modularduck Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 First i would like to thank travisurfer, mattyice, and justinl for their help IDing my mantis as a G.Smithii, which worked out nicely. i was at a LFS who got this mantis in a shipment of coral, and well i had to tank him home. first i got this 5.5 to use as a QT, but then this oppertunity arose an and was into it. so here is a pic of the tank in the beginning the light is only 18w and i am going to be building a new light this weekend out of my old AP24 hood. i figure 64w is good for a 5.5g. another pic with water and sand recent FTS a close up of his/her lair. here is a pic of my smithii super cool!! Now i just need to figure out a good name... More to come! Link to comment
BigByrd Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 whoa sweet shot of the mantis, and nice little tank you got there question, are they out in the open a lot or do they hide most of the time? Link to comment
chaostactics Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Now i just need to figure out a good name... More to come! fluffy Nice sun coral Link to comment
modularduck Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 whoa sweet shot of the mantis, and nice little tank you got therequestion, are they out in the open a lot or do they hide most of the time? From what i understand about G.smithii they are quite interactive and i have found this to be the case. it really depends on the type of mantis. mine is always running around or digging a new den or hunting hermits and does not run away when i come to the glass. pretty cool stuff Link to comment
Atlantis Reef Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Cool!! I want to added a Mantis tank also but no luck finding a mantis at a reasonable price hell you use to not be able to give them away Link to comment
modularduck Posted July 8, 2007 Author Share Posted July 8, 2007 To bad you don't live here in portland, i could take you to 3 different LFS that all have different mantis to choose from. what about TBS? Link to comment
seahorsejl Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Wo .. you started a second tank! Very awesome looking mantis shrimp. And I like the simplicity of the tank. Link to comment
modularduck Posted July 13, 2007 Author Share Posted July 13, 2007 thanks JL yeah it had been a QT, but i couldn't leave it alone. simple = good...lol the calurpa is going crazy in there though, kinda like a weird underwater jungle but it looks pretty cool and the mantis likes it. posting new pics soon. Link to comment
modularduck Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 so i have decided to name my mantis Boba Fett. it is about 2-1/2" long and about 1/2 wide. thought it hasn't been out much lately just keeps making a bigger burrow under rocks in the tank i will post new pics soon. Link to comment
dsoz Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Please keep Boba away from my Jabba the Hutt (really fat lawnmower blenney). Boba looks SWEET! Which store did you get it from? You are making me want to join the mantis cult. I just don't have the resources to do it at this time. Cheers! dsoz Link to comment
modularduck Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 i set this tank up for about $95 including Boba. he came from Upscale. they have the best mantids i've seen, though fanta-seas is keeping some in stock now too. see when you upgrade to the 75g D you'll have a tank for a mantis...and you could get a peacock with that kinda space!!! Link to comment
dsoz Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 iwhen you upgrade to the 75g D you'll have a tank for a mantis...and you could get a peacock with that kinda space!!! I was going to use my 45g as the sump on the 75g that I want to get. That way I have room for the skimmer, a refugium, and more. Most importantly, it would increase the water volume to over 100g. I think that should make things more stable for me. I just gotta find some cheap lighting for the refugium so the chaeto will grow. Maybe I can section off one area of the sump for a mantis. That would be cool, except for the snails that would crawl over the baffles into the mantis lair... (evil laugh in background). How often do you feed that thing? Do you need to feed it hermit crabs? That could get rather costly very quick. Cheers, and good luck with Boba! Someday I need to come over and see him for myself. dsoz Link to comment
modularduck Posted July 30, 2007 Author Share Posted July 30, 2007 yeah i feed him a variety of things but hermits are his favorite. it's not to bad when you get 8 hermits for $10 and he only eats one a week or so its not to bad i just keep them in the AP24 till he finishes off the last one and then a couple more go in.. ofcourse i have to periodically remove all the shells that pile up outside his den. here is a new FTS from today, now there are more corals that came from the 24 to make room for new stuf i get from the NWCFM. Link to comment
modularduck Posted July 31, 2007 Author Share Posted July 31, 2007 Also this last weekend i made a light upgrade to this tank nothing crazy just made a makeshift new hood out of my original AP24 hood. i figure 64w of PC is a bit better that the 18w coralife. that light is now my fuge light on my AP. YEY ! Lately Boba has not been out much i have used a small flashlight to check on his den and hes moving around in there but hasn't seemed really active the last few days, all water parameters are fine other than the salinity being a bit high at 1.027 but that was remedied, slowly mind you as to not shock anything or one. Link to comment
c est ma Posted August 1, 2007 Share Posted August 1, 2007 Is there a chance he doesn't like so much more light? --Diane Link to comment
travisurfer Posted August 1, 2007 Share Posted August 1, 2007 some mantids don't really like really bright light while others don't mind it. that tank looks just about perfect for your little guy just know that there is a chance of him disturbing the corals. EDIT: the inactivity may be a sign of molting. just give him some privacy for a week or two and he should hopefully be back to par again. Link to comment
modularduck Posted August 2, 2007 Author Share Posted August 2, 2007 thanks for the info travis! yeah i have no problem with him moving stuff its his tank to do with what he likes...... BIG problem, so last night i got home and i have one big turbo in there to keep everything well groomed, well apparently he bumped the little knob on top of the heater up and when i got home the tank was up to 87...OH SH!T. so then i slowly brought the temp down and moved the hearer so that couln'd happen any more. also i did about a 1/2 gallon water change last night as when the water is hot, it holds less oxygen right? this morning it was back to 78 like normal and all seemed fine so hopefully everything is good... Link to comment
travisurfer Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 ouch, hopefully you'll be alright. my tank has made it up there a few times without any problems. mantis can be found in really shallow rubble areas where the sun could potentially heat up the water to a great degree so hopefully he will be alright as well. Link to comment
modularduck Posted August 5, 2007 Author Share Posted August 5, 2007 thanks for the kind words travis! it turned out that the heater i had in there went crazy and i had to replace it now i am at stable 78 degrees, Boba is fine infact as i type this he is hammering on a hermit, so it looks like all is fine i have done 2 water changes in the last couple days just to make sure that there was plenty of O2 in the water, and that any trace amounts of crap are all but gone. Link to comment
modularduck Posted September 26, 2007 Author Share Posted September 26, 2007 SO i finally got the tank moved and set up last night and Boba is doing well in his new home. same tank but everything is all moved around from the tare down and move. i will try to post picks tonight also i change out the power filter with one of those taam nano skimmers, thought id give it a try still need to build a retro hood for his tank but that will come after i get the AP24 over to the new house. Link to comment
c est ma Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 Could you tell me a bit about how you deal with a mantis during a tank teardown? --Diane Link to comment
modularduck Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 well really it was fairly straight forward, i used a small net and put him in a large tupperware container. as soon as i got the tank set back up which really only took about a hour from house to house, i drip acclimated him for 20 min or so then back in the tank. not sure if that really helps but let me know if you want more details about it. Link to comment
c est ma Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 Sounds like the way one would deal with many other creatures. I was just wondering if they would dive into the rock and become impossible to extricate, or attack anything you used to try to extract them, or get entangled in a net, etc. You make it sound so easy! (Glad it worked that way for you!) Thanks, Diane Link to comment
zearont Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 Are you using the LIVE SAND,because i m plan 2 buy 1 packet too...do u know hw much it cost for 1 packet? Link to comment
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