just arrange them how you'd like it he'll find the space it wants to be in, never the spot you want them in.
my other mantis doesn't rearrange anything except tiny pebbles.

the new one played soccer with a small hermit this morning and i watched it shoot 3"-4" across the tank when he smacked it.

he's extremely active and not shy at all,

Good looking mantis! I just started cycling the CAD 22 as a home for my new G. chiragra:

very nice

Wow, gorgeous mantis, how big will it get and what do you plan on keeping it in? Will you have any other inhabitants? Thanks.

he'll be about 4" fully grown, his home is a 15g hex that the previous owner sold me with the mantis. so far he's the only inhabitant, i added a small blue hermit and he killed/ate him within a day, the previous owner said he possibly killed a small tang he had QT'd with it. next friday i'm purchasing some CUC from reefcleaners for both of my tanks, definately way more aggressive than my other mantis which on 5 months has only killed a couple stomatella snails

Bump! I've been getting quite a few pm's lately so this thread may help some people out.

Well, since I'm interested, I'm glad I ran across this thread. You're inspireing me to run 3 projects at once travi. First my 1 gallon, now a mantis tank...I think you might be a bad influence on my young, impressionable mind.

Any whoodles.

I have an old 35 acrylic hex laying around, doing nothing. I also have a H.O.T magnum canister filter on my desk. A few more pieces of equipment and I think I've got a decent mantis tank in the works.

Would a few power heads and some decent lighting make this an ideal mantis set up? I've heard canister filters can turn in to nitrate factories.

I've had good luck with astreas, the shell seems too hard for them to smash, fwiw. I culture some smaller strombus snails for the mantis to eat.

Well, I just left my old job, and migrated the two reef tanks (9g and 20H) into one 22g CAD at home. I felt sorry for the G. chiragra being in a tupperware container floating in the 22 so I let her loose in the 22 with Bella (my G. glabrous). So far, they've staked out territories on the opposite end of the tank, but because I'm paranoid, I started cycling the 9 gallon and will move one or the other into the 9. The chiragra is still for sale, if anyone is interested.

I love mantids they are active and entertaining, I feel people are scared of them because of a few rare incidents. I have wanted one for years but I just dont have room for another tank. I think it is cool to walk around the room and you can see them watching you, its just amazing to see the intelligence of these creatures. I will have one eventually but for now you guys that have them keep posting pics

Ya the watching you all the time thing kind of gets creepy after a while. I've got both of mine right next to my desk in my bedroom. Sometimes I'll be changing clothes and there will be two little eyes watching me... It's like "can I get some privacy, I don't watch you while your molting, how about returning the favor."
As far as snails go, nassarius' aren't safe with any size smasher IMO. My 1 inch juvenile N. wennerae bashed one in the other day. Astrea's can be alright for smaller smashers but when they hit about 4 inches think about getting some large turbos. My G. chiragra has no trouble now with astreas, she is only about 4 inches also.

Hey, its not my problem. For a basic mantis setup, just think FOWLR style and watch the nitrates.


Wow, that is not good. One of them will eventually kill the other. I hope you know that you are taking a big risk of even losing both mantids.


Yes, they are extremely intelligent and they will play games with you when you try to clean the tank. Getting hit by a mantis is not fun either.


As far as snails go, I generally got large turbos, even larger astreas were claimed by Cozmo. I also found ceriths to last surprisingly long because Cozmo could never really find them under the sandbed. If they were out in the open though, they were gone in no time.

interesting read Now, about proper temperature ranges

Thanks cliff Temperature ranges are basically that of a reef tank.




Any comments or questions on the guide itself? Anyone want me to add something, change something, whatever? I want to make this into something that will continuously be able to help people so input is always great.

Great write-up Trav. I was just joshing with you

thanks

I have a general question, I've been reading Clifford's 2g mantis thread and recently bought a JBJ 3g picotope and was wondering which (if any) mantis would suit such a tank? I haven't decided what I will do with the 3g, so this is just an idea. Any help would be great! Thanks guys.

