Mantis/macro tank

This little 1" Neogonodactylus oerstedii was given to me by the LFS in September. I set up a little 2.5 for him with some Anthelia, local macros and shoal grass, will probably upgrade him to a 10gl. Snagged a 2 x 13w linear pc landscape light with polished reflector for viewing, it has crappy yellow 2700Ks in it now but a 6700 and actinic are on the way, hopefully the combo will look good and work well. The Anthelia and Botryocladia certainly don't care about the spectrum one bit, also scored a piece of rubble that ended up having a decent clove polyp colony on it which seems to be doing great.

These images of the mantis came out very warm, so imagine it's coloring with less contrast...




Parameters have been great throughout the startup. Weekly 1/2g changes, RO/DI topoffs, got 10ppm nitrates down to 5ppm. After the new bulbs are in next week, I'll give the glass it's first good cleaning and post another pic.







Here is a video of a live hermit feeding, note that the extraction is not shown here, only some shell smacking and tugging. It's a large file for close up observation, which I think is worth the load wait, but if it doesn't load for anyone just ask and I'll whip up a shorter one. And if you want to see the extraction just ask. In hind site, I think I'll stick with prey that doesn't take as long to kill. Mantis vs Hermit

 

What is the thing that is sticking out of the tank in the back left-hand corner?

 

Mangrove.

 

Nice setup! I'm going to have to snap a few pictures of my mantis and post them up. I've just not been into picking up the camera these days!

 

Where can I buy a mangrove?

 

I think there are some local suppliers, google something like 'mangrove seedlings in stock' and you should be able to find some. If you live in FL or Louisiana, just go to the beach and search the ground for a few. It's questionable how much they help water quality, but they sure do look cool.

Thanks for looking everyone. The new lights are in, I just have to clean the glass and I'll post an update shot. The color is pretty good, pink-ish, not as blue as I expected, but the combo really brings out the green in the shoal grass, now if I could just get it to root. The Botryocladia is pearling like crazy, I thought it was covered in dynos. The 10gl upgrade will likely have a mud/silt bottom for a grass field with a Zen type green LR arrangement on one side... if I can pull it off.

 

pretty cool video.karma for that one.

 

I can't find a place to buy mangrove.

 

you can purchase mangroves frome either
garf.org or athiel.com

 

Also Ebay and toptropicals.com.