questions

[El Diablo]

My son and I am setting up an 50 gallon tank for him. He really wants to keep a mantis and I do to.

My questions are: Its a glass tank so should I put a piece of Acyclic in the bottom of the tank?

Should I go ahead and drill this tank like planned or just run a canister filter and a hob skimmer?

 

[gozermantis]

i would suggest using an acrylic lined bottom for a larger species like peacock's or even a mean chiragra. I use plain hob filter's for all my mantis and a hob skimmer.

 

[DanInSD]

I guess the filtration is personal preference. While a canister filter and one of the newer, better HOB skimmers will suffice, I think that 50 gal is a large enough size that the tank will benefit from sump-based filtration. It's a personal preference, at this size point. I think that if you were already planning to drill and plumb the tank, that's your best bet.

Yes, some acrylic would be a Good Idea. This size tank would make a great home for an O. scyllarus or P. ciliata. It's sort of wasted on a G. chiragra given its stay-at-home nature.

Regards,
Dan

 

[Thurge]

If your setting the tank up for your Son, I would go full bore and drill that sucker. Show the boy ALL of the tricks.
For piece of mind I think I would put down a piece of acrylic, but I think the glass on a 50 should be strong enough to handle a Peaock.
I also wouldn't get anything other than a Peacock. Either get a big bugger, or get as small a Peacock as you can find and watch it grow up.

 

[gozermantis]

It's sort of wasted on a G. chiragra given its stay-at-home nature.
Regards,
Dan

indeed that would be waste of a tank for a chiragra just stating that i would def use a acrylic for that species.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Well, I am going to go against dogma here and say that in the 45 years that I have kept literally thousands of stomatopods including hundreds of O. scyllarus and Hemisquilla californiensis (the two species most likely to take out a large tank), I have never lost a tank larger than 50 gal. and I do not add acrylic even though I have occasionally recommended it to people who seemed concerned. I did lose a 50 gal. Instant Ocean refrigerated aquarium, but that ancient design was a marine plywood tank with an insulting double glazing design and I suspect was much less strong than modern tanks.

Roy

 

[El Diablo]

Yes we were planning on getting a large peacock. Would a mh be to much for a peacock or should we run a pc?

I will get some picks up soon I just got the stand built.

Thanks for the awnsers,

 

[barnabus's gimp]

I had a full size chiraga smash the side of a 10 gallon with what seems like very thin walls. I was checking for cracks and didn't see anything... and it sounded really loud.. my guess is they would have to hit glass a few times before an actual break... then again I have heard of people cracking tanks moving live rock so who knows.

 

[justinl]

o. Scyllarus is a fairly deepwater species and isn't used to a lot of full spectrum light. Stick with PCs.

are ou planning on keeping corals?

 

[El Diablo]

some zoas and kenya tree

 

[justinl]

you don't really need halides for those. At this point it's a choice you have to make. depends on your personal priorities.

1) halides and wicked coral growth (given everything else is right) but no peacock (you could always choose an intertidal stomatopod species like P. ciliata) or
2) PC or T5 lighting (but go easy on it) with a peacock.

If you want my opinion, a peacock is infinitely cooler than colorful lumps of meat. :spin1: (just jokin, I have corals too)

 

[Thurge]

Either way I would provide your mantis with a very long burrow. There is some anecdotal evidence that super bright lights may make Peacocks a little more reclusive, but that doesn't mean your Peacock will conform to this, or that it is actually true. Many of us who keep mantis do not provide an artificial burrow, prefering to let the mantis make a "natural" burrow. This means that while the mantis is comfortable, it may not be able to totally escape the lighting. Running a MH with a Peacock it becomes more important to provide a place that it can totally get out of the light. Be it via a PVC burrow that is more than 2x as long as the mantis is, or a large flat rock that the mantis can burrow under, or a dense rock pile that provides the ability to really escape the lighting.

PC though will be fine for Zoa's and Kenya Trees.