best tank for a mantis shrimp

[HeyLookItsCaps]

whats the best size? and what if any are the special needs of the shrimp besides lots of rock and rubble to smash?

 

couldnt find anything in search.

[Jared]

depends on the mantis species, the smaller ones are okay in 5 gallons but some need 20 gallon tanks and up. spearer mantis need deep sandbeds and smashers need lots of rock to hide in

[HeyLookItsCaps]

ive been tot he mantis tank thread, but its mostly photographic, where can i read up about all of the different ones?

[Raindogg]

ive been tot he mantis tank thread, but its mostly photographic, where can i read up about all of the different ones?

 

That tanks are the easy part...just make sure that is big enough for the species in question. I have never heard of spearer's in a reef tank, so you will most likely have as smasher. Plenty o live rock and a few inches of sand would be my recommendation. I have no filtration, just live rock, an AC 200 with a bag of chemi-pure and a powerhead. I have removed anything, like an internal thermometer, that he would be tempted to smash, and the heater is titanium. Mr Mantis will rearrange the tank to suit his needs, just be prepared for that. I had to unbury my heater after it was buried.

 

Two main site that I know of for mantis shrimp info

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/cr....html#directory

 

Dr. Roy is the main scientific site...the link above is a species list, but if you go up a level or two you can find more.

 

http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/

 

Lurkers is a pretty good site for general info.

 

You are not going to find many howtos for keeping mantis's. Luckly they are fairly tough. I have just followed standard SW care rules and everything has been fine.

 

It will eat everything....mine is figuring out how to get the cat right now.

[justinl]

i wouldnt recommend a spearer to a beginner mantis keeper so ill just assume you're gonna get a smasher. most smashers you'll see will gladly live in a 20gal, many will fit in 5gal. See Dr. Roy's list (see link from above post) for recommended tank sizes. note that it isnt a very good idea to overcompensate a lot with tank size. for example, a G. smithii only needs 5gal. Put it in a 50gal tank, it will get lost and wont be much fun.

 

basic habitat for a mantis is a sand bed (at least 2-3 inches), LR and LR rubble. that's it really. for the most part they are very hardy and are therefore forgiving of a few mistakes in the hobby.

 

unless you take teh proper precautions, I would avoid large smashers that are capable of breaking glass. learn to identify peacocks (O. scyllarus) and G. chiragra and avoid them unless you have a tank prepared for them.

 

myself, I would recommend N. wennerae. they are super hardy, very active and interactive. they are the most easily available mantis around and can be had for 50$ shipped to you (10$ + 40$ shipping) from tampabaysaltwater.com.

 

and while im on the topic of online vendors, do not trust any of them to ship the right species. only reliable sources are TBS (N. wennerae are the only thing they have), and WYSIWYG. do not trust WYSIWYG IDs though... 99% of online vendor mantis IDs are wrong.

 

more great info can be found in the mantis shrimp forum on RC. Dr. Roy himself is active over there.