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Snow's Mantis Menagerie - Losing everyone.


Snow_Phoenix

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Snow_Phoenix

Introducing my 5G Mantis Pico - also known as my Mantis Menagerie.

 

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FTS on 25/7/2015.

 

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FTS on 22/7/2015.

 

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FTS on 7/7/2015.

 

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The mantis shrimp (Gonodactylus smithii) - a lovely and interactive female named Freya.

 

Setup Details:

 

Equipment:

 

Dolphin 200 HOB filter

12" Wavepoint LED 17W light with 10K K Daylight White + Actinic Blue

5G curve glass Dophin Aquarium

 

Filtration:

 

2.5kg Cured Live Rock + 2kg Live Sand (Jewel Black Crystal)

Filter Floss

Activated Carbon

 

Livestock:

CUC:

 

2 Trochus Snails

 

Apex Predator:

 

2" G. smithii

 

Corals:

 

Fiery Grapes Zoas

Green Bay Packers Zoas

Implosion Green Palys

Dull Green Palys

Spartan Pride Zoas

Radioactive Dragon Eyes

Eagle Eyes

10+ unknown morphs of zoas and Palys

Green Scoly

 

Anemones:

 

2 Hitchiker nems - 1 pink + 1 green/pink

 

Macroalgae:

 

Caulerpa Peltata

Galaxaura sp.

 

Explanation:

 

I used cured LR and peroxide dipped the rock to get rid of excess detritus and some unfamiliar organic matter. I also placed a small clump of Caulerpa in the tank on the first day. I re-cycled (or rather tested the cycle) the rock using a piece of raw shrimp in a worm feeder basket. A small ammonia spike was noted but I left the tank to sit and stabilize on its own. In the meantime, I fragged some zoas onto a piece of LR and left it to stabilize in my 30G marine tank. As soon as the cycle finished and a diatom bloom appeared, I drained 80% of the 5G and replaced it with fresh saltwater, before introducing one tiny Trochus snail and one XXL Trochus snail to clear the diatoms. Once the snails seemed to be doing alright, I slowly introduced some simple zoa frags. The tank is now still relatively empty.

 

As for the mantis, I purchased her on day 1 of the setup but QTed her in a small breeder aquarium inside my 30G DT. I feed her live freshwater feeder shrimp that has been gut-loaded with fish pellets and frozen bloodworms two days once. I occasionally feed her frozen shrimp, but she prefers hunting live shrimp on her own. In the meantime, I noticed she has developed a liking to dice.

 

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She genuinely seemed curious about it, so I decided to get her several small colorful dice to see what takes her fancy. She's highly intelligent and actually walks up to the glass when she sees me hovering nearby.

 

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I'll be adding Freya to the 5G only in August. In the meantime, I might put in a shroom or two into the tank to give it some color. A local reefer promised to give me some Halimeda, so hopefully I'll be able to get a clipping or two and plant it in the tank as well.

 

Thank you for reading through this. :)

 

Also, here's a sneak peak of my other two tanks:

 

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16G Freshwater Channa stewartii (golden snakehead) paradise featuring this bad boy:

 

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Although it initially hosted this younger guy (who's now in QT due to falling sick - he was shipped rather poorly):

 

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And here's my 30G mixed reef tank (currently fishless - all fish are in QT) which was a transfer from a previous 16G marine tank:

 

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:)

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Neat little tank I have always wanted to start a Mantis Shrimp tank. And that pretty cool about the dice! Has he/she burrowed out a little hole?

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Snow_Phoenix

Neat little tank I have always wanted to start a Mantis Shrimp tank. And that pretty cool about the dice! Has he/she burrowed out a little hole?

 

Thank you! And Mantis's are such amazing creatures - I assure you you won't regret having one. She hasn't whacked any holes yet but she does curl up to sleep in this large empty seashell that I left in her QT tank. I think once she gets into the 5G, she would have fun pounding away.

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charnelhouse

cool stuff

lol it wouldn't make much a difference in malaysia

 

I must have missed the "I'm in Malaysia" part... :wacko:

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I must have missed the "I'm in Malaysia" part... :wacko:

nah, you missed nothing, snow has said in other threads before of living in Malaysia. You still didn't miss nothing lol.
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Ok, we're gonna need a video of her checking out the dice!!!! I'd love to see what she does. Esp if you put 4 colors down. Which one she picks first. I heard red makes them mad but I don't know if that's an old mantis tail. HA!!!!

