Mantis Tank setup questions

Hello Everyone!
I just joined and was hoping to get a couple answers to some questions I have about my mantis shrimp tank, which isn't completely finished.

I have a 22 gallon C.A.D. tank, and in it I plan on putting a Peacock Mantis Shrimp.
The first question I had was the set up in it.
I'm going to use PVC tubing to create his tunnel, but I wasn't sure what would best work:
A "L" shape which would be back in the corner
Straight across the back
A "U" type tunnel

And another question about it was leaving the tubing bare, or gluing gravel to it to make it blend in a little bit.

The other thing I was wondering about was how important is Iodine?
I read it's important for their molts, but I wasn't sure if I am going to need to control the level and get a test kit, or just let it be.

And the last thing is that it's a glass aquarium. I'm hoping he won't hit the sides, but for the bottom, if I put eggcrate or acrylic on the bottom on the tank, would that be safe if he burrows and hits the base?

I think that's all, but any other comments or tips about keeping a mantis would be greatly appreciated!

 

why not just do an L shape and a U shape with PVC?
i would put sand on it so it blends in a little better.
they need iodine to molt properly, jsut keep up with the water changes and it should be fine
eggcrate or acrylic would be fine. which ever makes you feel the aquarium is safer.
good luck

 

A U-shape would be more appreciated by a mantis.
You can glue small pieces of base rock to it to make it blend in if you want. The mantis won't care one way or the other so it is all up to you. I wouldn't use gravel.

Iodine is very bad for mantis shrimp and other shrimp. All the iodine they need is in the water already. Excessive iodine forces a mantis to molt it does not help. Tons of mantis shrimp have met an early demise because of iodine dosing.

Acrylic would work better than eggcrate

Here is an excellent article one of our own wrote:
http://www.seasl.org/wave/Vol 1 Num 3 Final.pdf

 

Cool article

 

Yes, DO waterchanges.....do NOT dose Iodine. I left Snuggles at the LFS, he was one of the mascots just like Tyson, my Boston Terrier was. When I was injured and out for a week, my former partner hear of dosing Iodine and killed my peacock mantis. I was available by email, available by phone, heck, I was only a mile up the road. I've been keeping mantis for a decade, they only had to care for my pet for a week and they killed it. Yet they dosed without contacting me. IDIOTS!!!

 

Thank you guys very much for your responses!

I bought a piece of acrylic for the bottom, but I haven't bought the PVC tubing. I was wondering how wide it should be.
I was thinking something around 3", but I wasn't sure exactly how wide they get when they are full grown.
I also wasn't sure if I needed to start small, at the size of the mantis, and then change the tubing as he grows, but I thought that would just stress him.
So, what tubing size should I get?

And thank you VERY much about the Iodine answer- I'm glad I know that now, it'd be terrible to know I would have killed him by making him molt

 

Yep definitely NO iodine. It doesn't help them molt, it makes them molt, and more often than not ends up killing the mantis.

With my mantis tanks, I'm a fan of T shape PVC. Normally 1/2 the length of the mantis is a good place to start. So 3-4 inches should be fine with a fully grown mantis. I have 1.25" tubing for a 3" mantis. he'd probably have more turn around room with 1.5", but he can still squeeze through the 1.25.

Depending on how small the mantis is, you might want to get some smaller PVC. If he's close to fully grown, I'd say 3" diameter would be a good place to start.

Instead of trying to glue rocks to the pipe, maybe kind of hide it with rock and rubble, or even make it fully visible. Coralline will eventually grow on it, making it look like it belongs there.

And acrylic for the bottom is a good move. The sides of the tank aren't too important, but a mantis will attack a bottom when they get into digging mode. Acrylic will give you some nice peace of mind.

 

3 inch is fine i had 2.5 in black acrylic tubing layin around and i used that and my little bert loved it i used a y pipe

 

if i do the same as this should i drill holes along the PVC to keep/promote better flow?

 

Oh wow I just clicked the link to that tank and that's actually a really cool looking tank...haha. I can't wait to see a build thread for this.

And patrick, mantis don't really care for flow, so drilling holes would really only help you see the mantis. But they like the PVC for the shelter it offers, so I'd imagine that drilling holes would make the mantis feel more exposed, which isn't what the PVC is supposed to do. That's my opinion, but I haven't drilled holes in PVC going into a mantis tank so I'm not sure on the topic.