Updated Photos of 2 Gallon Cube

[ninjafish]

John,
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. To answer your question, that picture was taken before I moved the tank to its surrent position and I had to have it off the edge to make room for the plumbing that attaches to the bottom of the tank. You can see the details and current photos here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=707234&perpage=&pagenumber=1

 

[ninjafish]

And here is a link to the newest video I have made:

www.truenorthreef.com/newcube.wmv

Cheers,

- Chad

 

[jaze36]

Great video, it really brings to life what you have done.

 

[ninjafish]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

- Chad

 

[sandlot13]

ummmm, ya............ still an inspiration, and you still make me incredibly jealous when it comes to amazing reef nano tanks!

tannerg.

 

[ninjafish]

Tanner,
It has been a while but it is great to hear from you again. Thanks for the compliment.

I have kind of a funny mantis story to tell. Ike hasn't been fed for a few days and was getting hungry so today I picked up 5 small hermit crabs and dropped them into the tank. Ike grabbed one right away and pulled it into his cave but after only a couple hits, he was already back out grabbing the next one. Before I knew it, all but one (one got away) were gone. I looked inside his cave and saw that all four hermit crabs were placed side by side upside down so that their openings were facing up instead of down. Ike was hanging motionless from the ceiling and staring right inside the shell openings. It looked like he was just waiting for one of the hermit crabs to come out and try and right itself. I watched this for about a minute and Ike was perfectly still the whole time. I couldn't stick around because I had to get home but I am looking forward to what I find when I get back on Monday. If there are empty intact shells than I'll know that Ike managed to outwait the hermits. If there are empty smashed shells I'll know that he just said -screw it - and opened 'em up

- Chad

 

[sandlot13]

hahahahahaha, thats awesome!!! I cant wait to get back to JR (my mantis) on sunday...... havent seen him for a month!!!! (dont worry, he was under good watch!) Let us know what happened!!!

tanner g.

 

[Jimsmowen]

WOW!!!

You truely have created your own little underwater world havent you!!!

That mantis has some personality

 

[ninjafish]

tanner,
you got it bro! The whole scene looked like something out of an aliens movie. The cocooned victims placed in the alien's lair so he can feed on them one by one. The fact that Ike looks like H.R. Geiger's monster only helps the comparison...


Jimsmowen,
Thanks! I am suprised that after all this time that I have been observing Ike, he still has a few tricks up his sleeve.

Cheers,

- Chad

 

[sandlot13]

chad

haha seriously, its amazing what these guys can do! Ill admit that my mantis sometimes baffles me with his intelligence..... the way he builds things in his tank is unbelievable. He has his main base that he always sleeps in, but he has a fetish for creating little "bunkers" around the rest of the tank that he can sneak to almost undetected and pounce on prey from! awesome little guys.......

 

[ninjafish]

tanner,
I agree. When I was posting in another forum, another reefer mentioned seeing his mantis do the same thing when he fed 1- blue legs at once. I started thinking that it might be a strategy that they have developed to store food when they have more than they can eat at one time. By keeping the hermits on their back, they are prevented from escaping and hept fresh until Ike is ready to eat again. Might be a good strategy when you have no way of knowing when your next meal will come along...

- Chad

 

[DrChristianTroy]

Really cool project; why i don't have still one?

 

[MAreefer1]

sik video

 

[chengj]

cube lighting

cube lighting

Awesome tank!! I love the clean look of it. Could I ask where you got the lights? I am looking to purchase something that overhangs like that.

 

[chengj]

cube lighting

cube lighting

oops, just read the page where you mentioned the your lighting. i saw that it's diy. that's a slick job.

 

[frezel]

sweet tank

 

[ninjafish]

Yup, the light was a retrofit 70w halide that I shoehorned into a 150w de halogen desklamp that I found.

Thanks for the compliments everyone.

- Chad

 

[EnFuego]

hey ninjafish,
I haven't commented on your tank here or nano-reef, but its a great idea for a "desktop" tank. My question is this...how do you clean the shells out of the tank if Ike keeps them in his "bunker"? Do you have to lift up the rocks, etc to clean it out every once in a while?

-Mark

 

[ninjafish]

Mark,
That is a great question. So far I haven't had a chance to clean any out but I am taking the rock out of the tank tomorrow to mount some frags so that might be a good time to clean up. I keep daring my coworker to reach in the cave and pull some shells out

 

[Agu]

Chad,

You're probably OK just leaving the shells in the tank. Anything in it's lair will be tossed out when the mantis is finished with them. The shells around the tank are used to block the entrance to it's home at night, so they really do need shells and rubble in the tank.