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llama roadkill

nah, you missed nothing, snow has said in other threads before of living in Malaysia. You still didn't miss nothing lol.

Creeping around on other threads, are ya? ;)

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Snow_Phoenix

Nice tanks, don't let those snakeheads go in the wild! :lol:

 

 

cool stuff

lol it wouldn't make much a difference in malaysia

 

 

 

I must have missed the "I'm in Malaysia" part... :wacko:

 

 

nah, you missed nothing, snow has said in other threads before of living in Malaysia. You still didn't miss nothing lol.

 

No worries - I should have mentioned I live in the tropics. We have plenty of snakeheads here - you can even find wild babies in tiny pools of water in oil palm plantations according to some of my friends. The colorful ones you see however, are mostly imported via Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam and Thailand. ;)

 

Love your tank. I just got a smithii in the mail yesterday. They're pretty cool!

 

 

Ok, we're gonna need a video of her checking out the dice!!!! I'd love to see what she does. Esp if you put 4 colors down. Which one she picks first. I heard red makes them mad but I don't know if that's an old mantis tail. HA!!!!

 

Yes, I'll definitely try to get a video up! I think I had a few vids, but I deleted them by accident as I was clearing the gallery images on my phone. :wacko:

Love your tank. I just got a smithii in the mail yesterday. They're pretty cool!

 

Wow, another Smithii owner! I think Tam still has hers too. :)

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llama roadkill

How long did it take for her to get less seclusive? Mine can only be seen when I feed him. Granted I did get him a couple days ago...

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I've had mine for 2 yrs this Nov and they're seclusive except when hunting or breaking apart some rock. So mine hides a great deal though there's nothing to be afraid of. Just their nature I believe.

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I just then feel really privileged when she comes out. I feel it's her right to be watchful and mindful when I'm doing something in her tank. I do see her watching me from the tank to the right side of my living room chair so she's certainly paying attention to me on her time. I love that about her. In the ocean they live the same way, in rocks, and some in holes in the sand so they're never going to be out in full view like fish. I just :wub: 'em.

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Snow_Phoenix

Yes! And I certainly love it when only the tips of their antennae and eyes peek out from a rock crevice or hole as they study you in secret. They truly are fascinating critters. :wub:

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Snow_Phoenix

Got two new shrooms to place in this tank! One's a hairy shroom with a pale blue centre, and the other is a regular red shroom. :happy:

 

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Also, here's one of my green hitchiker nems. This one has bopped out three babies so far - all of which are in my bigger DT.

 

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Also, I pruned my C. peltata a bit and had to readjust my scape because several of the rock pieces went tumbling when I placed the shroom rock inside the tank. I like the latest scape better - it has more shadowy areas and looks less cluttered.

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Snow_Phoenix

Cool new pets. That little hitchhiking anemone must be liking life.

 

Thank you! Yep, it's definitely enjoying life. It used to be the size of a pin head, now it's roughly the size of a pea when fully expanded. Loves a tiny piece of frozen brine or mysis. :)

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I love my hairy mushroom, they just take up some serious real estate. Mine is 5-6" across and grew fast without feeding. I was hoping the clowns would host but they don't care about that or my duncans.

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Snow_Phoenix

I love my hairy mushroom, they just take up some serious real estate. Mine is 5-6" across and grew fast without feeding. I was hoping the clowns would host but they don't care about that or my duncans.

 

Yes, I saw the mother colony of this one and it was pretty big. Momma shroom was around 6" and spread wide open like a canopy or something. Apparently they bop out babies fairly quickly as well. :happy:

 

Among all the clowns I've ever owned, I've only had one small baby Clarkii host a Hairy Green shroom. None of my other clowns hosted any other coral whatsover. <_<

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Yes, I saw the mother colony of this one and it was pretty big. Momma shroom was around 6" and spread wide open like a canopy or something. Apparently they bop out babies fairly quickly as well. :happy:

 

Among all the clowns I've ever owned, I've only had one small baby Clarkii host a Hairy Green shroom. None of my other clowns hosted any other coral whatsover. <_<

I heard of clowns hosting some pretty weird things, once I heard of a tenacle free mushroom coral being hosted, I even have heard of somebody who had their heater hosted lol.
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