peacock mantis tank question

[daniella3d]

Hi,

I just got my new sweetheart peacock mantis and I need a better setup for her. she's around 4" to 5" for now. I wanted one for so long!

I plan on buying tomorrow a 30 gallons for her but I have a hard time fiding acrylic tank. My question is, if I buy a glass aquarium and put an acrylic sheet at the bottom, then sand, will it be relatively safe that she will not break the glass? I am not much afraid for the side glass, more for the bottom as they tend to dig.

For now she's very well behave and have not try to punch anything in the aquarium (fluval edge 6 gallons) since I got her 3 days ago. I have plenty of cured liverock for the new tank and good established sand so there should be no cycle but I will check that before I put the mantis in.

I will buy some PVC black pipe and put liverock over it so that she will have a nice dark burrow. I will not use any light on the tank, just a little bit of ambiant light. She does not seem to have any shell rot for now. Will low ambiant light be a risk for shell rot still?

I plan on doing weekly water change and keep the water quality top notch. I know it is dangerous to dose iodine for her so I will not dose anything, just clean water each week with IO salt.

Here is a video of her. Is it normal that she's pale like that? Anything else I need to know?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=VkArm0TJhNY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE5k75LA3gE&feature=player_detailpage&list=UUNJrJdXbnrn7oMFPCQ77weQ

[daniella3d]

Nobody know? I guess mantis are not so popular here...

I finaly got a glass tank, Deep Blue 30 gallons 24 x 24 x 12" high, shallow reef and will put an acrylic sheet at the bottom and keep her burrow in the center.

I think that's going to be a nice mantis setup.

http://www.fishtanksdirect.com/images/products/detail/DeepBlueProfessionalRimlessMiniFragTank.JPG

[i have crabs]

Unless you have 1/4 glass dont worry about your mantis breaking your glass, its more of a myth than a problem, sure it could happen but i had one smash the glass plenty of times and ya it made me cringe but never any problem with a 3/8" tank,
Also watch what you feed him, i fed mine some goldfish feeders and he dropped dead, im thinking they were treated with copper,

[AHHope]

Ive been keeping mantis shrimps for years and ive never had one break any glass. Even my biggest peacock hitting my 32g full force isnt enough to crack it. I dont even have an acrylic bottom on the tank with my 13 inch zebra mantis and they are really known for cracking the bottom out of tanks when they build their burrows.

As far as shell rot goes peacocks are the only ones really prone to it due to the fact they are found down on the reef instead of on the reef flats and tide pools like most of the smaller ones. As long as you dont plan on running t5ho, hqi or high powered leds you should be fine.

The most effective and economical thing i found too feed my peacock were frozen foods and the occasional little live clam from superstore. They have to strike it to get it open just like a live crab.

[daniella3d]

oh thanks a lot! that's really comforting to know. I will still put an acrylic sheet at the bottom, just to be on the safe side but won't put anyting else.

For now I feed it fresh mussle, which she likes a lot. And I have put many atlantic snail in her tank and she ate 2 so far. I give them to all my mantis and they all like these snails.

I thought that zebra mantis were spearer? spearer don't crack or smack glass don't they? I thought only smasher would possible break glass?

I don't have any light, just ambiant. I do have a radion which I would use on very low setting, but for now ambiant light will do well.

for the snails, I buy them for very cheap, 30 snails for 1.50$ and they are good size. They are sea snails that humans eat, and they are called Littorina Littorea. I buy them at Kim Phat store...very cheap and they do great in our aquariums. They have adapted very well in all my aquariums and are even starting to keep the aquarium glass clean. They are very resistant and even though I rinsed them under running water, then dropped them from very cold water into the 78F tank without any acclimation, I have not lost a single one beside those that the mantis ate. I have them in my tanks for a month now and all survived. The peacock and the chiragra don't even touch the nasarius snails that I have in the tank, but they do like the littorina.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_periwinkle

Really sorry to hear about your mantis. I did feed the chiragra with one feeder goldfish once but she's was ok with it (I guess I was lucky there was no copper). I do not intend to feed the peacock any fish as I was hoping to maybe put a little fish with her in the 30 gallons tank?


Ive been keeping mantis shrimps for years and ive never had one break any glass. Even my biggest peacock hitting my 32g full force isnt enough to crack it. I dont even have an acrylic bottom on the tank with my 13 inch zebra mantis and they are really known for cracking the bottom out of tanks when they build their burrows.

As far as shell rot goes peacocks are the only ones really prone to it due to the fact they are found down on the reef instead of on the reef flats and tide pools like most of the smaller ones. As long as you dont plan on running t5ho, hqi or high powered leds you should be fine.

The most effective and economical thing i found too feed my peacock were frozen foods and the occasional little live clam from superstore. They have to strike it to get it open just like a live crab.

[daniella3d]

Ok the tank is 1/4" thick, should I be worried?

Unless you have 1/4 glass dont worry about your mantis breaking your glass, its more of a myth than a problem, sure it could happen but i had one smash the glass plenty of times and ya it made me cringe but never any problem with a 3/8" tank,
Also watch what you feed him, i fed mine some goldfish feeders and he dropped dead, im thinking they were treated with copper,