help me pick a mantis!

tank stats
30 gallon
2+ years running
low lighting (t-8 )
no protein skimmer
20-25 lbs of rock

i have three in mind

O.havensis (sp?)
or
osterdii (this was all the info given to me by the man i am dealing with)
both of these are ten dollars each
or
O.scyllarus (sp?) 30-60

i was liking the first two because of the price, but am not real sure on what im getting into, so anyone that has, or has had one of these three, your info would be awesome!!

 

Since you have a 30 gallon you might want to get the Peacock. They are more colorful and quite a bit meaner than the O. Havanensis or Orsterdii.
I love my Havanensis and wouldn't trade her for anything. She pounds the crud out of snails and small hermits but when it come to things like small emerald crabs she's afraid of them.

 

hrm. would it be possible to split the tank down the middle and have both the osterdii and the havensis?

 

I don't see why not and it might be cool to do that actually. If I did I would use a black acrylic so there was never a chance of them seeing one another and getting stressed though.

 

ok. they make tank dividers, i will look into those. i could get some black laminated background and super glue it to the divider, cheaper than acrylic. i may just do that.

 

Cool. Pics are a must!

 

yep, when i get them there will be pics!

 

I would go with the O. scyllarus.

Out of the other two definitely the O. havanensis. If you do decide to split the tank make sure the divider goes all the way to the bottom and all the way to jumper screen or canopy.

You will need a jumper screen with O. havanensis they are known jumpers and can jump quite high.

 

ok i will use a top anyhow because my t8s dont go all the way across the tank. my sand bed is like 1.5 inches. do i need the divider to go all the way to the bottom? i think im gonna go with the two, neither of them get over 4 inches correct?

 

Yeah it'll have to be installed and sealed on all three edges before the substrate goes in. The are quite the diggers. This is going to be cool!