p. ciliata housing

[Altpers0na-old]

in the Dr. Roy id and description pages it says that P. Ciliata live in shallow burrows.

In the search results iv found for P. Ciliata stuff on this forum i have found very little further detail to burrow consturction.

I did see , U shaped tubes. and some intracate stuff about what Dr. Roy does to study and watch the burrow behavior....

so, my ? is Ciliata's get to be 3 ish inchs long... do they need 1.5 X deep sand bed like other spearers? when i sink a tube/burrow into the sand does the angle of the burrow matter much? (verticle vs. nearly flat)

any other considerations?

and are they going to eat my skunk cleaner shrimps and emerald crabs?

 

[caynus]

Hi,

From what i have read, and heard on this forum, P. ciliata do need a sand bed 1.5x their body length for a minimum. It also needs to be wide enough for them to do a u-turn in the burrow, but as mantis shrimp are quite flexible this means it only needs to be about a 1.5x as wide as their body.

I'm not sure about the angle of the burrow, but what will most likely happen if your mantis is unhappy with their burrow, is they will simple build one themselves, which is often the case for spearers and smashers alike. Owners spends hours setting up the perfect burrow, and the new shrimp when introduced ignores it and builds its own. Although this isn't always the case by no means.

Lastly, i would imagine that your ciliata will eat your skunks. As for the emeralds, if they are much smaller then the mantis they are probably toast too.

Goodluck,
Caynus

 

[Altpers0na-old]

dont have one yet, just considering....

 

[Gonodactylus]

Ideally, a 3 inch P.c. would have a u-shaped burrow about 12-18 inches long and 6-8 inches deep. However, they have a very difficult time digging a burrow ing loose sand. They just don't have the mucus production to stabilize the walls. Therefore when keeping one in an aquarium, if you can't use muddy sand that sticks together, it is probably better to use pvc tubing. The grey electrical conduit pre-bent to a 90 degree angle works really well. You can either leave it smooth on the inside or line it with sand.



Roy

 

[Altpers0na-old]

my tank cant really provide for 12 to 18 inchs deep sand....

maybe a smaller species...

 

[Diet Plain]

he said 12-18inches long and 6-8 deep in the wild.

 

[mattyice]

what i would do is just create a burrow out of PVC with a part that is flush with the sand down to a 45 from there make it about 5-6" long and go to a 90 and then another 90 2-3" from that...to make the end of the burrow that is flush with the sand appealing you could try taking some PVC glue on the outside and roll it in some sand a few times untill you get the desired coverage

 

[Diet Plain]

That is a really good idea! I'm taking that if you don't mind.

 

[DanInSD]

Ixnay on the PVC glue! Any residue will kill a stomatopod.

 

[Altpers0na-old]

really? i thought that stuff was all over the various pvc jungles iv seen on here

 

[DanInSD]

I haven't seen or heard of anyone using glued PVC inside of a mantis tank. Most tanks housing mantis are not large enough to require much plumbing (most HOB filtration). If you do need to do any plumbing, make darn sure everything is completely dry before introducing the stomatopod. The are particularly sensitive to organic solvents.

Dan

 

[Altpers0na-old]

good to know, thanks.