My wife has taken to the mantis. Help with tank mates..

[saveafish]

My wife has been wanting a mantis tank for several weeks now.. In fact it is sooo bad she said "NOO!!! more corals till she gets one". Now I have done some reading and even had one do some damage to a reef 6-7yrs ago. But my main question is what all you can put in with them. I am looking at a 20 long or the old 29gal in the garage. any help will be so thanked. She was thinking. dawarf lion. a type of urchin or eel or starfish. ???????

 

[black_majik]

Those tanks are fine for most Mantis in a the aquarium trade. As for tank mates very doubtful.

 

[TrappedMetal]

urchin will be fine as will the starfish (possibly).
the lion would eat the mantis - or be killed
the eel would eat the mantis.

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

i have a small mantis about 2 1/2 " long , his tankmates are

5 white nassarius
2 cerith
1 astrea
2 margarite
2+ stomatella

and have had no problems yet, i even saw a nassarius trying to climb into his hole to steal food and he just pushed it back out like "*** You doing in my house" theres a cerith snail that lives on his door step and he's shown no interests in it at all either

 

[TrappedMetal]

none of my smashers will eat snails.
what species is it? if it is a spearer this makes perfect sense..
i have six line wrasse and a psuedochromis splendens with my male chiragra.

 

[block head]

m g tern thumps margarita snails

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

it's a smashers, i'm pretty sure a N. bredini.

i'd call around all your LFS and see if they have any mantis hitchhikers for sale. i purchesed mine for 1.00

 

[ace1204]

Depends on the mantis personality, i have a peacock that i cant put in anything with for more then 30 seconds before it gets eaten, then i have another Peacock even larger with a False Percula clown, choc. star, and 4 chromis, and no problems yet. My buddy has a peacock in his reef with a fuzzy lion, a maroon clown, coral, even lettuce nudis, and no problems. 100% depends on the mantis attitude and feeding schedule keep him feed if you add tankmates not meant to be food.

 

[saveafish]

thanks for the info........should i put the mantis in the tank first or should he be introduced after i have whatever else in that i want to try in there with him?
-reefers wife

 

[ace1204]

i would say you should put in a few cheap chromis they are only a couple bucks then add the mantis leave it for a few weeks to a month that way, if you still have all fish in a month, then i would add a fuzzy dwarf or whatever you want, now i would go adding a gem tang or conspicus angel lol but a fuzzy dwarf wouldnt set you back too bad if it did bc lunch

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

hmm good question.

with fish you want to add the most aggressive last so the timid ones are already settled in and comfy.

if what ace says is true then i guess it wouldn't matter, it would all be up to the temperment of the mantis.

I myself added my mantis soon after my CUC, i really don't have alot of interest in fish but i added a scooter blenny today and there getting along just fine he swims right past the mantis's hole and the mantis just peeks out and looks around.

 

[kookerson]

FWIW I had a scooter blenny before I dropped my peacock in...................everything was going great for about 2 months. Yesterday, scoot disappeared..............

 

[ace1204]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13071704#post13071704 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ace1204
i would say you should put in a few cheap chromis they are only a couple bucks then add the mantis leave it for a few weeks to a month that way, if you still have all fish in a month, then i would add a fuzzy dwarf or whatever you want, now i would go adding a gem tang or conspicus angel lol but a fuzzy dwarf wouldnt set you back too bad if it did bc lunch

I spoke too soon, my peacock ate 2 of the chromis's in the tank last night lol

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

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