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Islandoftiki's Peacock Mantis


Islandoftiki

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Islandoftiki

Well folks, this weekend I was given another mantis. She's a relatively small female O. scyllarus. Maybe 4 inches long. Almost the same size as my G. Ternatensis.

 

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This isn't my first encounter with this particular mantis. I fell in love with her at the local fish store, but I was in the process of building my G. Ternatensis tank and couldn't get her. I told the local saltwater club forum about her and rallied for one of the more knowledgeable members to adopt her. The gentleman who got her set up this 20 gallon tank. After some major life changes, he was no longer able to maintain both the mantis tank and his larger reef tank. Nobody else locally was able to take her, and I just couldn't say no.

 

She came with a 20 gallon tank, some live rock, crushed coral substrate and an AC50 filter with filter floss and a bag of purigen in it. Three sides of the tank are blacked out, and there is no light of course, because of the shell rot concerns.

 

We transferred the tank on Sunday, which went smoothly and easily, and now she lives front and center in the living room with a prime view of the 10 gallon reef tank and the 2 gallon pest tank.

 

She's getting settled in and rebuilding her PVC den as I type this. She shares the tank with a blue damsel who sometimes shares her burrow with her.

 

I plan to add some more rock out of the 25 gallon tank into her tank as it's a little light on live rock right now.

 

The first thing I did was to build a simple media basket for the AC50. The filter floss was replaced with a washable filter pad and a fresh bag of chemipure elite and purigen.

 

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I also built a screen for the top of the tank.

 

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Short term upgrades will probably include a second AC50 filter set up to exclusively grow chaeto and a nano powerhead to give the tank some more flow.

 

Long term upgrades will include a larger tank as she get bigger. Right now, she has plenty of room to wander about and be comfortable, but I suspect she'd going to need at least a 30 gallon tank depending on how large she gets.

 

I fed her for the first time today and it seems that she likes Selcon soaked scallops as much as Chuck does.

 

 

She is super interactive and a total ham. I'm excited to see how she is once she gets to know me and my fiance. Right now, she's getting more comfortable with the dogs. The first day she was threat posturing every time they came anywhere near the tank.

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Did I read you were GIVEN the mantis? Lucky again!

 

Looks very vibrant, and good quality pics too! But why did you not use the live rock from your pest tanks?

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Islandoftiki

Did I read you were GIVEN the mantis? Lucky again!

 

Looks very vibrant, and good quality pics too! But why did you not use the live rock from your pest tanks?

 

Yeah, I was basically given the mantis. I didn't want to take the entire setup for nothing, so I traded a handful of extra corals that I had.

 

Because this is an O. Scyllarus, you shouldn't really have any lights on the tank due to the shell rot issues that peacock mantis have. No light, no corals. I could probably get away with some majanos because I doubt they would die even without light.

 

This is basically a FOWLR tank... or a MOWLR tank if you will.

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Islandoftiki

Today I added a hinged glass top to the tank. I can alternate between this and the screen top as needed.

 

I also added an old fluorescent light that I had laying around from my old planted freshwater tank. This is only used for feeding/viewing.

 

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A second AC50 will be arriving on Thursday.

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Islandoftiki

Let's just say this...

 

She doesn't have the same love of clams that Chuck does. We had a pretty humorous encounter with feeding tonight,

 

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Congratulations on the Peacock! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I did mine.

 

Too funny on the food choices and her not wanting them. I never tried anything frozen with mine. Just live snails and fiddlers.

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I can't believe you said your mantis shrimp is a ham. :lol:

Too funny. Nice new shrimp Tiki, congratulations.

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eitallent

Let's just say this...

 

She doesn't have the same love of clams that Chuck does. We had a pretty humorous encounter with feeding tonight,

 

She is a girl who knows what she likes! Clams just do not cut it! Have you tried lobster?! That may be more Ms. Peacock's style. :lol:

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Islandoftiki

A couple of updates to the tank today...

