thinking of maybe a mantis is something i want!!!

Lunchbucket

Premium Member
i think mantis are cool...yet i would dread one in my 55gal reef...for obvious reasons, all the fish dead and eaten, and 55gals of water on my floor if he likes glass boxing.

so what is a good set up for a single mantis. 10gal? acrylic no matter what right? just a hang on power filter...or do i need a little skimmer like a backpack or prizm

just some suggestions please! figured it would be a cheap COOL thing to have!!

also, where can i get a bright colored one for cheap

also, anywhere i can learn more about these facinating animals?

thanks
Lunchbucket
 
Will do. But it might be awhile, he's a clever one.

It's about 2 - 3" long and very nice coloring. Brownish with striking green tints.
 
kick butt!! i might have to throw a tank togther 1st

u have a place where you can store it...like the refugium or sump for a while??

later
Lunchbucket
 
Here is a good place to start reading information:
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/

I would strongly recommend an acrylic tank although it is certainly possible to keep them in glass. The most important thing in my opinion is to not have a heater or glass thermometer in the same tank as a mantis (unless it is one of the new titanium style heaters).

An Eclipse 12 is a pretty decently sized and cheap acrylic aquarium for a larger smasher. Lots of people keep mantis in Eclipse 6's, but I don't think its appropriate to put a 5 or 6 inch mantis in anything smaller than 10 gallons.

You could also just get a glass tank, although I'd recommend getting one with glass that is at least 3/8" thick. Standard 10 gallon tanks are way too thin, IMO. A 15 or 18 gallon tall glass tank is a good size because you will probably want a 5 or 6 inch deep sand bed for the mantis to burrow in. Still, you are always taking a chance with glass and it is really LOUD when a 6" smasher bangs away on a glass tank (and discomforting)!

A third idea would be a 3 or 4 foot long acrylic tank partitioned off into separate compartments for different mantis specimen (you don't want to put 2 mantis together :-) ).

Add a sump for a heater and other equipment, or go with the titanum heater inside the tank. There is some dispute about water quality and mantis; you probably will have a healthy mantis without a skimmer -- they are pretty clean animals -- but if its feasible adding a small working skimmer would certainly be helpful. Some people will tell you mantis don't mind polluted water but I think this is irresponsible and wrong.

Live rock makes the best bio filter, looks natural and will provide useful during burrow construction. I use live rock and bioballs on my tank although I think I may ditch the bioballs soon since I have some extra rock.

Good luck and keep us posted!
 
lunchbucket, glad to have a new person on the mantis board. Even better is that you are one of the small few that are smart enough to ask, before you buy.
I have a 30g that is 36" long and I am about to add to dividers, making it three seperate tanks so I can keep more than one mantis. I also would say that a 20g would suffice very well for a single mantis. IMO you can even have a small reef, maybe build a bio-tope reef in a 20g and have your mantis as the main animal.
If you can find a used Bak-Pak, or Prizm skimmer, I think that would be the best way to go. On my 20g I have a Prism and a millenium 2000, that was throw on to circulate the water more since it was just lying around the house, and my tank is thriving as is with a PC 55W for lighting.
The smaller varieties of mantis, IMO only, don't pose much of threat to your tank/heater/etc... if they have plenty of LR to burrow around, are fed the proper food regularly and have something to hunt in the tank. I have never lost a fish to a mantis, but load my tank up with a common crab around where I live and they smash away on those poor guys pretty regularly. They like live brine shrimp and most cut shrimp/crabs, occasionally taking cut fish. Hope that helps and feel free to email anytime,

Fidel
 
hey lunchbucket and welcome to our little part of the board!

i currently keep my mantis's in 2 all glass 20" long x 16" high x 14" deep ( i asked for extra thick glass and i highly recommend it if you go with glass ).

i have a fluval 403 cannister on each and alot of live rock. (since moviegeek suggested it for filtration )

i have just change back to a very fine crushed coral sand which is 7" deep and i believe the deeper the better.

i agree with moviegeek about the heaters and thermometers in the tank. its asking for trouble.
i use the adhesive thermo's that stick to the outside of the tank and if you go with a cannister you can get the eheim cannisters with a built in heater (i wanna upgrade to these soon )

i feed prawns/ live shrimp/squid/shellfish.

water quality is a must for me. i like to keep my tank to the same levels as a reef keeper would as dr roy caldwell told me nitrates are a huge problem for mantis and i think that its cruel to keep and animal in polluted water.

let us know how you do?
 
If I catch it all I have to put it in is a 10 gallon. Not thick glass at all. Is it really likely that it would break the glass? How often does this actually happen? I realize that it is possible, but I'm trying to assess the actual risk.

PS> I suppose I could put it in a rubbermaid container instead of the 10 gallon....
 
hey greg
i keep my mantis in a glass tank without any problems but it might depend on how big the mantis is?
i have never had anything broken but i know moviegeek lost a thermometer to one.
if you have the rubbermiad then i would use that if its only to store it a little while for lunchbucket to collect. just give it plenty of hiding places.
 
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