Tank for Mantis???

[ptr82]

Hi All,
I have recently discovered/confirmed that we have a resident Mantis that came into our tank as a hitch-hiker. He/she is approx. 2 inches long dark brown along the body with lighter brown segmented marks, his/her face is dark green with some orange/red markings.
I have heard some nasty stories regarding these little fellas but after following his/her movements for the past few weeks I can't get rid of him/her.
I have decided that I'm going to set up a tank for him/her and I'm now wondering what are the basic requirement of a tank to house these guys and what can I have in there with them.
Any info at all would be great,
also any pics of similar setups that anyone has,
THANKS IN ADVANCE
Peter

 

[brewercm]

I have a lime green one that I'm selling now that has been in my 18 gallon fuge that sits next to my 75 gallon. He stays either under or in the rock unless he gets hungry and will come out an wander around and look at me through the glass like "feed me stupid". I give him a nice chunk of raw shrimp and he pulls it into his place and is happy again. The only thing in there with it is pulsing xenia and chetamorpha aglae.

 

[sbwood007]

I have a 1.5" Mantis in a 10 gal. with base rock, with a HOB filter. He eats hermits, snails, and mysis shrimp. He/she seems happy.

 

[crafty_50mitchell]

Requirements generally follow the model for all saltwater creatures, but treat your mantis tank as if you would treat a reef tank. For example you want calcium supplemented for the mantis, and iodine (if added) should be at a far lesser dose than what you would usually use (it encourages molting but is also toxic to stomatopods) One thing specifically to look out for is pollutants in the air that could enter the mantis tank via gas exchange at the surface some examples would be: incense (sp?), cleaning products in airasol form etc. From my understanding stomatopods are very susceptable to these forms of toxin. I think I could keep going but your best off engaging this forum in questions and doing research (I'd start by trying to ID this guy, if you post a pic I'd bet you have a positive id within a day). Anyway hope that helps.
Brian

 

[crafty_50mitchell]

...and to actually answer your question. I've got my G.Chiragra in a ten gallon nano reef with 15 lbs live rock, bak pak 2 skimmer (with the venturi shut off, its main purpose is additional circulation and water volume), hob aquaclear filter (same function as skimmer, but soon to be refugium), 402 powerhead, 100w titanium heater, 28 watts of lighting (various softies, polyps, zoanthids, feather dusters, candy cane, and mushrooms in there..and some very healthy pipe organ if you can believe it), 2' live sand bed, calurpa, blue led moon light, and my loyal assistant the damsel. Keep in mind though this is my only reef tank so thats why I kinda went all out on it.
Cheers, Brian