mini bow 2.5 mantis?

[scarletknight06]

I'm new to mantis shrimp but i keep reading this forum and want to keep one. I have a succesful 10g nano, and I would like to keep a mantis in a 2.5 minibow. I heard there were species of mantis that would do well in there? which are they if this is true?

what would I need aside from some small LR pieces, substrate, and lights? Is a NO fluorescent light enough? DO i need a powerhead or a HOB filter for water movement?

please advise
-thanks

 

[nubreefer]

If you get a minibow 2.5 they already have all the equipment. Though I would scrap the bio-filter part of it's assembly and just run carbon(maybe phosban on occasion) since stomatopods are so sensitive to chemical pollutants.

As far as live rock you should definitely have plenty in there as it will give the mantis a place to retire. Also, you should give him at least a couple of inches of substrate so that it can burrow under said live rock.

If you look into the sticky at the top of this forum you will see a link for 'potential mantis keepers' read this. If you look through the image gallery you will get a good idea of the size of different species. N. Wennerae might do well in a 2.5 if you keep things clean.

 

[sdm]

N. wennerae or G. smithii would do well (at least, better than most you see people with).

 

[scarletknight06]

I think I'm going to go with an eclipse 3 over a mini bow 2.5 because it doesnt look like a kids toy. Is this alright? are there any mods i should do to it?

 

[MrSexyShrimp]

Just so you know, it's hard to adjust the flow with the Eclipse systems...

 

[ksrinlv]

Eclipse 3 mods

Eclipse 3 mods

I set up an Eclipse 3 for my mantis, works great, and the water quality is incredibly stable. I did remove the standard filtration and place a small powerhead inside the tank and an hob filter (with media removed and a chunk of live rock in it) for water movement. I also removed the standard lighting and put in two small power compacts so I could keep corals in the tank as well. My only regret with this tank is adding mushrooms - they quickly take over a tank this small!!

 

[scarletknight06]

so does water still move through the eclipse filtration system, just without the biowheel and media pad or did you leave that in? its sounds like i should just get a standard 2.5 AGA tank. although i dont know what i'd do for a hood.

 

[ksrinlv]

Nope, I took out the whole stock filtration system. Only water movement now is the ph and hob. I did get to a point where I wondered why I bothered with the Eclipse since I removed everything that came with it, but the answer is what you're looking at: the hood. My tank is at the office so didn't want a completely open top tank (you never know what those cleaning people are spraying around, etc, etc). If the tank were at home I would get the 2.5 gal tank and get one of those lights that sits on top of the tank, much easier than all this modifying!

 

[scarletknight06]

ahhh i see the light now. i think i will go with the standard 2.5.
thanks!