The perfect mantis, does it exsist?

[SWNewb]

10g tank, lots of LR, shallow sand, crabs (pom pom, porcelain, emerald) and snails, no fish or hermits. Corals will be mostly if not all Zoas. Is there a mantis that will work? P. Ciliata seems to fit the bill the best so far that I can tell from my research, just wondering if there were others to consider as well?

 

[Pea-brain]

P. ciliata is a great mantis, but I wouldn't put it in a tank with less than 3" of sand, even if you give it PVC. Also, P. ciliata has been known to kill crabs in the past (crab shoved against rock, then stabbed in the underside) so no guarantee there. Also, I would remove the emerald crab. If i was to get into the mantises burrow while it was molting....and emeralds are good at getting under rocks and stuff. Most mantises would be smashers, and they would almost certainly would kill all crabs, though they would do better with little sand and alot of liverock.

Dan

 

[SWNewb]

Thanks for the info. I will take all that in to consideration. Time for more research I guess...lol

 

[SWNewb]

I guess Neogonodactylus wennerae would be another suitable choice, maybe a better one for the type of set up that I have but being a smasher I guess that rules out crabs and snails. Why do all the most interesting creatures have to be so difficult...lol

 

[Altpers0na]

his name was Tim.

 

[gholland]

Re: The perfect mantis, does it exsist?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12155651#post12155651 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SWNewb
10g tank, lots of LR, shallow sand, crabs (pom pom, porcelain, emerald) and snails, no fish or hermits. Corals will be mostly if not all Zoas. Is there a mantis that will work? P. Ciliata seems to fit the bill the best so far that I can tell from my research, just wondering if there were others to consider as well?

Haptosquilla glyptocercus would probably work... they eat amphipods and mysis (fozen too). They almost never leave their holes (except to snag prey), so make sure you have a hole in a piece of liverock facing the front of the tank (and preferably nowhere else) so you will have a chance to see it.

 

[SWNewb]

Does it have to be an actual hole IN the rock or just a cave or cubby hole for him to get in to?

 

[gholland]

It will probably have to be a tight hole in the rock... but it will do some work to perfect it.

 

[Conductive]

I used to have a P. ciliata that spent most of it's time digging new burrows and filling old ones in about 2 inches of sand. It seemed to be happy with shallow burrows. It was able to crack open smaller hermits, and take out an emerald so watch out. im pretty sure just about any mantis will make a meal out a anything that moves that's smaller than itself.