Travis is the guy to ask! You will really enjoy a mantis, imo, if you decide to get one

I keep my N. wennerae in about a 5 gallon area but he's just a juvenile, about 1 inch long. I'm thinking of getting a larger tank for him soon though. A 3 gallon pico would be too small for any available mantis IMO. I've seen a few threads with this topic and usually the smallest recommended space for a mantis is 5 gallons for a really small one. I believe that spearers can be kept in smaller tanks, except for P. ciliata, because they remain most of the time inside their burrow. Though with most spearers you have to have a dsb. If I were you I would look into using the pico for an invert tank, specifically sexy shrimp, pom pom crap, porcealin crab, ect... There are some pretty cool little inverts out there, however a mantis is usually not one of them.

MORE PICHERS, PLS

Stickied!
Good work, Jer.

WELL IF SOMEONE WOULD HAVE BROUGHT THIS TO MY ATTENTION IT WOULD HAVE BEEN STICKIED A LONG TIME AGO.

Thanks jere.

Anyone want to donate pictures to the thread or should i search some out?

So then Clifford's tank is a 5g? I guess I'll re-think the mantis then.......

Cliff's tank is a 2.5 which is a bit small for a N. wennerae. He's going to upgrade down the line. There are some species of mantis that would do well in a 3g tank. The problem is that specific species outside of N. wennerae and O. scyllarus are generally hard to come by.

I wasn't saying that you can't keep a mantis in a 3 gallon, it's just I've never heard of anyone recommending it.
I'm interested in hearing what species could "do well" in a pico because I have never heard of any that would that are available in the trade (not trying to be condescending). How big is this N. wennerae that's in the pico? I can't find the link to Clifford's thread on it. I think it's important that an animal is comfortable in a tank rather than just a specimen with little breathing room so to speak.

In general, the mantis does require room with which to make its burrow and hunt; however, they generally do not venture THAT far away from their safe haven. One of the main issues with keeping mantids in smaller tanks besides the obvious lack of space is water quality. When Roy Caldwell himself says that his basis for judging tank size is generally based on the size of the mantis due to keeping water parameters stable, I would believe him. If anyone is interested, I can suggest a few species for smaller tanks- but, like I said before, these are generally difficult to find. That's why so many people have N. wennerae or O. scyllarus(easy to obtain).

Sure, make a suggestion Travis, and I'll see if I can find one.
Dan

Gonodactylellus affinis
Chorisquilla hystrix
Chorisquilla tweediei
Gonodactylellus caldwelli
Gonodactylus childi
Haptosquilla glyptocercus
Haptosquilla hamifera
Any of those would be fine in a 2.5-3 gallon tank. With that said, G. affinis is probably your best bet as far as availability goes. One thing to note however is that many of the smaller mantids generally leave their homes less often.

Here you go

That's posted in my thread. Mantis seemed listless. Definitely not advised.

I read the thread and he seems to be doing fine. Do you know for sure it's an N. wennerae? Thanks for the link btw, I wasn't thinking of looking in the pico section.

Not for certain...possibility that he could also be N. bredini. You're welcome

First post. Looking for a little advice/feedback. I recently purchased a 8g bio-cube to move my maroon clown Toni (named after toni saprano because his list of victims is about as long). I originally just had a large dome shaped piece of live rock sitting on some junk pieces to hold it off the ground. Put in a cleaner shrimp who I found in shambles about a week later. Took me a few weeks to spot the mantis. He has gotten very brazin though. Anyways, lfs told me to kill it but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Hes a smasher and I hear him in the mornings doing his thing in the dome rock somewhere. I have had a blue hermit who has survived for the four months I've had the tank up. He picks his time for being out and about though and always stays in a little nook when he isn't. Must be a smart hermit.

