Red Mantis Shrimp

I know there are several here that will jump in on this and it will be greatly appreciated. I have a person local to me who found a red mantis shrimp in a quarantine tank full of LR she uses for SeaHorses. I do not have a picture of it. I am going over on Wednesday to look at it. I would like to put it into my 10g tank I am setting up. The question I have is this, Cycling for a tank is 6weeks or so. I know mantis Shrimp can be hardy. At what point would it be ok to introduce it into this tank. wait the full cycle or can I get away with sooner. Second question is this, She stated she watched it smashing a clam or oyster shell. So I know feeding would be hermit crabs or frozen krill etc. Is there any chance a clownfish would survive in a tank with this mantis. I am adding some pics of my tank and what I have done so far.

 

I kept mantis in my reef tanks and I've kept fish in my mantis species tanks. As long as both are fed properly, you shouldn't have a problem.

 

Wait until the cycle is done, IMO.

 

The thank looks sweet; maybe a mantis owner will chime in about the light; it may just look really bright in the pic; but I hear strong lights are not good for them. Also from what I hear you may want to smash up one of these bigs rocks; they like "chunks" for playing and decorating.

 

The most important thing is that you give him a tunnel that is 100% dark. I used black PVC fittings to fashion a tunnel under the substrate.







Put some rubble in there as well... and some shells and such. He'll smack around on your current rocks, but he'll need some smaller rocks to build and and roll in the meantime. Don't be shy.... put a nice bit in there.

 

yes I would certainly give it a good hiding spot with the pvc, it isnt the picture because I hadnt intended this to be a mantis tank, but the option came up so I might take it. As for the lighting, the light you see in the pic is actually coming from the HOB fuge set off the back of the tank. it isnt directly over the tank. I'm still not sure if I will do it or not, cause waiting for the full cycle to complete would require this person to hold on to it for a long while and I dont know if they are willing to do that.

 

He will eat your clowns eventually.

But you have to wait for the cycle to finsh, it wouldn't be fair to do otherwise.

 

you are right about the cycling, I wasn't sure if it had to be the full 6 weeks (depending on how long it takes) or if I could "get away" with sooner. I wouldn't do anything to harm the mantis. That's why I ask here first.
last question, does a mantis shrimp do ok with coral?

 

Define "okay". Mine would take my coral every now and then and try to stuff it in his den. He would re-arrange things all the time and most of the time we did not see eye to eye on placement. It was fun to watch, but if you appreciate your coral, you may not appreciate his shenanigans.

 

Peek-a-boo.



They are pretty intelligent in the scheme of things.