My Planned Nano (mantis)

[Fella]

So, I heard today that I'm starting a new job in April, so I can finally start planning my nano.I won't begin work until I move house which shall be june or july. Adding livestock will of course be much later.

My planned inhabitant is quite different I think, it will be a species of mantis shrimp only.


Tank Spec

1 x cube of around 10g, viewable from at least 3 sides. Most likely custom made, with thick glass.

1 x flat sheet of glass as hood. Obviously there will be room for air, but on a tank so small I'd want to minimise evaporation.

1 x Thermo filter, eliminating the possibility for a glass heater in a tank with a mantis shrimp. Filter will contain LR rubble, sponges removed to lower nitrates. Filter media will be "vacuumed" with regular maintenance.

1 x Lighting fixture similar to this

1 x HOB filter for chaeto/extra turnover. Largest size on the site linked.

1 x bag of Red Sea aragonite sand for buffering PH/Filtration. 1.5-2" deep perhaps?

1 x Marine test kit- Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH

1 x Hydrometer. Do I need one different to this? It seems very cheap...

Questions so far (I'm looking at you salt-fingered guys to help me out here) ---

How much LR for a 10g nano with the possibility of only adding mushroom corals? I am going to be keeping a single mantis shrimp in this tank, bioload should be minimal.

I'm going to *try* and get one of these. N. wennerae, but my choice may be limited. An lfs near me has 2 mantis in currently, latin names unknown.

An example of a wennerae tank is here -

The 1/2 gallon tank that contains him is also currently home to a large Catseye orange snail, several mushroom coral, button polyps and a rock crab. Both the snail and rock crab are too large for him to inflict any damage and he seems to accept this, for now. Occasionally he'll take some shots at the crab, but after a few pops, he moves on to roaming around the tank. He's very active during daylight hours, frequently moving around the rock and sometimes resting on top of the small pump. I feed him a vitamin enriched krill about every three days.

Seems like this might not be too hard to do right?

Factors affecting my nano so far -

- Cleanup crew will be quite non existent. He will probably smash up snails etc, so I'll be mag-floating a lot.
- No Coral. I'm assuming most mantises dont get on with coral. The only exception I may make would be mushroom corals.
- No fish. After seeing a mantis kill a damsel I'm not up for that.


So, this is my plan. What have I missed? I always read the threads on here, but am grateful for all knowledge imparted. I've got plenty of time to plan for this, and want to take this steadily. Slow and steady wennerae's the race (see what I did there?).

 

[Fella]

http/www.truenorthreef.com/newcube.wmv

For those interested, this is part of what has inspired me to go Mantis-nano.

 

[@ombomb]

Awesome video... would love one of those on MY desk at work.

Don't skimp on the hydrometer though, most people will recomend a refractometer as they are generally more reliable and more accurate.

Not sure about the live rock, but common sense would suggest you could get away with less than the normal amount. The corals in the video all looked healthy enough to me...

 

[Fella]

Awesome video... would love one of those on MY desk at work.

Don't skimp on the hydrometer though, most people will recomend a refractometer as they are generally more reliable and more accurate.

Not sure about the live rock, but common sense would suggest you could get away with less than the normal amount. The corals in the video all looked healthy enough to me...

After having read Nmonks post in the "bigger" marine forum, I'm contemplating skimping now, my first thoughts are that I shouldn't, but, if it's possible to save money, that'd be great.

Furthermore, upon reading the following passage on maintaining a Mantis-nano, I think I may have "overdone" my plan -

Take the maintenance of water conditions, for example. In most marine aquaria, the owners worry endlessly about pH, salinity, nitrification, denitrification, and the hardness of the water, not to mention the presence of nitrates, nitrites, chlorine, phosphates, copper, ammonia, and ammonium (and uranium and platinum, for all I know). The source of the water is also a problem, with fancy terms like reverse osmosis and ion exchangers being tossed around like there's no tomorrow, all of which are guaranteed to scare the living heck out of beginners and potential converts to the field (who probably wished after awhile that they had stuck to FW instead).

