My Planned Nano (mantis)

[Aquascaper]

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

200gph will give you the recommended x20 flow rate to maximise the filtrationof the live rock

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.

Tough one, it may work, depends on how thick the base of the tank is I supose. Not really au fait with heating mats so could say for sure

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

1lb per gallon is the recommended level so that equates to roughly 4.5kg. As your only keeping one Mantis this can be reduced a little if there's too much in the tank.

 

[Fella]

http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/Z307077.asp

Mp900 seems suitable?



I'm very excited about all of this. My budget shouldn't be too bad either, I'm not going to be busting the bank here after all.

 

[Aquascaper]

That'll do the trick
Maxi-Jet are pretty reliable so you shouldn't have any issues at all with it.

 

[Fella]

Cheers for all your help aquascaper, this resource has been invaluable to me.

Another couple of questions I have -

Considering the lights selected, and the fact I'm keeping a mantis, what corals would you recommend? I understand it'd be some time before I'd add any anyway!

And clean up crew? If I've got a mantis, I want something it won't view as a tasty snack. I'm guessing this rules out hermits?

 

[Aquascaper]

Corals:
Let the live rock develop and you'll more than likely have some corals on there. As for adding corals I personally would stick to easy stuff like Zooanthid polyps and Mushrooms. My research on Mantis is rather limited so I wouldn't be too sure what can and can't be put with them but those two corals will give you plenty of colours to choose from to start with.

Cleanup Crew:
Large snails are pretty much all I know of as most other things like shrimps and crabs will be eaten. YOu're on you're own for that one i'm afraid

 

[bunjiweb]

Just so you know craig, there is one they call a "green mantis" on the "list" which is just down as squilla sp, as well as the normal peacock.

Ben

 

[Aquascaper]

You've probably found this site already in your research but i'll post a link here in case anyone else wants some great information on Stomatopods (Mantis Shrimps)

Roy's List of Stomatopods

 

[Fella]

Just so you know craig, there is one they call a "green mantis" on the "list" which is just down as squilla sp, as well as the normal peacock.

Ben

Awesome, cheers Ben! I'm gonna be using a 15 now I think, so there is a chance I might be able to go with a peacock. Still unlikely however.


And yes, Roys list of stomatopods is one of the best resources on the 'net for sure.

 

[bunjiweb]

depends what the dimensions of the 15 are..?

If it was 24"Lx15Wx12H then I wouldhave thought you could keep a peacock mantis in there absolutely fine.

Ben

 

[nmonks]

Hello Fella --

I posted a fair bit on my experiences of mantis shrimps elsewhere on this forum. I used to look after some for research purpose.

One small species we kept was Gonodactylus oerstedii, now called Neogonodactylus oerstedii. It gets to about 12 cm at most, but ours were more like 8-10 cm, and they came in as critters less than 4 cm long. Nothing short of depth charges will kill them; they are extremely hardy. There are some pictures here:

http/www.seewasserlexikon.de/krebse_garn...s_oerstedii.htm

Provided the tank didn't overheat, I'd be tempted to put the tank somewhere it would get some natural light. These shrimps often live in algae covered piles of rubble, and I think that would look nicer than just bare tufa rock or whatever. A friend of mine kept a whole colony of snapping shrimps that way, and they positively thrived. They were coldwater species, mind, so the fluctuation in temperature suited them better than it would, say, reef species.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Fella]

Quick update!


Many thanks to Nmonks for input as ever. If there is something cool to be done in the world of fishkeeping you're either doing it, or have done it! I'm grateful for the knowledge imparted.

I went to a marine LFS today, had a long chat with the manager who fortunately had some great knowledge on the subkject too it seemed. He was very realistic about it. If I want a peacock ordered in, that's £60. However, he told me that he gets them in with pretty much every time he orders live rock, and the next small mantis he gets is mine for free! This is the best I could have hoped for to be honest. He keeps one himself, and his advice to me was a good refractometer, as he fears salinity is a big killer. He feeds his catfish pellets and keeps it in an unheated, unfiltered goldfish bowl, and has done for years. I'm now utterly convinced my tank will be overkill.

 

[nmonks]

Sounds about right. I did keep my shrimps warmed, but otherwise, these are definitely one marine invert even hardier than most _freshwater fish_!!

