(More) Newbie questions...

[Alesia]

Hi everyone!

Like some other people on here, I am new to the hobby. Actually, mantis shrimp have fascinated me enough to get me to make the jump from freshwater to a marine tank (they've even made me seriously think about going back to grad school!) Just really amazing critters, as you guys know first-hand.

I'm looking to keep one of the smaller species of mantis shrimp, N. wennerae or G. smithii, and my proposed set-up will be a 10g aquarium using an Aquaclear filter converted to a small refugium, plus an additional powerhead for flow, 50w heater, and a 2 x 40w compact fluorescent lighting fixture (because I would eventually like to try keeping some "easy" corals). I also plan on having 10-15 lbs of live rock for natural filtration. I do not have plans (or money!) yet for a skimmer but will look into adding one in future. In the mean time, I'll be doing weekly water changes. The mantis shrimp will be the ONLY definite resident -- it's the reason I want to set up a tank at all! Does this sound like a reasonable set-up? Also, how deep would you recommend the sand bed to be? I understand these guys like to burrow under and around the live rock, but I don't want to compromise my water quality by having a deep sand bed that might end up trapping nitrates in such a small tank. Would an inch to an inch and a half be sufficient?

Finally, I know that nothing is technically safe with a stomatopod, but are there any detritivores that can be kept a little more reliably with them? I've been looking at both small serpent stars and something like a blue globe urchin. Neither of them SEEM particularly palatable for a mantis shrimp. Has anyone ever kept them together? It would be nice to have a clean-up crew that would not quickly become dinner.

I'd love any sort of input you guys can offer me as I go through the planning stages on this. I certainly want to make sure I get things right.

Thanks!

 

[Pea-brain]

HI! I'm also new. I guess I can't help you too much, but I will depart what little knowledge I have unto you. To my knowledge urchins are a relatively safe bet, especially with a small smasher such as smithii. I don't know about the serpent star but I would think that it would be a bit more of a starving choice. As long as you keep the mantis fed well there probably won't be much of a problem. Of course like I said I am new to mantis shrimp and new to saltwater aquariums, so I would wait for someone else to confirm it. I wish you luck! hopefully I was a little help. Also Try checking aquabid or ebay for some cheap skimmers. I saw a skimmer for a mini aquarium there. Or check Drs. Foster and Smith for some good ones. The nano filter costs a little over 20$ and the "Skilter filter" thing cost like 35$. Just a few suggestions.

 

[Brooklyn8]

The skilter is a waste of money imo. If you want an affordable nano skimmer, I'd try the rio hob.

 

[caynus]

Hi Alesia,

Just seconding pea-brains post. Urchins would be safe 99% of the time, from what i've read and heard, same with the serpent star.

With a smasher too you wouldnt need a very deep sand bed, maybe only a few mm if you wanted, so an inch, inch and a half would be fine. Spearers however need much deeper sand beds, at least 1.5x the length of their body.

As for the skimmer, mantis are very messy feeders and excrete relatively large amounts of waste, so a skimmer is definetely recommended, especially in a smaller tank like the one you are thinking of. You could probably go without one for awhile, if you were judicious about 10% water changes weekly, and cleaning up any scraps the mantis leaves around, like half eaten silversides or shrimp pieces.

Hope this helps, keep up with the questions, everyone here is happy give advice and share experiences.

Caynus