Me? I take some tap water, let it stand for 24 hours and/or treat it using a tap water conditioner (to remove excess ammonia, heavy metals, etc), make sure the salinity is within bounds (around 1.022 specific gravity) and the temperature is between 24 and 28 degrees Celsius, then plop the mantis shrimp into the tank and watch it duck into the nearest burrow or cavity. I check the salinity of the water and make up for evaporation daily (the small tanks used for mantis shrimps makes this necessary), and do partial (25%-35% or so) water changes every two weeks (for 10 gallon tanks) to keep the water relatively clean. Other than that, I pretty much don't bother with chemical checks (although I do check ammonia levels for the smallest tanks every time I feel the water has become "smelly" or cloudy for some reason or the other). Since chemical reagent kits usually costs in the tens of US dollars for only 10-20 tests, I figure opting for mantis shrimps as opposed to relatively more delicate marine invertebrates and fishes will have saved me enough money over the course of a year to buy a new Hyundai.

Filtration is also not a problem when you maintain stomatopods. Although I discourage this, I have heard of people who simply stick mantises they have caught in their reef tanks into containers without filters, and the critters do fine given enough food and partial water changes every once in a while. I myself use either traditional undergravel or power filters (which provide biological, physical, and some chemical filtration), and I'm sure the mantis loves me for this. You may also elect to skip the filter and do water changes biweekly after every feeding, since the mantis shrimps seem to be relatively picky eaters when they find out you've become their literal slave and are a regular source of food.

Quite hardy critters I'm sure you'll agree.

 

[Aquascaper]

Look for my thread on cheap refractometers (the guys based in plymouth) as they are way better than a hydrometer and at only £30ish not exactly breaking the bank.

Mantis don't require such high quality water so less live rock can be used (not a good idea to have rock that it can climb up to the top of the tank ) but I wouldn't go as far as to use tap water on any marine tank as the water board (especially in the UK) can and will dose the system without warning with toxic (to inverts) levels of flouride, etc. Add to that the trace Copper in the tap water that will build up over time and kill the mantis (no matter how hardy) and also prevent corals from growing, even mushies.

There are some things you just can't skimp on and pure water is not one of them IMO

Put in enough live rock to give it a 'home' but not enough to aid an escape, use RO water for bi-weekly water changes and use a refractometer to test the SG.

I agree with the post off BlueBoard regarding the lesser need to constantly test the levels, etc. although I would still recommend weekly testing for Nitrates at least for the first few months till the tank settles down and testing for Ammonia and Nitrites untill the tank's cycled.
What I don't agree with is the blase attitude towards getting the water 'within limits' and then just plopping the mantis in.
SG shock, pH shock and temperature shock can cause serious health issues if the animal is constantly subjected to them and it can kill straight off if the levels are too far out

Peacock Mantis are not the cheapest of inverts so protect your investment

 

[Fella]

Heh, I hope not to be getting a peacock, but a smaller species. When Peacocks grow larger, they are powerful enough to crack even thick aquarium glass. I am sure they wouldn't, but for the piece of mind of my sceptical missus, I'll avoid them for now. More to the point, they require tanks nearer 20g! Also, I've seen them cheaper than £50!

Plymouth refractometer guy in Plymouth sounds good. My Missus's parents live down there so I might go pick it up rather than ship it next time I'm down.

I sadly do not drive and would be unable to transport large amounts of RO water (even worse, my nearest LFS selling RO must be miles away, I've never seen it for sale). http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/rev-cond.htm looking at these, could I not use a conditioner that would bind heavy metals, and add it 24hours before adding the water to the tank? I am asking only as a last ditch attempt to not buying an RO unit, as the research I've done has pretty much stated it's not really necessary.

I have tufa rock, and quite a bit of it, enough to fill a 10g for sure.

Here is an image of it in my 20g

That's not all of it either. I'm assumin it's tufa? It's very porous rock (it was given to me by a friend) and I've got a load of it. Could I add a little LR for filtration to seed this stuff? I am trying not to cut corners on my venture, but at the same time, don't want to spend more money than I need to to keep a single stomatopod alive!

I'm certainly not planning to plop a mantis straight into an uncycled tank, or not acclimate him properly, I'll treat him as well as my other fishes. He'll get properly acclimatised, and he'll be looked after properly for sure.


Thanks for all advice so far!

 

[Aquascaper]

I wouldn't bother with the Tufa rock as they can contain veins of metal compounds, etc. which, when submerged in alkaline saltwater, can leach into the tank. Buy live rock and mix it with base rock if you want to keep costs down, that's very cheap and, while not doing anything filterwise, it is from the ocean and you can find some pretty cool 'holey' pieces that the mantis will love.

