mantis shrimp tank mates

can i keep any fish in there with my peacock mantis? its in a 29 gal biocube

 

there are definately certain fish that can be kept with them. I personally would wait until you have had the mantis for a bit...I waited until I had Bob for several months...that way she knew that she was going to be fed on a set time.

Damsels are good, avoid things like clowns, gobies, or any sand lying fish.

 

chromis are anothing good one 2 keep with it also you could prolly put a cardinal and of course like schackmal said damsels can be good aswell

 

oh so i should have the mantis in there awhile first thats smart thinkn lol. i hadnt even thought of that. would black velvet damsels work?

 

dont know much about black velvet damsels but I think it should be good...damsels are hardy.

The reason I suggested having it for a while is because when you first get it, it will either do one or the other....1. grab whatever it can grab to eat (tend to be little pack mules sometimes) aa that is how they feed in the wild, or 2. be very stand-offish and not eat anything for a bit!

Mantis are VERY VERY smart creatures and will learn that you are the hand that feeds them. Once they know that they will get fed routinely chances are they will leave other fish alone in the tank. In fact I can place snails in Bobs tank away from her den and she will not eat them. In fact I have watched her pick up the snails ever-so-gently and move it to the other side of the tank when she is "redecorating". However when I go in and remove the same snail from the glass and drop it in front of her den she will smack it and eat it!

I have the same set up and I have a yellow tail blue damsel in her tank. I have watched that dumb fish go into Bob's den and hide when I am messing around in the tank!

Now you dont want to tempt fate....that is why you dont want blennies, sand-sifters, gobies, clowns or other fish that tend to stay in one place!

And of course you have to remember each mantis is going to be different! So dont go and get some $200 fish to put in there....as that will be the fish that gets ate!

 

Princess, my mantis, has a three striped damsel named Orca. They get along...sort of. More like siblings than friends. They have never attacked each other, Princess merely beats Orca to the food 99% of the time and will shove Orca out of the way to get to said food. And Orca twitches to get Princess away, which doesn't work. Ever. Princess merely looks at him like he's stupid

My mantis did have a hermit buddy...but once she grew larger than him, he was no more.

I would keep damsels or chromis. Cheap, hardy fish. You won't cry if they get killed. A school of chromis always looks cool. You could fit 3 easily, maybe 5, in your tank.

 

ok cool thanks guys i have afew already i can put in after a month?

 

Another mantis thread... making me want one :-(

 

Princess and Orca live in my office. I really get a kick out of watching the "interaction" between them. For people who think that only clownfish can twitch, damels trying to run off mantis shrimp can also twitch! They seem to tolerate each other, in a weird kind of way.

 

cdeboard u shud do it....theyr amazing