A second AC50 that I'm going to turn into a chaeto fuge using an Ikea LED clamp light.

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New heater:

100w Cobalt Neo-Therm

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Tomorrow I will work on building a special media basket for the chaeto and hook up the light.

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Islandoftiki

So, here's a full tank shot. Everything is in place and the wiring is all bundled up and tidy now.

 

 

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Once she's done molting, I'll start adding some of the extra rock from the 25 gallon tank to fill it in a little. I'm also going to give her some of the shells that we picked up in Hawaii. I need to clean them really thoroughly first.

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Islandoftiki

Ok, here's an update:

 

After getting all of the mechanicals all set up and dialed in, I ran a full set of tests on the tank water. One word: Nitrates.

 

We were talking 40 ppm or more! Way too high for a stomatopod.

 

I was not sure what to do since she was molting and you're generally supposed to abstain from any water chemistry changes during a molt. I contacted Dr. Roy Caldwell for his opinion and he suggested that as long as I matched temperature and salinity exactly, it would be better to get the nitrates down.

 

So, I did three 5 gallon water changes that day, followed by a larger 10 gallon water change the next day. This brought it down to about 5 ppm, and over the last two days, the chaeto fuge has dropped it below 5ppm, which is pretty safe. I'm aiming for an ultimate goal of zero nitrates, which the tank will probably achieve on it's own by this weekend with the chaeto fuge up and running. If not, more water changes.

 

As of today:

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Also, she finished her molt today and was out and about. Unfortunately, she came out of her molt with only one raptorial appendage. Not a huge deal, the one she does have works fine and the other will eventually grow back. She systematically murdered every snail and hermit that was in the tank while I was at work.

 

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I fed her for the first time after her molt:

 

 

 

And here's a little video of her doing what she normally does all day:

 

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Islandoftiki

oh my god she was hilarious in the first video!

 

thanks for the link!

 

are there any mantis shrimp that stay really small?

 

You bet there are! I had a G. Viridis in my 2 gallon pest tank for a year before it passed away.

 

There are a number of mantis that can be kept in a 5 gallon tank.

 

And.... If you go up to 10 gallons, you can keep all but the largest of mantis shrimp.

 

There are some really colorful and interactive smaller mantis like the G. Smithii and N. Wennerae that are great options.

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You bet there are! I had a G. Viridis in my 2 gallon pest tank for a year before it passed away.

 

There are a number of mantis that can be kept in a 5 gallon tank.

 

And.... If you go up to 10 gallons, you can keep all but the largest of mantis shrimp.

 

There are some really colorful and interactive smaller mantis like the G. Smithii and N. Wennerae that are great options.

I need to read up on them...I don't know where to get any, though. I have never seen any locally. I have a 20 tall that I was considering upgrading to, or resealing my 20 long and upgrading to that.

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Islandoftiki

I need to read up on them...I don't know where to get any, though. I have never seen any locally.

 

Sea Life Inc. often has many of the smaller species. It's kinda hard to find them locally unless you find an unwanted hitchhiker... and then I'd highly recommend adopting it.

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Sea Life Inc. often has many of the smaller species. It's kinda hard to find them locally unless you find an unwanted hitchhiker... and then I'd highly recommend adopting it.

I really liked the 2 you mentioned, but don't see them on that site. I'll check with any of the lfs to see if they have any or to see if they'll let me know if one comes in.

 

what about this guy

http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=324&osCsid=70c8526e6db2983aaac39feff7918130

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Islandoftiki

I really liked the 2 you mentioned, but don't see them on that site. I'll check with any of the lfs to see if they have any or to see if they'll let me know if one comes in.

 

what about this guy

http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=324&osCsid=70c8526e6db2983aaac39feff7918130

 

O. Havanensis would be my favorite. They aren't long lived (maybe a couple years) and they require really high water quality.

 

But look how cute they are! (This is a guy's O. Havanensis from the Reef Central mantis forum):

 

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