mantis

ok so today i bought a 4 inch mantis shrimp to put in my tank thats doing nothing for now.. acclimated him put him in and put some ghost shrimp in with him( peacock mantis) and hes devouring them.. does anyone know if you can put any types or corals such as zoas and polyps with him?

 

I believe they are reef safe, just not with other fish and inverts. What size tank is he in?
Have any pics?
Good luck.

 

Yeah, you can put stuff in their with him but you want to wait awhile before you do. While he's settling in, he will move some of your rocks around and you don't want him to flip your corals over.

 

yea he is in a 10 gallon for now but we have a 55 gal reef setup and were cycling a 72 gal which were going to move corals from 55 into (because sump and skimmer ect..) and turn 55 into a tank with center divider 1/2 for the mantis and 1/2 for a small trigger or cowfish

 

heres the savage mantis

 

You should be able to have him with a trigger(some one correct me if im wrong please ) but i would think they would be fine. Ive seen mantis in tanks with other fish but they could just be getting lucky.

 

NO helpfull info for but.... he/she is kewl looking..!!


Best of luck...

 

Very cool! I love peacocks...and miss mine!

Keeping fish with a mantis SHOULD be ok IF, and I repeat IF...you have a set feeding schedule for him. I would not get the feeding schedule set and then toss him in with the a fish that is expensive or you are attached to. I would try maybe a damsel first. They are wild animals and must be respected for the power and natural instincts they have.

Triggers I thing would pick on the mantis (due to the fact that they eat shrimp) and a fight would occur with one or both being killed. I would DEFINATELY not put a cowfish in there or any other puffer....will stress it out and can release toxins and kill everything!

Before you put anything in though, you will need to establish the feeding ritual. I never tossed food in the tank for him to hunt down. I would use a feeding stick and place krill, silversides etc and feed him from that. Peacocks are smashers and spearers, so you will have to feed him snails to work the smashers. Bob was eating turbo's a couple times a month and I would drop those into the front of her den. 4" might be able to do small turbo but I would try other smaller snails first. I did not feed hermits to her because they were not worth it (she was 11" when she had an egg brood and died) But once that was established I was able to place hermits, turbos and a damsel in the tank and he never bothered it

Good luck and keep up with the pics

 

Nice pic!!!

 

yea i fed him ghost shrimp at 1st and he ate them.. today i put in a small inexpensive chromis to see how that would work.. but im going to start just feeding him like frozen krill or something once or twivce a day and leave the live stuff for treats and shows