New set up

M

Mr_slinkydragon

New member
Im planning on getting a mantis shrimp soon and i am wondering what the best set up is.

My tank is 100 liters with an area of 80x45cm to which ill putting 50kg of sand (to make a 10cm layer) and ill be placing 4-5kg of live rock, with any luck a get a small one that can hopefully grow on to its full life expectancy!

I am after any species from this list:
Echinosquilla guerinii
Gonodactylellus annularis
Gonodactylaceus glabrous
Gonodactylaceus graphurus
Gonodactylaceus ternatensis
Gonodactylus chiragra
Gonodactylus smithii
Haptosquilla hamifera
Neogonodactylus wennerae
Odontodactylus japonicus
Odontodactylus scyllarus
Acanthosquilla derijardi
Busquilla plantei
Cloridopsis dubia
Oratosquilla oratoria
Pseudosquilla ciliata
Pseudosquillana richeri
Squilla rugosa
Tetrasquilla mccullochae


Also are there any books solely on the topic of mantis shrimp?
 
This forum seems to get so little traffic now..

I kept a G. Ternatensis and I loved it. Very active, fairly large for the commonly available species out there, and does well in high light coral tanks. He lived about 4 years or so.
 
Out of everything in that list, try to stay away from G.ternatensis.

They're great stomatopods, but they also live in coral heads, meaning inorder to collect them live coral gets destroyed which contributes to reef destruction. There was even field research done where biologist collected soon-to-be-cleared-for-construction hard coral fragments, and a g.tern was found in the majority of them without ever finding one outside of a coral hide. I may be describing the whole situation incorrectly but roy has touched on that in the past (he was involved in it).

Anyway, G. terns we try to avoid showing demand for to save reefs. Ones that accidentally end up in a catalog is anybody's game though.

______

Echinosquilla guerinii - rare
Gonodactylellus annularis - rare
Gonodactylaceus glabrous - excellent
Gonodactylaceus graphurus - excellent
Gonodactylaceus ternatensis - pls no unless it happens to already be at a store and you can educate them about that species
Gonodactylus chiragra - very common, can chip glass but lay a sheet of acrylic at the bottom and you're 100% safe, behavior can be hit or miss, some G. chiragra are really active and cool, some can be super reclusive.
Gonodactylus smithii - amazing species
Haptosquilla hamifera - very rare, unlikely you'll find one unless you get a free hitchhiker, they're also super tiny.
Neogonodactylus wennerae - great, very hardy and easy to care for, very easy to find as a hitchhiker and stores that sell live rock often always have these up for sale too.
Odontodactylus japonicus - never seen one available in a very very long time, they're great if you somehow do manage to find one
Odontodactylus scyllarus - the most interactive and beautiful, however they can be really tricky to keep (way more prone to shell disease, and molt fatalities, you need to do a lot of research on these ones ontop of having A-tier water quality to avoid shell rot disease in too much lighting, and sadly they're one of the most commonly sought after species too.)
Acanthosquilla derijardi - never heard of someone with it, these are hatchets not smashers or spearers btw.
Busquilla plantei - might be hard to find
Cloridopsis dubia - like squillids, they can struggle in the home aquarium due to substrate conditions
Oratosquilla oratoria ^
Pseudosquilla ciliata - Great, common, and active. colors change when they molt to suit their environment.
Pseudosquillana richeri - I occasionally, once in a blue moon see them available online, gl finding one but they're pretty cool. I think kharn had one.
Squilla rugosa - low mortality rate due to mud burrows.
Tetrasquilla mccullochae - never seen one in the trade.

I'd also recommend checking out O. Havanensis, very fast and very active with similar coloration to O. Scyllarus. They're not prone to shell disease, not as picky with their burrows, they're smaller, the only catch is that they're very sensitive to ammonia and oxygen changes, but water quality swings would just slowly kill an o. scyllarus with shell rot anyway. They're not too rare either, maybe not everyday available specimens but if you know a supplier from florida they can easily get you one.
 
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You can get a cheap wennerae from salty bottom reef company! Like $12 and free shipping if you order enough stuff! They’re my favorite species as they seem to be the most interactive behind peacocks
 
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