Seeking mantis advice

Hi folks,

After seeing how interesting they are I want to add a mantis tank and I really need advice as to the filtration I should use.
I want a Odontodactylus scyllarus, and the current plan is to get a 40 gal acrylic tank from Glass Cages, add sand ( not sure what grade would be best ) and live rock. I am guessing they are messy eaters so I don't think I want to plumb it into my existing sump.
What do you folks suggest as to filtration, sand & lights? Or even anything else you see that I might want to change.

Kim

 

For sand I wouldn't use anything too fine. When they get all riled up and start smacking a crab or something they stir up quite a bit of sand.

Lighting is basically whatever you want it to be. Although really intense lighting can lead to shell disease. On my tank I have actinics only..but you can use whatever you'd like.

Filtration is just your preference too. A skimmer would be nice, but I wouldn't say that it's required. I just have a HOB filter on my tank with lots of LR.

Ivan

 

With a mantis you can be really lenient on everything. You can make it what you want it to be. I suggest just medium grade sand. There's nothing wrong with any type of sand for a mantis, but like irr0001 said, when they get digging they can fling the stuff everywhere and the fine sand will make your tank look like a snowglobe.

For lighting, if you want to keep corals, choose a light for the corals. Otherwise just pick what you want, but avoid super high intensity lights. Mantis tend to like lower to "normal" levels of light (but they don't really care). With a super high powered light (like a large halide fixture), it's possible that the mantis would stay in the rocks more, which I'm sure you don't want.

Mantis are inverts, so they don't exactly poop alot or effect bioload alot at all. The only messy thing about them is that they toss out their leftovers which get left to decompose in the tank unless something else eats them. I have a damsel buddy with one of my mantis just so he can clean up his mess Other wise I'd suggest just a small skimmer or a good bio filtration and you'd be fine. Mantis don't mind dirty water at all. So can be very lax with their tanks, unless you want it to look crystal clean

And a 40 acrylic sounds like a Peacock mantis heaven I can't wait to see a build thread.

 

If you get an O. scyllarus use low lighting. Actinics only and just a couple bulbs, t5 or t8. O. scyllarus are prone to shell disease and low lighting helps to avoid that. Also it will make him more active.

For live rock I would use a couple big pieces for filtration purposes with a lot of little pieces and rubble small enough for the mantis to manipulate. They like to construct their dens and will appreciate it.

For filtration I would get a decent skimmer if you have money to spare. While mantises don't really mind dirty water, cleaner water won't hurt either. A skimmer will be cheaper in the long run as it will reduce water changes. It will also keep dissolved oxygen up.

If your other tank is a nutrient poor system (SPS tank) I would not plumb a mantis tank into it. If it was a fish only or softies tank with a good skimmer you can plumb it in without fear.

 

Thanks everyone, You saved me from making a few errors. I do see some of you put pvp pipe caves in the rock. I think I am going to try that. It will probley build it's own anyway, but worth a shot.

Kim

 

They do end up building their own..mine doesn't use my pvc structure as its permanent refuge..just a place to cruise in and out of. It just gives them a guaranteed place of total darkness.

 

Same here. Ours go in and out of the PVC alot, they just don't spend too much time in them. It's still a pretty cool tunnel for them to have, though.

Oh and one last piece of advice that you might know already, do NOT dose iodine with a mantis. People read somewhere that "iodine helps mantis molt". No. it FORCES them to molt, which is often fatal. I know we've lost a few 3reef mantis to iodine. So do not dose iodine to "help a mantis molt". Personally, I don't dose it period, even in mantis free reef tanks. So yeah, I try to warn new mantis lovers of iodine every time someone shows interest in a mantis. Trying to keep the stomatopods happy

 

+1 no iodine....if your feeding it crabs make sure you clip one of the pincers on each claw to keep it from harming the mantis.... i missed a feeder crab that dug into the sand and when my mantis went into a molt the feeder crab found him and that was the end of the mantis

 

Ok, the tank is ready, BakPak skimmer is what I went with. Ordered my Mantis ans was supposed to be here yesterday, but somehow it talked FedEx into letting it spend an extra day in Memphis. I am VERY upset with them. Foster & Smith said that it should be ok as they pack with enough O2 to last 72 hrs. I can only hope. Only useing 1 actinic light as per the advice . I do need to put somekind of background on the tank .

 

thats one lucky mantis going in there kim. very nicely done.