Mantis!

[cranberry]

Just pay them their deserved respect.
You also learn your critters over time.... your own personal critter. We can pick the Rhinopias up and move them when we are cleaning the glass. It's because we have learned what they can tolerate and what their bottle language means. We cannot get away with some stuff with one of the Rhinopias that we can with the other, so everyone is different.
My peacock did not like my diamond engagement ring. Nor did he like green. It riled him up. So I would not clean with jewelery or while wearing green. But I did bring out the green nets when I wanted a good flaring picture

 

[the_bandit]

Could I add eggcrate to the bottom of my aquarium or does it need to be an acrylic sheet? And if acrylic, how thick of a piece

 

[the_bandit]

So, Im getting close to FINALLY starting my mantis tank. I just need two bags of sand, salt, and 2 powerheads.
And move my 55g reef downstairs......
I have been thinking alot about how I am going to be able to keep my tank clean and I think I am going to try and take a ton of collonista snails out of my reef (I have over 100 and counting) and place them in the new tank once it starts to establish with some algae. I figured since they are so tiny and only come out at night I should be fine.
Agreed?

 

[the_bandit]

Bump

 

[the_bandit]

So I figured I would give a small update on my soon to be Mantis/Reef 40g tank. Ive got about 30-40lbs of nice sand and another 40lbs of premium live rock. Covered in coraline with a huge encrusting Montipora on it. Hopefully I can get it to grow. Doubtful being that I only have 24" 2x65 with 1 Actenic and 1 10 K bulb lighting system. Ive got the fuge going with a 3-4'' sandbed. Havent started the skimmer yet. Going to let the cycle finish first. Im running a Mag 9.5 with a Koralia 3 so the flow is abundent.
I'll post some pictures tomorrow.
I did have a question though. I am planning on having corals in the tank. GSP, a kenya tree or two, Xenia, and maybe a LPS or two.
My main concern is that once the Mantis molts, if it is bad and he is weak, he may sit out in the open forcing me to turn off the lights and cause a blackout for up to a week.
How damaging is this going to be for my corals?
If the Mantis does stay out in the open, can I gently put him somewhere else? Maybe in his PVC burrow?
Hopefully Cranberry will see this. Havent heard from her for awhile and I could use some Mantis owner input.

 

[cranberry]

If he is out in the open after a bad molt..... light isn't going to make a whole lot of difference. A bad molt kills many mantis'. There's nothing really to be done.
When he gets ready to molt, he'll be like a little dog digging holes and carrying sand everywhere. He'll make some interesting doors for his cave (I put shells like mussel shells in the tank for them. They always seemed to like them for doors.) Then he'll disappear and give you a heart attack. I've had them disappear for 2 weeks. Never uncover them or disturb them.
Whenever I've had them die, they've done so out of the cave. No one has ever died in their cave. I don't know why that is. So I figure, if I don't see him outside.... he's alive in there somewhere.
Get your camera ready when he gets ready to molt. Clean the glass when you see him feverishly digging around.... not after he disappears. He'll be oh so pretty when he pops back up...
How big is he currently again? Smaller ones molt more frequently. Larger ones less often and are usually the ones afflicted with shell rot. Whenever we saw a spot on ours we would fed the heck out of him to encourage a new molt. The better they are fed, the more often they molt. But this also means don't fed him THAT well or you'll get more molts than is necessary. It's exhausting work and a dangerous time for the mantis. But if he pops out with a missing appendage... feed him well. Actually, just before and after a molt be extra kind with the food. But not enough so that he stores it. When you get him, take a picture of him next to a hunk of food and I'll tell you more or less as I would feed mine.
This is all just from my experience... others may have different experiences and/or suggestions. I haven't read anything on them in a long time and maybe some advances have been made recently.
Did you ever see my postmortem shell rot pics?

 

[the_bandit]

Yay!
Thank you for the responce Cranberry.
I currently am letting the tank cycle then purchasing the Peacock Mantis. Im either getting a large or extra large one but whatever is available, I will be more than happy to buy.
Not sure if you saw or not but if the lights are off for a couple of days to a week, will some simple corals die from insufficient light? How can I solve this problem if, god forbid, the Mantis molts outside of his cave?
And no, I havent seen the pictures you mentioned.

 

[cranberry]

The lights won't be an issue. It's just something to be mindful of and to give him his nice cave. Some peeps don't give them anything special and light hits them all the time.
You mean what to do if he molts outside of his PVC tube and in another little cave that isn't as well sheltered?

 

[the_bandit]

Well I put a 1.5'' pvc tunnel inside so hopefully that should be good. I also plan on adding alot more rock than what I have currently. I know once the mantis hits the water he will take all the rubble rock that is on the pvc tunnel and move it around.
Also, here are some pics of the setup.

