Mantis/Tropical newbie questions

[shadowf4x]

Hello all!

I wanted to introduce myself and say hi to all of you. Especially Roy Caldwell and Alan San Juan, your sites and the information presented therein have been extremely helpful!

I first heard of mantis shrimp on a PBS/Discovery channel show, and always assumed they were highly endangered etc etc etc... Now I know that they are, in fact, widely regarded as a pest, common, and make great pets. I have always loved fish, and I wanted to be a marine biologist for the longest time (too bad particle physics stole me and isnt sharing). I wanted to put together a large FW tank this christmas vacation but after being inspired by a friend at work who is into tropical tanks and coming across The Lurker's Guide to Stomatopods, I have decided to go with mantis shrimp (hurrah).

Anyway, I have a lot of questions for you experts, and I would appreciate your feedback about them. I've been soaking up information non-stop for the past few days but I can't seem to get a good handle on some of these issues.


1. What are your opinions on the Eclipse System aquariums, specifically for keeping mantis shrimp? Do they have adequate filtration/aeration, lighting, etc (take into account the lionfish in the next question)?

2. I have read that a 10 gallon is adequate for a good sized O. Scyllarus and anything smaller than that. I also read somewhere that most (bludgeoning) mantis shrimp are typically compatible with larger/fast fish. Is it safe to share a tank with a lion fish, specifically a 1.5"-2.5" antennata? Would the two be able to share the 10 gallon without quibbling or space issues?

3. I have found only one online store selling mantis shrimp, and that is listed on Kalim's site (PetsWarehouse.com). All they have is Scyllarus and Dr. Caldwell noted that scyllarus might not be the best bet for a pet mantis, and that G. Smithii and O. Havanensis or O. Brevirostris make much better pets. Is there some obsure mail order/online store you all might know about where different breeds are kept or should I just wander around from LFS to LFS trying to find the one I want?

4. All I hear about is "mantis shrimp terrorizes reef tank", "mantis shrimp in my new live rock murdered my $200 prized whatchamacallit" etc. I was going to ask exactly how often such things occur, what chance I might have of just happening on a mantis shrimp when getting some live rock FOR my mantis shrimp... wouldn't want a new smithii eaten by a larger, uglier mantis now would I! I might also just buy the live rock and set up the tank and hope I get one and don't have to pay extra!

5. I know Dr. Caldwell mentioned that smashers breaking glass tanks is very rare and glass should be ok, is it basically just a good idea to get an acrylic case "just in case?" This is a question inspired by Adam Jones' mantis breaking a glass thermometer

I know I have more questions but I can't remember them right now. Anyway, thanks in advance! I want to thank Kalim and Dr. Caldwell once again, and also Adam Jones for his Scyllarus care information on Kalim's site and his own site.

 

[grampus]

1. fine for a mantis provided you monitor 'ates and do frequent water changes and no lion
2. noperz. i'd say the lion must be 3 times the size of the shrimp unless both were VERY well fed on food that in no way resembled each other, still the problem remains
a.at that size the lion could swallow the shrimp
b. if it did swallow the shrimp, the shrimp wouldn't go without a fight
c. 3 times the size of the average o. Scyllarus is way too big for a 10 gal
3.My LFS in (so. cal) has one now. i don't want to spam so e mail me
4. working at a LFS for 2 years i havent seen it once, sadly. believe me i've been looking. i have however seen tons of pistol shrimp and huge crabs. pistol shrimp are the culprits 90% of the time in my exp.
5. it is possible, but doesn't happen enough to warrant loosing sleep over. at 10 gallons, plexi tanks are often more than double the price of glass

 

[Gonodactylus]

A couple of comments.

A 5 inch O.s. probably needs at least a well run in 20 gallon tank for maximum security. They certainly can be maintained in a smaller unit, but you run a risk of buried food or molt skin fouling the system.

I have over a hundred glass tanks ranging from 1 to 300 gallon in my lab and we haven't lost one to a mantis shrimp in two years. That is not to say that it doesn't happen. Over the years several tanks have been chipped or cracked, but I can remember only two major failure. Unfortunately a wrote about one case where an O.s. in my office took out an "Instant Ocean" face plate made of double layered glass. That seems to have started the legend. On the other hand, glass objects poked into a tank are not safe. I could not count how many thermomenters, hydrometers, and glass heaters we have lost.

Lionfish will eat stomatopods and unfortunately, their eyes are bigger than their throat. I have seen several suck in a small mantis shrimp and have the stomatopod become stuck killing both. There is probably a safe size ratio, but when matched in size, stomatopods will kill lionfish and large lionfish will eat small stomatopods.

While I think Gonodactylus smithii and any of the small species of Odontodactylus are great aquarium animals, the are unfortunately difficult to come by. I collect them myself and only rarely see them for sale. O. brevirostris is common in Hawaii at 30-80 feet and is relatively easy to collect. The same guys who are collecting cleaner shrimp are missing an opportunity to supply a great aquarium animall. I would even buy them if someone would take the plunge. The same is true of O. havanensis in the Florida Keys. On the reef flats of Fiji and northern Australia, G. smithii is one of the most common stomatopods. Again, someone is missing the boat by not collecting them.

Roy

Roy