Hey there,
A quick introduction first; One of my housemates got into aquariums a while ago and after having two freshwater aquariums, he decided to start a salt water aquarium as well. Ever since he got his first tank we've been joking around getting a mantis shrimp because they're such amazing creatures.
About a month ago he bought a couple of life rock pieces and to our surprise he got two mantis shrimps with them as well. Since he wanted to get some fish in them later on, he wanted to get rid of them. I decided to buy a tank as well (48L) and take of his shrimps.
We were able to catch the big one but the smaller one was too shy, so I just transferred the piece of rock it was hiding in.
I've looked around these forums for a bit and I think "the big one" might be G. Ternatensis as he looks very alike to the mantis in this thread:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2366074
As for the small one, I have no idea, I believe it's a spearer but it's hard to get a proper look or picture as he's very shy and quick whenever he's outside.
Anyways, here are the pictures I was able to make, not the best quality but the best I could do with my camera: http://i.imgur.com/RP6SrLx.jpg
The two have met and they did fight a little, but as far as I could tell none of them was injured. The bigger one scared off the small one and they both went back to their burrows again. The bigger one is a lot more active and often just marches/swims around my tank for a bit. He also likes to walk over the little one's burrow. When this happens the little one's spears come out and you can see and hear them hitting the rocks. The bigger one doesn't seem to care much and just continious minding his own business.
To prevent having too much algae, I bought a big algae eating snail. I was scared shitless putting him in my tank but it's been a week and the mantis shrimps don't show much interest in them.
Now for some questions;
- Will I be able to keep both of them in my tank? Provided I will feed them both enough or will they become territorial eventually and fight to death?
- Are there any fish that are safe to put in together with my shrimps that will leave alone? I'm still in uni (low budget) and there are not many decent fish stores around (the Netherlands), so I have to watch my spending's a bit if possible.
- I've been feeding my shrimps a variety of sea fruits I bought in the local supermarket (shrimps, mussels, tiny squids) I believe they are pre-cooked. I was wondering if this is a good diet, I'm mainly concerned about possible preservatives (I cannot look at the ingredients right now but I assume there are some in there). Would this be ok or should I look for totally fresh or maybe organic food?
- One of my housemates freshwater fish died last week (not sick, he messed up his CO2 dosing, nearly killing all of his fish lol). I threw it in my tank and the big mantis shrimp seemed to absolutely love it and it was amazing to see how he smashed the fish open. Afterwards I felt a bit stupid feeding him freshwater food, can this be dangerous or is it safe to do?
Cheers for reading and sorry for the long post.
A quick introduction first; One of my housemates got into aquariums a while ago and after having two freshwater aquariums, he decided to start a salt water aquarium as well. Ever since he got his first tank we've been joking around getting a mantis shrimp because they're such amazing creatures.
About a month ago he bought a couple of life rock pieces and to our surprise he got two mantis shrimps with them as well. Since he wanted to get some fish in them later on, he wanted to get rid of them. I decided to buy a tank as well (48L) and take of his shrimps.
We were able to catch the big one but the smaller one was too shy, so I just transferred the piece of rock it was hiding in.
I've looked around these forums for a bit and I think "the big one" might be G. Ternatensis as he looks very alike to the mantis in this thread:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2366074
As for the small one, I have no idea, I believe it's a spearer but it's hard to get a proper look or picture as he's very shy and quick whenever he's outside.
Anyways, here are the pictures I was able to make, not the best quality but the best I could do with my camera: http://i.imgur.com/RP6SrLx.jpg
The two have met and they did fight a little, but as far as I could tell none of them was injured. The bigger one scared off the small one and they both went back to their burrows again. The bigger one is a lot more active and often just marches/swims around my tank for a bit. He also likes to walk over the little one's burrow. When this happens the little one's spears come out and you can see and hear them hitting the rocks. The bigger one doesn't seem to care much and just continious minding his own business.
To prevent having too much algae, I bought a big algae eating snail. I was scared shitless putting him in my tank but it's been a week and the mantis shrimps don't show much interest in them.
Now for some questions;
- Will I be able to keep both of them in my tank? Provided I will feed them both enough or will they become territorial eventually and fight to death?
- Are there any fish that are safe to put in together with my shrimps that will leave alone? I'm still in uni (low budget) and there are not many decent fish stores around (the Netherlands), so I have to watch my spending's a bit if possible.
- I've been feeding my shrimps a variety of sea fruits I bought in the local supermarket (shrimps, mussels, tiny squids) I believe they are pre-cooked. I was wondering if this is a good diet, I'm mainly concerned about possible preservatives (I cannot look at the ingredients right now but I assume there are some in there). Would this be ok or should I look for totally fresh or maybe organic food?
- One of my housemates freshwater fish died last week (not sick, he messed up his CO2 dosing, nearly killing all of his fish lol). I threw it in my tank and the big mantis shrimp seemed to absolutely love it and it was amazing to see how he smashed the fish open. Afterwards I felt a bit stupid feeding him freshwater food, can this be dangerous or is it safe to do?
Cheers for reading and sorry for the long post.