 

[cranberry]

Honestly, that is super sweet. It looks fantastic.
1-1/2 inch pipe might me a tad tight for a peacock. That's what I had for the ciliata (smaller). He needs to be able to turn around in there. But you'll probable get away with it. In those 2 outlets connected to make make one cave.
It really is awesome looking. Your mantis is lucky.

 

[the_bandit]

Thank you very much for the nice comments. Its an honor from a well known Mantis keeper.
I did try and dedicate alot of time and money into this setup. I want my mantis to thrive. I also am putting coral in, as you know, so I want them to do well too. I'll be adding more rock too. Probably base rock but still rock that I can make either rubble rock or larger pieces.
The PvC is about a 7-8'' PVC pipe connected to two 2'' L joints. The width of all the pvc is 2'' actually. Just double checked.
Thank you again for the compliments. I deffinetly appreciate all the advice you have been nice enough to give out.

 

[cranberry]

2"!!! Perfect! I can't wait to see it all together. Don't be alarmed if the peacock steals a coral here and there. My zoa would always get buried when he moved sand around.
When we move a couple of fish out of the 40g it will again become a dual mantis tank. The ciliata will go on one side and the peacock on the other.

 

[the_bandit]

Haha. I plan on super glueing all coral to larger rocks. I have seen how much a Peacock can move.
I'd love to see pictures of your Mantis tanks. I dont think Ive seen them before.

 

[the_bandit]

Off topic but with my 40g tank and 20g sump, would a 5g water change each week be good? I already have to do a 10g water change each week on my 55gallon so I would love to only have to take 5 gallons out.
Still hoping for some pics if possible

 

[cranberry]

Pics of the mantis tank? The best I have is probably the one above. I don't really take FTS..... I think I suck at them. The pic above is the right side of a custom divided tank. A 5g weekly water change sounds fine.

 

[the_bandit]

Awesome. OK thank you for your tons and tons of Mantis info I really appreciate it.
Time to place the order for my 3.5-5'' Mantis!

 

[the_bandit]

So my Mantis is coming Tuesday

Im sure we have talked about this plenty of times but Im too lazy to read other threads/posts being that is 5 am right now.
I need to know what to get for my Mantis' diet. I plan of getting silverslides and maybe frozen krill if they have it at petsmart. Im also getting frozen cubes for my reef, would the mantis eat those? I figure they are too small but maybe not. Please let me know what you feed yours. I can run by the supermarket if I need to for frozen seafood. If I need to get raw shrimp, can they be the large frozen grey ones or do they need to be the red ones? Can I freeze them? Just need a short list by tomorrow asap.
Thanks

 

[cranberry]

YAY!. Silversides are great. Around here, the mantis' get whatever the rest of the fish get. I can't speak enough to the importance of variety. I've seen such a difference in my fish since I started paying more attention to it. An example of some stuff I feed.... cod, red snapper, uncooked table shrimp, squid, scallops.. all the saltwater fish flesh (whatever is on sale that week). I wouldn't buy more than be eaten in 3 months.
I really haven't used much in the way of cubes. Don't they fall apart? If there gunk in a cube that will float away... don't go that route.
You can get fresh or frozen uncooked shrimp. Avoid the pink ones, they are cooked. I can't think of any shrimp that is pink in colour while raw. Instead of looking for colour persa, look for uncooked and unsalted.
You must be super excited!
Yes, freeze all your stuff when you get it. When I get raw food, I cover a plate with Saran Wrap, separate out the shrimp/fish flesh on the plate so they aren't touching each other, cover again with Saran Wrap and freeze over night. If it's a fish fillet, I cut it up and lay it out. If the shrimp are large, I cut them in half while they are unfrozen. That way you just have to reach in the bag and pull out an appropriate size chunk of flesh or shrimp for that day's feeding.

 

[the_bandit]

Thank you for such a quick responce.
I am so super excited

I'll grab a big ol' pack of silverslides, Krill, and hit the seafood market and see what I can get.
Thanks again. I'll post pictures as soon as I get him.

 

[the_bandit]

IT CAME!!!!
Acclimated for an hour. Put it in and it freaked! Tried jumping out. Once it calmed down, it layed in a semi-ball for about 3min before opening up and standing on its legs. Ive turned off all lights and slowly its starting to move. Cross you fingers its all gonna be ok

Is it normal for it to not move much for the first day ? Its moving its feathers under its body but thats about it. Every once and a while it moves its body or eyes or antenna but thats it. I moved it into its PVC burrow so it would feel less scared but I had to actually move it. I really hope this is normal. *************** said this was normal.