my smithii and it's tank

[sTefaniA]

Here some quick pics of my smithii and her (i think its a she) tank!

iIt's a 7 gallon (27liter) superfish aqua40 tank, with zoa's, some mushrooms, a sarcophytum and a half dead purple gorgonian.
I change 50% of water every week and replace it with water from our 130g sps tank.

upper tank view

Here she is! She is sooo shy, i have her for a week now and i only see her sometimes...
She is very scared of the feeding thongs, i have to put food in front of her burrow and after 5 minutes, when i stay very still, she will come and get it.
The falcatus i had before her would peek out of its burrow when i opened the lid, and it would smack everything that came into the tank.
Well, she might just need more time to adjust...

She is about 1,5inch, so she will double in size? It's clearly a juvi cause i see those 2 white spots on her back, i read somewere that juveniles have those.

 

[gozermantis]

awesome setup i bet she loves it!

 

[twiggyb]

It looks so spacious compared to my 12g lol

 

[sTefaniA]

well I have her for about two weeks now
she still doesn't like me I guess
she never goes outside the rocks, I occasionaly see her when I feed, wich means she runs to the food, grabs it and runs back to the rocks
yesterday she did smack me out of nowhere when I wanted to put back a fallen zoa
also I have planaria in this tank now, wich sucks
the lfs gave me a product to kill it but I am afraid to kill every other living thing in it
I'll try and update tomorrow

 

[sTefaniA]

well, no update
she has her burrow at the back of the rock, i only see her eyes peep out
i never ever see her out in the tank
is there anything i can do about it? should i change the rockwork?
she hasnt molted yet

 

[young doz]

change the rockwork

 

[Thurge]

Spin the tank around?

 

[sTefaniA]

i could do that but then i wont be able to enjoy my lovely corals
maybe i should put a rock in front of her burrow and she will make a new entrance? this really isnt fun i have seen her 4 times since i got her
i thought they were interactive and hunt outside the burrow?

 

[young doz]

smithiis usually are very active, all of mine are..
maybe you just got an unfriendly smithii lol

 

[sTefaniA]

today i might shift some rockwork
i can still hear her smacking stuff, and there is a pile of broken snail shells in front of her burrow
i will remove some rocks too

 

[born]

hahaha i like the last picture the most

 

[sTefaniA]

i moved the rock that holds her burrow
now the entrace is aimed at the front glass
for the first time, i have seen my mantis! and not just the eyes
i moved a lot of stuff so tank doesnt look very good
parameters are fine, i do have a little phosphate problem...
po4 0,5ppm
no3 2,5
no2 0
ca 400
salinity 1,026
temp 24°C
mg 1300
ph 7,8
kh 9,1

her burrow is right next to the mushroom!