Peakcock (which I don't have yet) under the proper lighting. The 10K bulb you see now is going away.

 

[zero_one]

Here is the New and imporved tank shot, This is using a 7100K and a Actinc bulb, they are very bright in my opinion, both bulbs are 18watt 18 inch t-8's. Its very strange, I go into my office (where the tank is) and they walk out into the living room (where my reef tank is) and the reef tank now looks very very yellow even though all the bulbs are new and the bulbs are 10K's and 03 actinic bulbs, maybe the 7100K bulb in the mantis tank is a little too blue.

 

[zero_one]

update, I just saw Pete kill a hermit before my eyes, it was pretty cool! Pete is pretty small, does anyone know if he will just get killed by a peacock if I leave him in their when I put the peacock in without removing him?

 

[Uriel]

Well, Dr Caldwell told me to make sure that I have a VERY strong divider in my ongoing Mantis-Hotel-Setup, as a Peacock might bash through and eat my little G. Viridis.... I'd say yes. Some Mantis make a habit of eating other mantis (they are inverts, after all...).

Jaguars have been seen eating Ocelots (which are a smaller relation and all...).

I'd say get him another little home set up before getting the Peacock, if you like Pete and want him to survive. Otherwise, someone else on here will be happy to take him off of your hands.


-Ron

 

[D-Trick]

Subscribing to this thread in hopes of seeing more pictures of Pete

I am also in the process of setting up a 20 gallon Mantis tank. Do you plan on adding any more rock in there for him? Also, like Uriel said, if you get your peacock and have a problem keeping both of them, I will gladly take Pete off your hands

 

[pisces77]

you should add more rock or some pvc. Mantises like their shelter.

 

[zero_one]

I'm going to go get some PVC tonight at home depot, and pickup a 2 used 24 inch t8 hoods, I'm going to fab up some type of hanging fixture this weekend for cheep. I was just going to buy PC's for lights or 1 150watt MH light but I think the peacock (from all that I've read) will do very poorly (shell problems, infections etc...) so I don't think thats a good route.

 

[zero_one]

I'm also going to buy a moon light to observe night acivity somtime this week... I'll post updates. Pete is also eating brine shrimp out of a shell (like a dinner plate), he also does not like the small metal pole I was using to position his dinner, he can hit very hard!

 

[zero_one]

Anyone know if this guy (about 1 inch or so) can bust through thin acrylic? I'm thinking about putting him in a 5 gallon tank at work.

 

[pisces77]

I think you need an ID before that question can really be answered. If you can get shots of the body and telson, then someone here could give you the type, and whether it will outgrow that tank (my guess is yes).

 

[biomekanic]

For a 1" stomatopod, that tank is pretty big. You could probably get away with a 7g bowfront for Pete, but not for a peacock.

Personally, I don't like AS. I've had bad advice and bad service from them in the past. Have you been to Cichlids and Salt in Springfield? Sean is much more knowledgeable, and better priced to boot. If you're interested in a local club, check out PNWMAS.org. At the big holiday meeting up in Portland I got 2 mantises in trade for some zooanthids.

 

[zero_one]

For a 1" stomatopod, that tank is pretty big. You could probably get away with a 7g bowfront for Pete, but not for a peacock.

Personally, I don't like AS. I've had bad advice and bad service from them in the past. Have you been to Cichlids and Salt in Springfield? Sean is much more knowledgeable, and better priced to boot. If you're interested in a local club, check out PNWMAS.org. At the big holiday meeting up in Portland I got 2 mantises in trade for some zooanthids.

Yeah, I've been to Chiclids and Salt, I was not very impressed. The guy that own it seems a little "off", did not seem to know a whole lot about some of the more "advanced" aspects of this hobby. Then again I was kinda turned off by the location an general disaray of the store more then anything else.... he was cheep though....

Right now Paul at Aquaserene is getting my mantis for me (my peacock that is), hands down he knows the most of everyone that I've talked with for any lenght of time about saltwater, his animals are also in excellent shape, but prices are high. AS is awsome if you only and I mean ONLY deal with Paul and no one else at all, everyone else that works their seems to know more about how not to work then anything else..... have you been to the new place Symbosis on river road? Its pretty sweet, has the most unique stuff I've ever seen in the State! Check it out if you have not!

 

[zero_one]

Here is new lighting, its pretty blue still, but I added a 10K bulb to the mix, I think this combo will be good for the peacock who I still don't have

You can also see the "brown death" as I refer to it has got a foot hold, looks like either dinoflagettes or diatoms, regardless I did a 50% WC today and cleaned out the filter. Trying to avoid the problem in my main tank which has now taken almost a year to get rid of (dinoflagettes).

 

[zero_one]

I think I need more substrate for the peacock which i'm getting, anyone else second that opinion? I'm think like maybe 40 more pounds, 20 is in it right now.

 

[pisces77]

a busy mantis is good.

 

[zero_one]

I'm trying to get some good shots of Pete, the problem is hes not very active late in the day, so i never really see when I get home. This weekend I'll make some attempts at full body shot of him for a ID.