I currently have a small anemone in there which the maroon loves, it can barely hold the maroon but they seem to get along fine. Any chance the mantis could get the maroon. I'm kinda partial to him. Had him for 6 years.

Also, I haven't fed the mantis actively. I do place a little bit of krill in the anemone a couple times a week. I suppose he may steal that on occassion as it seems the anemone couldn't have eaten as fast as it disappears. I do drop some pellet food in on occasion that sinks for the maroon. Maybe he scarfs that. Hes burgundy with spots kinda like a peacock. about 1". Should I be concerned for the maroon?

to nano-reef

It really is hard to say if the mantis will go after the maroon or not. Most likely, the maroon will be much too large for the mantis to get a hold of so it should be ok. You really never know when it comes to mantids and fish, however. Some will go after fish and some just won't. I would be much more worried about the total bioload in the the aquarium. 8g with a full grown maroon, an anemone, and a mantis could lead to some serious problems down the road so that is something that I would definitely be weary of. HTH.

Maroon is pretty small, maybe an inch and a half. I feed him every 3 days or so. Figured the anemone was a gamble from the get go but thats all I really wanted in there was the maroon and an anemone. The Mantis just came along. First shrimp went in because the girlfriend had to have a trigger in the 24 g which went about as well as you would expect. But what can you do with that.

Not gonna get rid of the clown, sounds like you think I should get rid of the mantis?

I'm thinking about getting a mantis for my new 3 gal. pico ether a Neogonodactylus wennerae or a odontodactylus Havanensis. Do you think a MH in that tank would be ok with him? Im mostly worried about the intensity of the lite.

If you have lots of LR and places to hide I wouldn't worry.

Ok, well, it is all relative. As long as the mantis is in the tank, there is always the risk that the clown may become prey. It doesn't mean that it will happen, but it is a possibility. I kept two damsels in with my mantis, an aggressive species, and had the mantis hit one of the damsels leaving a small scar on the side. Other than that I never had any problems; however, when on of the damsels became stuck in the filter intake overnight, the mantis quickly finished it off.


O. havanensis get's way too large for a 3g tank so definitely no for one of those. N. wennerae is still pushing it a little bit. Just be sure to keep a fuge and stay on top of water changes and it should be ok. If the halide is a 70w and it is high enough above the tank, it should be fine.

I thought the O. havanensis and the N. wennerae got the same size, any ways thx for your help.

It is more of a water quality and behavioral issue iirc.

once again thx for your help. Now I just have to find one

No problem. Good luck with your search. Your best places to find one are tampabaysaltwater($50 shipped) and sealifeinc(you may have to request though). HTH.

If I decide to keep the mantis should I consider some sort of feeding regiment then instead of just letting him scrap for what he finds? I think I'll go ahead and move my blue legged hermit to my 24 though since it seems his survival to date is quite the anomoly.

If someone was interested in the mantis I suppose I would be willing to send it to them if it was a good home just to be on the safe side with my maroon. He's quite personable and adventurous. Not afraid of me at all.

A small(1/4"-ish) cube of chopped shrimp on a skewer works well. Good luck.

Mantis are beautiful. Here are some photos I took when I went diving in Indonesia. Some of the Mantis were between 6" to 8" long. Some of them were carrying eggs.
I just started a 14g tank and I hope I would not end up with a mantis, because I would like to have all kinds of critters and I would not want to harm any of them, including the mantis.

I found a mantis shrimp in my tank just now, can anybody pls ID it? Set up a small tank for it already.
Click to view attachment

Awesome shots. Good luck with your tank.


It's nearly impossible to id from that pic. He is definitely small though so he should be alright in a small tank for awhile.

Here's a question Travis: I'm emptying out a 12g aquapod and will have everything I need (established liverock and sand) to add a mantis shrimp - so what I'm getting at is, what kind should I look for (I would prefer active and attractive)?
Thanks