New mantis only tank????
- Thread starter SCOTT42
- Start date
abrahamcho
New member
What do you mean by watch out?
THE things you need for a mantis tank: (simple)
-A tank 6~100 gallon depending on species.
-standard lighting, not strong, mantis shrimps do not like bright lights.
-sand 1/2 the tank if it is a spearer.
- some live rock to provide cover and to hold PVC if you want
-PVC
-I have macro algae not mandatory.
-heater if it gets colder, a chiller vice versa
-all the other stuff like carbon, sponge, pump, and refractometer.
I have a peacock mantis and a P. Ciliata
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb7/freshmentosmaker/peacockmantisshrimp.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb7/freshmentosmaker/PCiliata.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
THe peacock is a smasher and the thing you have to watch out is the peacock getting mad and cracking the glass. So you need a big tank for this guy. He hits the glass once in a while, but he didnt crack it yet... ALso peacocks are messy eaters. THey bury their food and the tank gets dirty fast.
THe P. Ciliata is a spearer I just got from this forum. Anyways they dig, so you need to put a lot of sand in and they just stay in there until there is food. Then it comes out and stabs it. You need to worry about the boredom it causes. Actually they are both boring, but the spearer is more boring because it just camps out. At least the Peacock beats the crap out of the other inverts.
* the main thing you need to worry about is money. I feed mine every other day and smasher food is about 1-3 dollars a day and spearer food is 5 dollars every 2 days.
That is about it.
~Abe
THE things you need for a mantis tank: (simple)
-A tank 6~100 gallon depending on species.
-standard lighting, not strong, mantis shrimps do not like bright lights.
-sand 1/2 the tank if it is a spearer.
- some live rock to provide cover and to hold PVC if you want
-PVC
-I have macro algae not mandatory.
-heater if it gets colder, a chiller vice versa
-all the other stuff like carbon, sponge, pump, and refractometer.
I have a peacock mantis and a P. Ciliata
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb7/freshmentosmaker/peacockmantisshrimp.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb7/freshmentosmaker/PCiliata.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
THe peacock is a smasher and the thing you have to watch out is the peacock getting mad and cracking the glass. So you need a big tank for this guy. He hits the glass once in a while, but he didnt crack it yet... ALso peacocks are messy eaters. THey bury their food and the tank gets dirty fast.
THe P. Ciliata is a spearer I just got from this forum. Anyways they dig, so you need to put a lot of sand in and they just stay in there until there is food. Then it comes out and stabs it. You need to worry about the boredom it causes. Actually they are both boring, but the spearer is more boring because it just camps out. At least the Peacock beats the crap out of the other inverts.
* the main thing you need to worry about is money. I feed mine every other day and smasher food is about 1-3 dollars a day and spearer food is 5 dollars every 2 days.
That is about it.
~Abe
SCOTT42
New member
Cool pics, What I meant was, can you keep two differant kinds together? What do they eat mostly? are they safe? How do I know ive got a big enough tank/thickness? Is it nessary to any other livestock with them, or can you? Ive got a 20g. tank setup thats not being used,would it work? Overall is it just better to go a diffrent rought with that tank. I just want something differant, thats neat and differant from what everybody else is doing.
it is rare to keep two different species of mantis shimp together.
the only way to do it is to seperate the tank with a divider, or else they will kill each other.
depending on the species of mantis shrimp it will eat different things but a varied diet is needed.
they are safe as long as you dont try to pet them or anything like that.
if you go with an O.S. (peacock) some people suggest 1/2" thick glass but i have mine in a normal tank and it does fine.
depending on the species of mantis you might need a bigger tank than a 20 gallon.
the only way to do it is to seperate the tank with a divider, or else they will kill each other.
depending on the species of mantis shrimp it will eat different things but a varied diet is needed.
they are safe as long as you dont try to pet them or anything like that.
if you go with an O.S. (peacock) some people suggest 1/2" thick glass but i have mine in a normal tank and it does fine.
depending on the species of mantis you might need a bigger tank than a 20 gallon.
I have a smasher (g. smithii) mantis, approx 2 inches- and I would have to say that it does not cost nearly that much to feed.
I have snails and hermits in the tank- which it does not seem to bother- and every other day I feed- either raw shrimp, raw squid or a good sized chunck of a silverside. And none of the frozen foods are expensive- I bought the squid for 2.99 from the grocery store and the shrimp was from the grocery store also- I bought a 1lb bag- took some out- chopped them while frozen- and store them in a container in the freezer. Silversides were from LFS.
So it cost really depends on what you are feeding the mantis- even a peacock eating fozen food supplmented with live food- is not going to be outrageously expensive to feed.
My smithii did eat a chromis that was in the tank- and I plan on adding another- but there does not ALWAYS need to be a Chromis in the tank for it to hunt.
Giga
New member
Currently I have a N. wennerae in a 2.5 and its been great. I recomend getting one. This is what i'm doing. I'm making a 3 tank system. 1st tank is a coral,fish,safe invert. tank. Then it drain into a second tank that will be a tide pool display fuge. That will house my mantis. Then it goes to my sump where I will have another fuge where I will keep nasty hichhikers and breeding white feeder shrimp, so I will never have to buy food for the mantis or the fish.
heres the link to it
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1223321
heres the link to it
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1223321
abrahamcho
New member
HErmits here are a dollar and depending on size you can really feed them every other day. if you are going to feed them frozen put it in selcon and then give it to him/her. Good luck!
dismalorb
New member
You will want to use at least one pound per gallon of sand, and another 1-2 pounds per gallon of liverock. Trea
Be sure to drip acclimate your mantis shrimp when you get it also!
I use a Marineland Emperor 400 on my Peacock tank (along with macro-algae) and the same for my 40 gallon O. havanensis tank.
Be sure to drip acclimate your mantis shrimp when you get it also!
I use a Marineland Emperor 400 on my Peacock tank (along with macro-algae) and the same for my 40 gallon O. havanensis tank.
