For all of you non believers

nanomantis

nanomantis

Member
IT CAN BE DONE!!!I have a peacock mantis shrimp(2") in my 10 gallon. Im sure you are all thinking 'ok so whats the big deal?' Well he is in there with other fish. 'ok so youve gotten lucky so far right?' well they are bottem dweling fish. 1 lawnmower blenny(2"), 1 yellow watchman goby(1.5"), 1 candy stripe pistol shrimp(1/2") and plenty of snails and crabs. even one large decorator crab. i have seen no signs of agression. The pistol has even shot into the mantis's burrow and vice versa and they have always been fine. The mantis when i first added him went and sat under the decorator crab's legs for the first hour! and so far NO CASUALTIES
One thing that bugs me about all these hobbists today is the fact that they all think they need all this over kill. a 96 watt PC or even better a 150watt MH over a 10 gallon nano tank. And o i need a refugium and a protien skimmer... why would u do this? the principles that we get nanos on is clearly forgotten by these things: to limit the cost, the space used, and to still enjoy all of the beauty of the ocean.
I have a 20 watt coralife 50/50 screw in PC bulb over my open top 10 gallon. It is in a painter's lamp so the light is getting reflected into the tank.
Livestock:
1 Peacock Mantis Shrimp (2")
1 Yellow Watchman Goby (1.5")
1 Candy Stripe Pistol Shrimp (1/2")
1 Decorator Crab
3 Cerith Snails
5 Nassarius Snails
3 Small Blue Leg Hermits (1/4" long shell)
2 Large Red Leg Hermits (1" long shell)
Coral List:
1 yellow leather
1 pink colt
2.5 green candy cane corals (in the middle of splitting)
2 normal green star polyps
~10 normal pink stay polyps
~75 small stalk, tan base green star polyps (really cool looking)
red macro algae (cant find the right name)
calurpa (feather like)
~10 green zooanthids
3 brown-yellow zooanthids
1 green-brown zooanthid
5 yellow polyps
1 tube anemone (orange outter tentacles, neon yellow inner) <--- really cool!
~5 red mushrooms
2 brown zooanthids (attached to decorator crab)
3 polyp pom pom xenia (waiting to grow)
Filter Feeders:
1 large white feather duster (2" crown diameter)
1 small lime green feather duster (1" crown diameter)
orange gorgonia with white polyps(3" high stalk)
2 small feather dusters (one brown one white 1/3" crown on each)
(these are all over the place even on the decorator crab)
yellow sponges
orange sponges
white sponges
blue tunicates
AND REMEMBER 10 GALLON AND ONLY 20 WATTS
And for filtration all i have is a red sea nano filter which was made for a 2-5 gallon nano it is more for just aireation, however i took out the filter pads and put in a small bag of purigen. I also have a aquaclear 101 powerhead which gives me 80 gallons per hour flow. I let the macro algae do most of the filtration for me.
I feed my tank daily with filter feeder food, and i give the tank a weekly treat of live brine once a week. The mantis loves live brine. I rarely feed on other occasions however it is usually just once a week that they get meaty food.
The tank has been running for 2 months now and EVERYONE IS GREAT!
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
that is great glad its going well however two months is nothign. heck its hardly out of its cycle. give us a ring back in a year or two leaving it as is. then we can rant about success.
 
viper_930

viper_930

Active Member
I've had a 1.5" mantis in my reef for over 1 1/2 years now and, to my knowledge, it hasn't harmed a thing. It has snapped at my finger 2-3 times when I got too close, but they just feel like hard pinches.
 
marco333

marco333

Member
2 months is not long enough to say your tank is going to be stable. Just wait until your mantis grows up and gets a bigger stomach.
Lets see some pictures
 
njfish77

njfish77

Member
you may be enjoying your saltwater but probably your coral arent.they arent getting sufficent light.i love people who think they know everything and try snd prove points.
 
viper_930

viper_930

Active Member
Originally Posted by njfish77
you may be enjoying your saltwater but probably your coral arent.they arent getting sufficent light.i love people who think they know everything and try snd prove points.
I disagree with this, 20w PC is sufficient for the corals he listed.
 
aw2

aw2

Active Member
Not even a year, as someone else posted...
Give it another 6 months when you come home to a tank that's been broken, by the Mantis, and you have all of those fish and corals all over your floor.
Peacock Mantis can and will break a tank that's undersized and doesnt provide the proper habitat for it.
Keeping fish with them is no big feat. I've kept 6" male Peacocks with all kinds of other fish. It's the tank that's too small that's the problem.
The minute you stop keeping your Peacock well fed is the minute you start seeing all of those bottom dwelling fish and crabs start to vanish. Well...I cant say "vanish" cause you'll find bits and pieces of them.
 
nanomantis

nanomantis

Member
my tank cycled for one month before the 2 month period where i have had livestock in it, and for your information i do know a good bit about this njfish77.
I tried a green grape coral to test my lighting and i lost it due to insufficient lighting, however i think i might try my luck with a brown frogspawn frag.
 
njfish77

njfish77

Member
viper you could be right in some aspects. i mean they could do fine under there (the softies) but the candycanes may not do to well nor your frogspwan.i wouldnt test it.dont forget they are animals too not test subjects(unless you test and give it to a healthier well lit tank if not working)
 
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