Oh No. Huge Decision To Make

[Hobbit]

Ok I have a 12 gallon eclipse 12, with about 7 lbs of live rock, and im not done with all my rock yet, so no life but a turbo snail, and some hitch hikers.

Here was my first stocking list.

CUC
1 turbo snail
4 astreas snails
4 cerith snails
5 nassarius snails
6 dwarf hermits
Pep shrimp
Randalli Pistol Shrimp

FISH
neon goby
maybe a clown

CORALS
zoos, shroom, polyops, other simple ones.

My other list im thinking about is just one thing, and maybe some corals.
That one thing is this:
http/www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11_03/pr...oot_parent_id=4

Maybe another species instead. I dunno

 

[SkiFletch]

In a 12g if you do want a mantis shrimp, you'd need a smaller species like a Gonodactylus, Neogonodactylus, or even a Psuedosquilla genus mantis shrimp. "Peacock" mantis shrimp (Odontodactylus Scyllarus) grow very big and require a 30g aquarium longterm.

Roy's List of mantis shrimp will help you figure out what you can fit in your 12g

 

[Hobbit]

ok thanks a lot. What would you do? How hard is it to upkeep a mantis? How often do they need fed?

 

[SkiFletch]

From a feeding and care standpoint they're easy. They can be messy eaters though, so glass scraping will be required frequently. You also might want to consider an urchin or larger mexican turbo snails as algae eaters for use with smaller mantises to keep the tank clean

 

[Hobbit]

Gonodactylus smithii
Neogonodactylus oerstedii

and i like this one quite a bit:
Pseudosquilla ciliata

is a smasher or spearer likely to break an aquarium, and can they break acrylic? I imagine a spearer is harder to keep, because they need fish or srimp. Not just hermits.

ok good, i was lookign at urchins and think they're pretty cool. Can any corals at all be kept with mantises? I cant remember her name, but its the user w/ a bunch of bettas, she has corals w/ her mantises.

and being 15, i dunno if my parents will like always driving back and forth to petstores. Im gonna try to get a job at a nice, well named lfs this summer, te owner knows me, becuase im one of the few she doesnt always have to explain cycling and fish to. (for freshwater) If i were to buy a lot of hermits, would it eat until it died like guppies, or does it know when to stop?

 

[Hobbit]

i wont be able to prely for a few hours, im at school, and stuff. Iprobably cant reply at all today actually..

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, Mantids rarely break glass despite the fact that they CAN. Usually all broken glass cases are the result of a mantis digging a burrow, encountering glass, and trying to break through. This is easily fixed by just dropping in a sacrificial piece of acrylic on the bottom of the tank covering the bottom (but not glued) before you add rocks/sand. That way if a burrowing mantis does find the sacrificial acrylic and breaks it, no big deal.

As far as feeding a mantis, they will eat any frozen prepared foods as well. Fish, shrimp, mysis, brine, silversides, etc. You dont have to buy live feeders all the time

 

[Hobbit]

thats very good to know. Is a spearer or smasher more likely to break acrylic, because thats what i have. Woiuld you do my other stocking, or go mantis?

What is your personnal fav for 12 gallons? Anything fairly small? Bah.


lol.

 

[SkiFletch]

I suppose a smasher is slightly more likely, but like I said its easy to prevent with a little sacrificial piece

Were it my tank I dont know what I'd do tbh. I'd pretty much have 3 options. Mantis; Goby/pistol shrimp pair (i'm a sucker for symbiosis), or a colorful spunky pseudochromis and a whole bunch of corals with either of the three

 

[Hobbit]

yes, but can't a goby/pistol go with other fish? I was planning on it for my first choise, and regardless as to which choice i choose, im getting these lights, so there will be corals..... lol
http/www.hellolights.com/index.asp

are stabber mantids as fun as smasher? Because most people have smashers. I guess i could do the sacrificial idead is a good one, because it would not need to be replaced when its broken, if i ever even found out. It could just get cracked again. I already have sand and rock in, and my tank accidently cycled before i got all the rock i needed, so nothing goes in, because im adding more cured rock, and dont want a mini cycle to kill something. I only have 8 lbs right now for 12 gallons

oppse, link didnt work. this is it:
http/www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageA...&ProdID=427

 

[Hobbit]

can they even break acrylic? Someone told me they cant....