mantis tankmates
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Ken2001
New member
I wouldn't be so sure of that - a lion can eat an animal as long as it, especially if the prey is long and narrow, rather than broad and fat. Still, I expect the mantis could take care of itself if it had a chance to defend itself before it got eaten - however, lions are ambush predators, so who knows - it would be an interesting experiment, I guess.
I put a small blue devil in with my +5" peacock - they really don't pay attention to each other. The mantis cruises the bottom, the damsel stays in the water column. Snails, crabs, and hermit crabs don't stand a chance. I think I'll soon try a serpent star - they're fairly expendable, and if it works out, that'd be nice for cleanup crew work.
Ken
mr.bluntsworth
New member
ive got a 5 gal mini bow with a bunch of live rock and such in it. i have a couple damsels in there right now. i ment for it to be a mantis only tank but after weeks of searching for a mantis i got tired of having nothing in my tank but rocks, do yall think a well fed smasher could co-habitate "peacefully" with the two damsels if i ever found a mantis?
DensityMan
Active member
I'd (seriously) worry more about the mantis.
mr.bluntsworth
New member
what do you mean? the matis would eat the fish or the fish would eat the shrimp?
sdm
Premium Member
The fish would stress the mantis enough to kill the mantis (as they're in there the second you put him in during an already stressful time) or cause stess(shorten lifespan), possible malnutritrion from not coming out to feed enough, and reclusiveness. A smasher eats hard-shelled molluscs and crustaceans, not fish. It may attempt to threaten them into leaving it alone, but I doubt that would work. If it's a spearer, it would probably eat them. (Spearers are much less active and less seen than smashers, or so I've heard/read.)
mr.bluntsworth
New member
how would they stress the shrimp?
Mantis shrimp are often eaten by larger fish in the wild. Seeing all that swimming activity often causes mantis shrimp to hide and possibly to fail to eat, even if the fish isn't big enough to physically threaten the mantis.
Though if you mean the fu manchu lion, the threat would be ingestion. Lions can eat fish their length and longer if the fish are skinny. A mantis shrimp of the same size would probably be an easy snack. Unless you're going with a very large mantis species, don't try it.
Though if you mean the fu manchu lion, the threat would be ingestion. Lions can eat fish their length and longer if the fish are skinny. A mantis shrimp of the same size would probably be an easy snack. Unless you're going with a very large mantis species, don't try it.
DensityMan
Active member
They stress the shrimp by being potentially aggressive or even predatorial against the shrimp.
Mantises (mantids?) are not generally the Movie-screen Monsters that many reef-legends portray them to be. Some fish do eat mantis shrimp. Some will pick at the mantis even if they can't kill it (my G. smithii lost an eye to a wrasse or a blue-leg...). Each time I have tried to house a fish with Tim he becomes reclusive and must be straw-fed to entice him into even showing his face. Even then there is risk in that the fish would often swoop over/at him to steal food from the straw.
O.s. mantises (peacocks, clowns) may indeed kill fish, though not as a preferred meal, but instead in 'defense' or for territorial dominance. SDM is correct in that 'smashers' prefer to crack open and eat shelled creatures. I don't doubt that a mantis would snack upon the carcass of a downed fish, but it is not their meal of choice.
Slow-moving or burrow-living fish may work better with the mantis, but even the one inch "Atlantic Sailfin Blenny I kept in the mantis-nano caused Tim to flee for his home when he noticed it move. /shrug
~~~
All my experiences are with smaller species of mantis (G. smithii, and a Psuedosquilla sp.)...
Mantises (mantids?) are not generally the Movie-screen Monsters that many reef-legends portray them to be. Some fish do eat mantis shrimp. Some will pick at the mantis even if they can't kill it (my G. smithii lost an eye to a wrasse or a blue-leg...). Each time I have tried to house a fish with Tim he becomes reclusive and must be straw-fed to entice him into even showing his face. Even then there is risk in that the fish would often swoop over/at him to steal food from the straw.
O.s. mantises (peacocks, clowns) may indeed kill fish, though not as a preferred meal, but instead in 'defense' or for territorial dominance. SDM is correct in that 'smashers' prefer to crack open and eat shelled creatures. I don't doubt that a mantis would snack upon the carcass of a downed fish, but it is not their meal of choice.
Slow-moving or burrow-living fish may work better with the mantis, but even the one inch "Atlantic Sailfin Blenny I kept in the mantis-nano caused Tim to flee for his home when he noticed it move. /shrug
~~~
All my experiences are with smaller species of mantis (G. smithii, and a Psuedosquilla sp.)...
mr.bluntsworth
New member
hmmmm well thanks for the info, i still cant find a mantis so its not like ill be housing them together any time soon.
StrongHandsMcGee
Member
I've definitely seen my girlfriend's 4" Zebra Lion eat a small mantis like that. The mantis raised its arms in a threat and the lion swallowed him before he had a chance to take a swing at it.
Vegas, the 5" peacock, small volitan lionfish, and the 5" great atlantic cuda
BTW, I am aware of what will happen later on as the cuda and volitan grows larger. When the time comes I will handle them accordingly. In the meantime I'm just here to enjoy some crazy and nasty predators behave and amazingly co-exist with each other.
-Dan
BTW, I am aware of what will happen later on as the cuda and volitan grows larger. When the time comes I will handle them accordingly. In the meantime I'm just here to enjoy some crazy and nasty predators behave and amazingly co-exist with each other.
-Dan
overflowin
New member
moose8721 said:
was the hole in rock or sand? if it was sand it was a spearer...if it was rock then it was a smasher...do you remember?
donnie
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