Peacock Mantis Shrimp 20g to small?

[40B Knasty]

I have an extra 20 gallon tank that is going to be sitting around and love the idea of having one.
1) Is a 20g to small?
2) What is their diet and what you would consider a treat?
3) How many times a day do you feed them?
4) What salinity is perfect for them?
5) What is the best temperature to keep them in?
6) How big do they get?
7) Should I ever worry about them braking the glass? (I heard it is hard for them to hit forward and should only worry about putting a piece of acrylic on the bottom)
8) Do I need a protein skimmer?
Just trying figure out if this is going to hastle and a headache or a great thing to enjoy

 

[MMacro]

I wouldn't put a Odontodactylus scyllarus in a 20G. I have a N. wennerae in my 20G display fuge that is plumbed into my main display (150G). I feed mine chunks of LRS Reef Frenzy, krill, mysis, clam, mussel, hermits, snails, etc. Anything in the tank that they can smash through is fair game. Mine gets fed every other day with the food listed above. I keep my salinity at 1.026 and temperature at 77 - it never fluctuates more than a degree. I would get a skimmer because they are very messy eaters and your tank isn't very large so it will foul the water fairly quickly.

 

[Gonodactylus]

I have tried to address many of your questions in Roy's List which is pinned at the top of this thread. However, let me add a few comments:

1. A 20 gal is too small for a large peacock, but it will be adequate for a couple of years for a small animal under 8-10 cm.

2. Crabs and mollusks are their typical prey in the wild. I like to feed a mixed diet of clams, snails, crabs and grass shrimp. Manilla clams that you can buy in many fish markets are a particular favorite.

3. I feed every other day,'

4. Salinity should be 34-35 ppt. They can tolerate 32-38 ppt is slowly acclimated.

5. Temperature should be stable at 23-25 C. They can live at 21 - 28 is very slowly acclimated.

6, The largest reported is 165mm, but I have a large male which is 170mm.

7. I recently lost two tanks (20 gal) that a 12 cm O. scyllarus broke 4 cm above the bottom of the tank. It would repeatedly strike in the same place and eventually the glass failed. I don't think a 10 cm animal could have broken a standard 20 gal.

8. Skimming is useful, but not necessary if you are care about removing uneaten food, molt skins, etc.

Roy