By the way, I kept some beadlet anemones in with the shrimps. Again, indestructible, to the point they were reproducing like mad. While you can buy these, they're easy enough to collect from any rock pool anywhere in the UK. They're the pretty red anemones, look like strawberries with feelers.

Just as a general comment, mantis shrimps and beadlet anemones are an object lesson in marine biology, the message being that reef fish/invertebrates are absolutely not the baseline for marine aquaria. There are plenty of very hardy marine organisms evolved to live in varying, unstable habitats. Anyone who tells you _reef keeping_ is the same things as _marine aquarium keeping_ is just plain wrong.

Cheers,

Neale

He feeds his catfish pellets and keeps it in an unheated, unfiltered goldfish bowl, and has done for years. I'm now utterly convinced my tank will be overkill.

 

[Katana]

A friend from off the forums said that turbo snails and very large hermits would most likely be left alone if you had an N. Wennerae. And thanks for helping to inspire me to go mantis-nano too!

Also, they do need live foods in some form. If they don't have any prey to go after they will shred their raptoral appendages. So mantises are one of the few creatures which actually would suffer if there is no live food in it's diet.

And clean up crew? If I've got a mantis, I want something it won't view as a tasty snack. I'm guessing this rules out hermits?

 

[Fella]

I'll have an update on this thread later today

 

[Fella]

Ok, so not "later today", but I'm updating now.



So, Mike_Danger from these forums posted that he was looking to get rid of his mantis shrimp, so, I said I'd take it off his hands.

I'd been told they're very hardy creatures, but sadly not that hardy. He looked very rough after shipping and didn't last long in the tank. That couple with the fact my parameters were pretty scary means that he's now a goner.

He was intended for a 10g

A few kilos of LR, some coral sand and I thought I'd be sorted. Sadly of course looking back my enthusiasm was matched only by my naivety, and I had to strip the whole tank and restart.

So the new intended mantis home is here -

It's a 22g rekord 70. I've added to it

A set of T5's (one tube is daylight, one is moonlight). I am probably going to upgrade in future so that I can add some corals, but that won't be for some time yet.

A Maxijet 400. This was intended for the 10, but it's looking like I'm going to be upgrading this also. Is that necessary?

A lot of rock. I couldn't give an exact amount, but, there is a fair amount. I don't want too much, else I suspect I'll never see my mantis. I'm presuming there is enough to filter a mantis tank in there at the moment.

A Visitherm heater.

Coral sand. Nowhere near me is selling aragonite which is a pain. However, I think this'll be ok.

SG is 1.024 and I've been using "Tropic marin" marine mix. I was shocked (like most SW newbies are probably) at just how much salt I needed to fill a 22g tank!


The Rock and hitchikers

I'm presuming that little white anemone is aiptasia? At least I hope it is, because I've killed it dead.

He does however have a bigger brother -

Who I haven't had the heart to kill yet, although I know it's inevitable. I haven't got any corals in there for it to decimate, and it's the only living thing I see in the tank really. So I'm using it as a bit of an indicator.

This little "mussel-like" fella is a bi-valve of some sort? Is he going to tear a path of destruction through my tank or will he play nicely? Either way, I'm presuming a mantis will destroy it.

A dead bristleworm. A great photo I'm sure you'll agree. These things make it very scary for me to put my hand in the tank. There are some in there that are still alive, and are the size of giant fat caterpillars. Will this be beneficial to my tank? Or will they destroy everything like godzilla did to tokyo?

I also had a serpent (dead) and some small asterina starfish that I haven't seen in a while.

Is it bad that so many hitchikers are dying? I'm presuming they're just helping the cycle?



So where do I go from here?


I don't currently have a marine test kit (that's also on the list), but, I was told that my API freshwater test kit will work in saltwater, and that it's a scam to make you buy the marine one. Either way, results on sunday were

Ammonia - 4.0 (test went cloudy though. Looked like it was a falsse reading)
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate - Not tested.

Can i use the API fresh kit in saltwater? It'd be great if I could....

So where am I today?

The bigger rock on the right hand side is getting the bloom on it very thick (pictures to follow) and if the API kit is given the go ahead, I'll take more params.


I have on hold at an LFS a new mantis (£30 ) and I go away for a week on thrusday (great time for cycling I thought). Would he be ready to add after that? I'm very prepared to take this slowly (even if my original 10g bungle says otherwise).

Any advice gratefully recceived!