=Jwin's 9 GALLON MANTIS CUBE - Nano Wave 9

ya know, I've always been intrigued by mantis shrimp. Actually, I've been intrigued by anything predatory. I've heard and witnessed my share of horror stories with mantis shrimp, I'm not kidding! I believe it was a pistol shrimp or mantis shrimp gone rogue. Gave one of my patients a huge laceration to their hand. I didn't believe it at first but then again, i never saw it actually happen. Just a really really big gash...I remember going through 3 sheets of 4x4 gauze. Absolutely ridiculous...anyways!! Be careful!! And good luck!!!

 

i just did a search for that damsel, this is the closest thing i could find:
Ocellate Damselfish
(Pomacentrus vaiuli)

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Ocellate Damselfish

 

Maybe my damsel is a mutt. I dunno. He's got a slim chance to live when the mantis gets here anyways.

And, Stomatopod.com gave a shipment update on Wednesday. They apparently got in a really nice order with some awesome mantis species, including SMITHII! They said that they will be updated online this weekend. I can't wait to try and grab one. I might have to let the LFS hold it or maybe put it in my friend's Q tank until our little cube is safe enough for him, as far as cycling goes. The Q tank doesn't have anybody in it at the moment, except for rock, sand, and I think 2 small brittle stars. Yeah yeah, more like a display Q tank instead of a Q tank, but he likes it. And most importantly, it's been up and running for around a year.

 

Awesome! I hope you get a G. Smithii.

I wish I would have waited for a Smithii

My N. Wennerae has been hiding for the past several days. I think/hope he is getting ready to molt though.

 

I only have experiences with Peacock but your damsel will probably be fine in the tank. I have a damsel in with my mantis. Everybody laughs like I am crazy but that damsel looks to Bob (my mantis) when he is startled....like when I am cleaning the tank, moving rock etc. He will swim into the den with Bob (honest truth). Everytime he does that I think that is the end of him...but he has not been harmed!

Again, I dont have any other experience other then Bob and what I read, but if you establish a feeding routine your mantis will quickly associate you with food and not eat others living with them! I have hermits, snails and a damsel in there along with coral. Bob will eat snails dropped in front of him by me, however he has left the 2 turbos that I have in there for over a month. I am not saying that he will not eat the snails and crabs, but he generally leaves them alone.

It was funny....your mantis will be this compulsive housekeeper right before they molt. They will bury themself in their den, and will move lots of rocks and shells around the tank. Bob had been doing this for a couple weeks and he had it just the way he wanted it I guess. Well one day last week, the turbo was hanging out right in front of his den on the sand. Bob comes out and CARRIES it over to the other side of the tank. A couple days later the snail made its way back to the side of his den. I watched as Bob tried to pull the snail off the glass for 20 minutes one day. Finally he smacked it once, snail coiled up, and Bob carried it back to the other side of the tank . Snail is still live and snailing. Granted Bob could not do much damage at that point because he was getting ready to molt...but still funny to watch....

Put a couple pieces of PVC tube in the tank...they love to hide in that!

 

Haha that's awesome. "Get off the rock...dangit...*smack*...there. Now you're off." As long as I can drop snails in front of him and watch him beat the snot out of them, life's good. I'm mostly going to feed him chunks or whole pieces of krill with vitamins, following stepho's route. His mantis is the same genre of mantis, meaning he lives in a 10g and won't get bigger than 4 inches

I'll just have to play it by ear based on my mantis' personality. But the plan is to go with krill for feeding, and maybe drop in a snail instead every now and then.

Here's a question, what about freshwater snails? I walked past them at the pet store yesterday and I though "could I feed those to a mantis? they're big, and cheap." Would there be anything to worry about with a freshwater snail for feeding every now and then?

 

Our mantises aren't even in the same family Jwin! Mine is a Neogonodactylus and yours is a Gonodactylus. lol

You will also be able to feed him small live crabs, which should be fun to watch.

Also your damsel might make your mantis more reluctant to leave his den.

 

I never said family, I said genre! They're smashers, live in the same size tank (roughly), and grow to around 4 inches. What more could you want? And they both have "onodactylus" in their names.

And with the damsel, if he causes problems I'll just give him to my buddy, Will. Payback's a @$#&% right? He gave us a blenny that was nipping at his clam. That hyperactive blenny caused our most expensive fish to vault out of the tank and die. So, I'll give him another fish in return. Muahahaha.

My mom didn't like the idea of feeding "cute little crabbies" to him/her. She said she'll watch snails, but that's it. Oh well, her loss. I hope he likes the makeshift den I'm going to try and coax him into. It's got a cool looking entrence anyways. I just need more rock... He'll reaquascape if he/she wants anyways.

However, I did end up saving $100 by using a piece of furniture I already had instead of a stand. I found my old parakeet's cabinet I made at school, made of oak plywood and hardwood, and it turned out to be the PERFECT size for this thing. I'm glad it's one of my higher quality builds I've done, because I didn't know it'd end up being used like this I stood on it (150 pounds) and I was on it for 5 minutes as a "weight test". Worked fine. So we moved it over yesterday.

 

Right in front of the computer, and across the room from the 46. He'll have plenty of household action to watch if he gets bored.

 

nice stand