new peacock. few questions..

[Phishguy]

I brought a long spined urchin to my lfs today and was planning on getting a store credit. They have had the coolest peacock there for a while and it was supposedly on hold for someone for a very long time. Well I asked anyway and he said the owner told them to sell it. It is about 4" and very personable. I had a feeling I was going to get one at some point and plumb it into my system but today I guess I felt like putting the cart before the horse. I now need to set up his new home. He is in my sump for now.
My question is about tank material. I know most people recommend acrylic, but can glass be used? If not, what thickness should I use for acrylic? I was thinking 3/8" should be sufficient. I was thinking about 18w X 12d X 10h. I appreciate any and all advice. Thanks

 

[Phishguy]

 

[King Nikon]

That is way too small. For a permanent home you want at least 30 gallons. Yes acrylic is preferable and 3/8" think is plenty.

 

[Phishguy]

Thanks for the reply. Do you think 24" x 18" x 12" would be sufficient? It's about 23g

 

[kjreiner72]

They are a little bigger than some others offered for sale when full grown. I would do a minimum of 30 as to provide it with enough room to be happy and move around when full grown.

 

[King Nikon]

I had my mantis in a 25 gallon tank for a while, the plan was to move him to a new tank when he got bigger, but he died before I ever needed to worry about that. Currently I'm setting up a new tank thats 30 gallons for another peacock.

So no, 23 gallons isn't a sufficient size as a permanent home.

 

[Phishguy]

Ok I can do that. Is 12" height appropriate or should I go deeper?

 

[SwiftysReef]

Pretty sharp dude you got there. I would go taller but that is my personal preference. You gain water column too.

 

[King Nikon]

12" will probably be about 9" after sand and probably like 8 1/2" of water unless you fill to the top. So taller is much better and adds substantially more water for stability, they generally climb around rocks and walk around on the sand bed, at least mine did. My fish swam around on the top rock work and my mantis walked around on the bottom and sat in his burrow a lot like a porch monkey.

 

[DanInSD]

My O. scyllarus tended to stay on the bottom, but roamed around a lot. So, I got a 30-long tank that wasn't much over 12 inches high. Worked fine.

Dan

 

[King Nikon]

That's what I'm saying, they stay near the bottom and my fish swam around the top. But theres nothing wrong with having a higher tank, it adds more water for better water stability.

 

[Phishguy]

Well I was ping to build the tank myself but ended up asking the only trustworthy lfs employee I know todo it for me. He does them often on the side for people. The final dimensions I gave him are 24"w X 18"l X 15"h. That will allow for some rockwork and maybe a few zoos and/or ricordias. I'm not worried too much about water volume since I'm plumbing it into my main system. In fact, I'd almost like to keep the volume as small as possible while keeping our new friend happy. he is happily awaiting his new home in my fuge. Burrowed under some rock and PVC. Can't wait for the move so we can watch him more.

 

[Gonodactylus]

The animal shown is about 4 inches and should be fine in a glass aquarium 20 gal or larger. There are two issues involved in deciding what size aquarium to use; water quality and room to roam. If the tank is plumbed into a larger system, water quality should not be a problem. I have lots of 3-4 inch O. scyllarus in standard 20 gal tanks and they do well. However, if you have the option, a bigger footprint (shallow) would be better as long as the lights aren't too close to the animal. My favorite aquaria for O. scyllarus are 35 g breeders - thick glass, big foot print.

Roy

 

[othercents]

My question is about tank material. I know most people recommend acrylic, but can glass be used? If not, what thickness should I use for acrylic? I was thinking 3/8" should be sufficient. I was thinking about 18w X 12d X 10h. I appreciate any and all advice. Thanks

For the fastest way to get a Mantis tank, just buy a 30 or 40 Gallon AGA Breeder tank. I would recommend 40, but 30 should work.

If you want to build an acrylic tank use the same 30 or 40 gallon breeder dimensions (36 x 18 x 12 or 36 x 18 x 16 respectively). If you only want it to be 24" across then you should make it 24" deep and 12" or 16" height. You actually get less space to roam (576 sq in vs 648 sq in), but you still get 30 or 40 gallons of water.

 

[othercents]

My favorite aquaria for O. scyllarus are 35 g breeders - thick glass, big foot print.

Roy

I was wondering what the 35G breeder was, but I found one and they called it a 35G long which is basically a 40g long (48x12x14 or 48x12x16 respectively). I was wondering how good a long skinny tank would be for a mantis.

David

 

[Phishguy]

I thought about a 40g breeder a lot since I have 3 in my garage but passed for 3 reasons. I wasn't sure if the sides could be drilled and it's 3' where I really wanted to keep it to 2' and I was afraid of the glass breaking. I've committed to 24" x 18" x 15" acrylic which my friend is currently building. For now, he is hanging out in my fuge and he's made a nice little home.