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4 Gallon Kraken Tank!


JamieSheffield

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JamieSheffield

I added a Mantis Shrimp to my 4G Aqueon tank last week, and thought it merited a thread...it's an Aqueon 4G AIO tank.

 

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This tank is a neat fit in my classroom...simple, tough, pretty...all it was missing was a KRAKEN!

 

He dug a burrow behind the bigger rock, and likes to explore the tank for the safety/shelter of the macro-tree in the back of the tank...

 

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Here are a couple of the news growing in the tank...the aiptasia is happily growing up in the macro, a mixture of gracillaria and chaeto and green hair (there's no room in back for a fuge, so I'm running the macros up front)...there are lots of little majanos growing all over the tank...

 

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Fitz, the hermit crab is alarmed by the introduction of Kiwi...he spent the day nervously hiding on top the smaller of the two rocks, and doing his imitation of a pebble whenever the Kraken swirled through the tank exploring or scattering sand from his burrow excavations...the snails are oblivious to the new threat to their idyllic life in room 316, but their numbers have already decreased by a few (judging by the shell scraps littering the tank floor this morning)...

 

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Kiwi is only about 2.5" long, but I think he's gorgeous! Stay tuned for more pics and updates of his life in LP.

 

Jamie

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JamieSheffield

Coming in on Monday, after his first weekend in the tank...there are very few snails left, and he's been tunneling in a couple of spots...every once in a while during my workday, a cloud of cartoon-esque dust will erupt from the back of the tank to show off his industriousness...

 

Jamie

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JamieSheffield

In your opinions, which snails have the best shell/cost/meat attributes for ordering from reefcleaners?

 

Jamie

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TheUnfocusedOne

It's going to depend a lot on the side of your mantis.

 

Nass snails are pretty meaty though. Ceriths are pretty skimpy

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Yeeesssss...another mantis tank!

 

And the takeover via Mantis continues :)

 

Do you know what species it is? Kind of looks like G. Viridis to me.

 

As far as snails. I have found ceriths to be very good as well as nass. Basically anything is good.

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JamieSheffield

The tank is setup to the left of my desk in my classroom, and all day as I've been working on IEPs, I keep noting movement out of the corner of my eye, and when I look over Kiwi is peering at me with evil intent, rubbing his smashers together...plotting my doom!

 

Jamie

 

ninja edit - I just heard a series of whacks from inside his lair...another snail bites the dust!

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JamieSheffield

It's official, as of noon today, Kiwi killed and ate the last snail in the tank...there was one hold out, a cerith, hiding up behind the powerhead...I grabbed it this morning, and dropped it down towards the mouth of Kiwi's burrow! ;)

 

I like what he's done with the place, and he seems a bit more comfy coming out of his burrow when I'm at my desk...

 

In other news of the tank, an aiptasia specimen got ahold of a big chunk of clam yesterday when I was trying to feed Kiwi, wrapped up around it, and ate it whole!

 

Jamie

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Euphyllia

OH MY GOSH! THAT MANTIS IS SO COOL!

 

It looks like one of them lime slushies they sell at Krispy Kreme that really suck, but they look so yummy! :happy:

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Dendroguy
OH MY GOSH! THAT MANTIS IS SO COOL!

 

It looks like one of them lime slushies they sell at Krispy Kreme that really suck, but they look so yummy! :happy:

lol euphy, you never fail to crack me up, I stole your name for my Reddit account please don't be mad :(

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Nice. I have the little two gallon aqueon, but it's being used for freshwater adaptation of marine invertebrates. You just gave me an idea for mine when the experiments are complete.

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JamieSheffield

I just noticed that all of the little asterina stars I had in the tank seem to be missing...either hiding or eaten...do Mantis shrimp eat starfish?

 

Jamie

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JamieSheffield

I was worried about feeding Kiwi "dead" food after some reading online, but this morning when I lowered a bit of shrimp on some forceps towards his cave, he swam out to whack the forceps, grabbed the shrimp, and hustled with it back into his den...

 

Jamie

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JamieSheffield
Feeding them frozen food is ok. Just make sure it isn't processed or has preservatives/etc.

 

Fresh shrimp

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JamieSheffield

I had some little asterina stars in the tank, and they all seem to be missing...are they something that Kiwi would eat also?

 

"Kiwi...it's food, not love!"

 

Jamie

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JamieSheffield

I just added some snails and caulerpa to Kiwi's tank, and he is happily cracking shells as I work.

 

He has dug a network of tunnels under the 2 rocks in his tank, and likes to watch me when he thinks I'm not aware of it from the different "doorways" in his 2 houses.

 

Jamie

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JamieSheffield

I had an awesome moment yesterday during an end of the day study hall...Kiwi cracked a snail to bits, and threw the pieces outside of his hole, and one of my students was close enough to hear and then see what was going on...she asked what was happening in the tank, and I explained about Kiwi...then Kiwi decided to redecorate the tank a bit, and to switch to his alternate tunnel under the smaller rock in the tank...the flurry of activity and sand flying around in the water drew them all in, and they oohed and ahhed about how pretty Kiwi is...they're excited because I promised to bring in some shrimp to feed him this morning!

 

I fed him some shrimp by tongs, and also fed the biggest of the majano and aiptasia nems wee bits as well...

 

Jamie

 

ps - if anyone has pest-ish things in their tanks that they would like to get rid of (troublesome nems or macros or beasts), I would happily pay you to ship them to me via upsp priority, plus a little something for your trouble.

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Islandoftiki
ps - if anyone has pest-ish things in their tanks that they would like to get rid of (troublesome nems or macros or beasts), I would happily pay you to ship them to me via upsp priority, plus a little something for your trouble.

 

I'm going to see if I don't have a majano or two to spare for a couple people out there who are looking for pests. I'll see if there are a few that can be easily dislodged from the rockwork this weekend. If only the LFS where I got them from still had the massive majano rock, I could get you piles of them for free. I'm feeding mine, so they should start splitting and multiplying soon.

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JamieSheffield
I'm going to see if I don't have a majano or two to spare for a couple people out there who are looking for pests. I'll see if there are a few that can be easily dislodged from the rockwork this weekend. If only the LFS where I got them from still had the massive majano rock, I could get you piles of them for free. I'm feeding mine, so they should start splitting and multiplying soon.

 

Awesome! I wish that I had a LFS, I'd happily buy some infested LR from them...

 

Jamie

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Islandoftiki
Awesome! I wish that I had a LFS, I'd happily buy some infested LR from them...

 

Jamie

 

The majority of my pests came from local reefers. We have a great community of folks in the Portland area who are extremely helpful.

 

I'm thinking I should start breeding majanos in my spare 7.5 gallon.

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