18g Nano Setup

They're gorgeous!

A bit of an update. The tank is going pretty well. I wouldn't have thought it was possible but the polyps I got on the LR a spreading even under my stand in light (its only a single 18W fluoro). The only problem so far is a shortage of algae eating CC members at my LFS. So far I have a single trochus and an assortment of scavenger types. The trochus had a big impact on the diatoms on the rockwork, but won't eat it of the sand , so unfortunately the sand still looks a bit brown speckled . Otherwise it's all good. I've had one further sighting of the little mantis, but hear it all the time. On the weekend I added a third fish: a Fridman's dottyback. These are listed as a bit of a gamble in one of the pinned articles, but mine is tank bred and the LFS has not found them to be as aggressive as their wild buddies. Anyway, since going in it hid for a bit but now is getting about all over the place. It kps to its self and doesn't bother the gobies at all.
Here's a picture of it

And a better pic of the yellow goby

Did you say mantis? as in mantis shrimp? That guy will make lunch of your fish someday. Just a warning. Are you making efforts to get him out? SH

I posted about IDing the mantis, which is very small (2cm) and the closest I could see that matched mine was the Haptosquilla hamifera, which doesn't get very big. I rarely see it and don't know which rock it is in. If I start finding empty snail shells I might try to remove it.

If your id is right, it most likely isn't going to be a threat to fish. There are multiple people who have mantises as large as 4-5 inches in tanks with fish. smashers do not prey on fish in the wild. The biggest risk is a fish coming too close to it's burrow and getting a warning blow. You may loose a few snails, but you will gain a very behaviorally interesting and intellegent pet.

The fish are not 100% safe, but they are more than likely not going to be killed by a mantis this small and reclusive.

~Katana~

Well it's been a while since I was on here last and I thought I'd give a bit of an update. I had a bit of a disaster a wek after I added the dottyback. I had a heater malfunction (it just died suddenly) which resulted in my tank's temperature falling quite dramatically overnight. Sadly I lost both of my clown gobies to white spot . The dotty back was completely unaffected but I decided to put off replacing my losses until there had been at least 2 weeks of no ich. The next fish to go in was a standard firefish, which was very shy for the first week but now hangs out right in front most of the time. I also added two hermit crabs, which was all that was left at my LFS at the time. Then about 2 weeks after adding the firefish I put in the last fish- a bicolour blenny. Also I finally got around to ordering a replacement bulb for my ebay bargain light which arrived not long ago. I also got a small moon light that attaches to my aqualight, a mini chiller for summertime and the book on coral husbandry by Eric Borneman. The tank is looking much better under the increased light and the colonial polyps are looking better too.
Here's an updated picture of the whole tank

A closeup of the dottyback

A pic of the blenny in its favourite spot on top of the polyps

Finally, the smaller of the hermits. They very quickly ditched their drab shells and moved into the prettier ones I had scattered about (fashion conscious little buggers)