newbie needs info

[Fishyfins]

hiya
im an 18 year old kid, and i work in an aquarium shop in the UK, where we specialise in marine systems. about 2 weeks ago, whilst looking into one of our invert tanks, and i noticed a pair of eyes sizing me up for a piece of live rock. i imediately realised we had a mantis, and an invert tank is not the best place for it to be. i quarantined the piece of rock with the mantis, and told the boss, who said he would not sell it because of what it was. i decided to take him in, and have been setting up a small 18" tank for him. its been working for about 2 weeks now, with a small heater, small sponge filter, temperature at around 77/78 F, SG at 0.023/24, and with a deep coral gravel substrate with a few rocks and pipes sunk in. at work, ive been feeding the lil cutie frozen brine shrimp. anyway, i have a few quesions.

1. is this system and paramiters OK for a mantis?

2. what sort of lifespan does a mantis shrimp have (mine is about an inch long)

3. what sort of growth rate should there be, and how often should they moult?

thanks for your help. ever since i started fishkeeping in 2001, ive always wanted to keep a mantis, but have found there to be very negative views about them, and even my boss keeps joking that next ill be setting up a tank for bristleworm only. Lol i hope that when its settled down, i can get a photo of it to post here, and hopefully you can identify it, so, untill then, thanks.

 

[Gonodactylus]

The system should be fine for an animal this size.

Not knowing the species, it is hard to say what the life span will be, but if it is a dwarft species, it could already be full grown. If so, it will molt every 4 months or so and could live another two or three years. If it is a young animal of a larger species such as G. smithii, maximum size will be around 7-8 cm and it should molt a bit more frequently, say once every two months. Still, growth rate will not be high and it will take if over year to double in size and 2 or three years to get to 5 -6 cm. Maximum live span is 4-5 years.

Roy

 

[Fishyfins]

thankyou very much

 

[ejls]

Hi Fishyfins,
If you ever get any more mantis into your shop can you PM/email me? I'm Cambridge based so could come and pick it up same day. I'm very keen to get hold of one but like you say there seems to be more of a negative perception in the UK about them than in the US. My LFS laughed when I asked if they had any!

Cheers,

Ed

 

[Fishyfins]

sure thing Ejls, ill keep a look out for you

and now, a few more questions.

i got my mantis home yesterday, and it passed thre first hurdle, it was alive this morning, 14 hours after being put into the tank. there is one thing im worried about though, the mantis has taken to blockading itself in its hole with woody material, i know its alive, cos occationally a "gush" from inside will break down a small portion, and i can see him come up to replace the broken edifice, is this normal behavior, and if not, whats going wrong? anyway, the question.

i know that mantis wont live with inverts like crabs and shrimp, and also fish, but will they live peacefully with corals, and inverts like fanworms? and how about coulerpa (i can never spell that XD)

i think thats all for now, if i have any more queries, i will be back. i also want to post a piccy sometime (if i can catch him out the hole, which he never seems to leave)