With regards to the RO...............yes, you could use TapSafe De-Chlorinators, etc. which will remove some of the toxins but costwise it would be cheaper to buy a small RO unit and just make your own RO.
You say that there's no RO supply round where you are........ I bet there's a few marine aquariums though, you could easily make your money back

I appreciate you've researched and found that people don't see RO as a necessity but IMO it is. Tap water is just too chemically unstable and varies in quality too much to be putting in an aquarium, let alone a Nano where the pollutant is concentrated in a smaller volume. Its your decision, if it's impractical then there's not a lot you can do but I would urge you to think about it a bit more and look into the costs of your own RO unit.

If you're a 'normal' person it won't be long before you get a bigger tank anyway and then you'll really need one

 

[@ombomb]

I bought an RO unit for my Nano but now use it for water changes for my FW tank as well as it keeps the chemistry nice and stable for EI dosing, definitely worth having.

 

[Fella]

Ok, I submit! I'll look into using RO! You can't beat me down any more!

http/search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll...osis&category0=

Using Ebay, which of these would you recommend? I assume I'm making a substantial saving by purchasing second hand, but, I might need to replace the membrane soon after right?

Some of the units on there don't cost the earth, which is reassuring.

 

[Aquascaper]

One of the LFS down here sells a 50gph unit for £64 which is more than enough for a Nano.......wouldn't need to rob an old grannies either

 

[Fella]

One of the LFS down here sells a 50gph unit for £64 which is more than enough for a Nano.......wouldn't need to rob an old grannies either

Bah, surely I wouldn't need to spend that much all things considered? Is there any reason you wouldn't want to buy one from Ebay?

£64 doesn't sound too bad mind you.

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/REVERSE-OSMOSIS-WATE...1QQcmdZViewItem

That one doesn't sound bad for the price?

Sorry for all the questions!

 

[Aquascaper]

The only issue with buying one off eBay would be if it was second-hand, ie. how long before the membranes need replacing?

That one looks good though

 

[Fella]

The only issue with buying one off eBay would be if it was second-hand, ie. how long before the membranes need replacing?

That one looks good though

Yeah, it's really tempting!

For a ten gallon nano, would it be possible to do away with a filter entirely and by using simply the LR and a powerhead filter the entire tank? Does that sound plausible?

What sort of lighting would you recommend?

Thanks for all your help aqauscaper!

I was going to ask, in plymouth which LFS do you use? I've only been to 2, one was bretonside (brilliant, not marine though) and the other being devon aquatic I think? which had marine but because of cyano I couldn't really see any of the tanks!

 

[Aquascaper]

Depending on the amount of live rock and the frequency of water changes it would be possible to run the 10g with just live rock and powerheads (I would actually recommend this rather than using an external cannister filter). The ideal setup would be to have adequate live rock in the tank so it looks nice then fill an external cannister filter with live rock rubble and run that as a mini-sump.

If all you're going to keep is a mantis and a few soft corals i'd go for two small T8's or T5 power compacts (this would make the tank brighter and allow more coral options). All4pets have the cheapest power compacts i've seen.

The LFS I go to are:

Endsleigh Garden Centre, Ivybridge, Devon - Corals
Tamar View, Saltash, Cornwall - RO & Dry Goods
Taunton aquarium Centre, Taunton, Somerset - Corals & Fish

 

[Fella]

Updated Tank Spec

1 x cube of around 10g, viewable from at least 3 sides.

1 x flat sheet of glass as hood. Obviously there will be room for air, but on a tank so small I'd want to minimise evaporation.

1 x Powerhead (what size am I looking at here guys?)

1 x Hydrometer


1 x Interpet 36w twin T5 compact with 2 18w high output marine tubes

1 x bag of Red Sea aragonite sand for buffering PH/Filtration. 1.5-2" deep perhaps?

1 x Marine test kit- Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH

1 x Reverse Osmosis Filter (possibly)

For heating, i've been looking into the possibility of using a reptile mat beneath the tank as a heater. It would naturally have a thermostat. Would this be possible? I'm trying to avoid putting a glass heater in with a mantis.

Live rock - How much will I need? I'm shooting for fiji live rock, roughly 2.5kg?

Does the new updated tank spec look good? Anything else I'd need to look at here?

Many thanks again