ZEBRA Mantis Shrimp

coastie5685

coastie5685

Member
So i finally came across an LFS that had one mantis shrimp. 3-4" Zebra Mantis Shrimp i just bought. Had the LFS hold it for me for about a week so the new tank can cycle.
I will be putting her in a picotope tank with live rock and sand bed for now. Yes i know smaaalll.. But will do for now. The picotope is on the top shelf inside my BIOCUBE 14 stand.
Soon i will be running plumbing from the cube down to the pico so they both run on same water. A friend says throw the mantis in the BIOCUBE .. but its home to my complete reef, a false perc, and clown goby.
Any suggestions or comments.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
Don't put it in with your fish... these guys are spearers and are piscivores. Sometimes you can get away with a clubber and a fish.... but not a spearer.
These guys like to be buried, so get them a nice tube and a deep sandbed. They are beautiful and grow large.
What exactly is the size of a picotope?
 
coastie5685

coastie5685

Member
yeah i understand they are the biggest of the manis shrimp... and can grow very large over YEARS ... but for now being she is only 3-4inches... i willl house her in a 3 gallon jbj picotope untill i decide to move away from home and get her a bigger tank.. hint the mother is going to kill if i have anymore tnks lol but tht should be soon so...
here is pictures... she will go into the tank thats in the stand... the pico. all by herself... i have a marineland filter rated at 100 gph for a 10 gallon tank on the pico for filtration with some carbon and filter floss. will be getting the heater soon and the little light that goes with the pico tank tommorrow...there are two pieces of live rock in there... with plenty of crevices inside ... and a good sandbed. i will most likely throw in a little piece of pvc pipe for her too.


 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
But there is nothing there for them to build a cave out of. They need to be able to go somewhere in complete darkness to molt. The pipe has to be wide enough for them to turn around easily in. A "U" shaped works best.
 
coastie5685

coastie5685

Member
read up online.. no worries. i took almost all of the sand and made a mound in the back corner of the tank.... and put an inch wide pvc pipe running down the mound of sand...
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
Is the opening tilted up? He won't want to climb in there but will need to walk in there... here's a pic of the position my U-tube is in.
 
coastie5685

coastie5685

Member
hm ... yeah i have it slightly tilted to the side... i will tilt more. thanks for the info.. mantis's are pretty hardy no? im still waiting for the tank to cycle a little more before i bring her home... how often do u feed?
 
coastie5685

coastie5685

Member
well my boy got his from there lol.... so thht one he picked up then coral kingdom had one same size n i grabbed tht 1.
 
coastie5685

coastie5685

Member
and yeah for his size... you thought the 10 was too small... im going with a pico lol... but only for short term... then when he gets bigger sell to you if he out grows the pico before i switch his tank lool
 
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