Clownfish with mantis?

[Dr.Brain Coral]

I am planning a reef tank and was hoping to have a mantis shrimp but lately I have been interested in clowns. If I add the clowns first and then later on add the mantis would it be alright or eventually death to the clownfish. I am talking in general as mantis shrimp have individual personalities. The mantis would be a wennerae.

[kraig949]

It depends on the individual mantis, he/she might completly leave the clown alone then one day the mantis could get bored and just hunt your clown for the fun of it. Remember mantis shrimp are extremely intelligent and love to murder things.

[Dr.Brain Coral]

Okay. I didn't know if I had more snails than I needed he would just crack a snail instead of chasing down a fish. But if this was the case every one would have a mantis haha.

[Tamberav]

Might eat it, might not. Might live a week, a month, a year. Mantis will do as mantis pleases. lol

[Dr.Brain Coral]

True whose going to try to stop a shrimp with battle clubs? Lol thanks every one.

[Alexraptor]

Golden rule with Mantis shrimps is: Don't put anything you don't want to loose in with them.

[Mr. Microscope]

I'm no mantis expert, but I think you'd be at much bigger risk if you got a spearer instead of a smasher. From what I understand, the spearers eat more fish and the smashers eat more inverts. Could be way off though. More research is required..

[Dr.Brain Coral]

Yup your correct as spearers dig burrows in the mud and sand and grab fish and shrimp that come near there burrow and smashers build burfoss in rock and go out to hunt for food like snails and crabs. But either one can take the ofhers prefered food.

[NirvanaandTool]

Might eat it, might not. Might live a week, a month, a year. Mantis will do as mantis pleases. lol

 

Pretty much.

 

I've had smashers who had no problems taking out a fish. I kept my Chiragra with 3 chromis and after they picked on/ostracized the runt of the group, he took that fish out at night while it slept in the corner of the tank. Eventually he got all 3.

[jacketherington]

Just find a smaller species. My g. Wennerae lives with sexy shrimp and a barnacle blenny. She totally ignores them all.

[Tamberav]

Just find a smaller species. My g. Wennerae lives with sexy shrimp and a barnacle blenny. She totally ignores them all.

 

That's not a safe bet. 1stimereefer's wennerae ate another mantis and then ate her damsel. Unless you mean the very very tiny ones that get like an inch but they are very hard to find so not really an option in most cases.

[Dr.Brain Coral]

Ya wennerae do still get like 3 to 4 inches so once your mantis gets bigger you can probably kiss your shrimp and blennies good bye. I should have remembered that smaller mantis species like wennerae and smithii are more aggressive and confident some of the larger mantises.

[jacketherington]

Hmmm. In that case, maybe she's a g. Viridis after all. I was having a tough time distinguishing between the two. She's less than 2" though.

[NirvanaandTool]

I had a Viridis take out a Chromis. Didn't eat it but beat it up when it got too close to its burrow. Any mantis can seriously mess up a fish.