substrate, co-inhabitants, other q's for peacock

[Xjinn]

i'm setting up a 20long glass tank plumbed to a bigger reef for a peacock, and have a few q's

1) is aragonite a fine substrate? are they big sand burrowers or will he assemble a cave around the live rock structure i place for him? i think i'd like to mix in a good amount of southdown playsand to keep costs down, planning on 2.5-3" sandbed, is this enough?

2) can he share the tank with a somewhat active fish like a small coral beauty if the fish has lots of space to swim? i have heard people feeding goldfish and mollies to this basher type mantis. do they all have a taste for fish, or only if they lacking traditional food?

3) if i catch the mantis bug like a few others here and want to keep a spearer in another tank, that would have very different substrate requirements right? do all spearers burrow directly into the sand like L. maculata? do they need mud or just sand? what are some interesting spearer species that dont hide in their burrow all day?

4) finally, i'm well aware that a large basher CAN break a thin glass tank like a 20long, but know that many people keep them in them. if my mantis is happy with his enviroment and not agitated i shouldnt have a problem correct?

thanks for all the help

 

[EzRida206]

3) it has been said here that the p. ciliata is a pretty active spearer species. look for a thread called "ideal environment for ciliata" or soemthing like that for ideas about their substrate and such.

 

[Gonodactylus]

In the wild, O.s. usually burrows in muddy, rubbly substrates. However, in a tank, unless you have a sandy mud with some structure to it, they have a difficult time digging a burrow because they do not secrete mucus like Lysiosquillids that can bind the sand grains together. For that reason, you are probably better off providing LR and rubble and allow the animal to construct its own cavity - or give it a piece of 2 inch pvc. Since sand or argonite will not contritube much to the burrow, there isn't much need for a think bed unless it provides nitrate removal as a sand bed system. It will, however, provide the animal something to do as it shifts the sand or gravel around.

I've kept literally hundreds of O.s over the years and have lost only a couple of tanks. I can't think of another report of anyone losing a 20 gal, so I would not worry about it.

You should be prepared to lose any other organism (less than 5-6 inches long) placed in a tank with an O.s. They may go months withoug touching a fish, urchin, or clam, and then one day, they will. That is not to say that you shouldn't put other organisms in with them, simple that if you do, you should consider them as potential food.. The first O.s. I ever kept was "donated" to me by an importer after it took out six clown triggers in one night. You just can't predict how they will react to tank mates. I hear people all the time say "My mantis has lived peacefully with species X for months - no problem." However, with a change in molt status or reproductive condition, their temperment can quickly change.

Roy