G. Ternatensis Mantis Shrimp Tank Build!

[Islandoftiki]

Cool. I was planning on shipping this week but then remembered that it was a Holiday Week. That being said, I'll try to get out something next week to you. Not sure about needing a heat pack or not (honestly not sure what type of heat pack to do). This will be my first attempt/test run at shipping corals .

 

One of those hand warmer heat packs should work well as long as it isn't directly touching the bag. You'd want a couple layers of paper towel between the bag and the hand warmer.

[Islandoftiki]

BRS order!! Rock, sand, heater and a a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff so I could get free shipping. Let the fun begin!

 

[Islandoftiki]

Sand bed down... I think I need more sand. I'll pick some up tomorrow.

 

Here's the live rock. I'll work on rockscaping tomorrow...

[Islandoftiki]

Here we go! Time to get this tank assembled and cycled!

 

Thanks to Black Friday, Saltwater Fantaseas had a sale on live rock! $2.00/lb. So, I picked up about 15 lbs of cured live rock to help jump-start the cycle. They were sold out of live sand 15 minutes before I got there, so I stopped by Cayes Aquarium and picked up a 20 lb bag of live sand to add to the 10lb bag I already had in there. I was happy to see that they had a mix of finer sand than I had in there already, so I have a good mix of particle size all the way from .5mm to 2mm with lots of bits of shell and rubble mixed in. I picked out some interesting and somewhat flat pieces of live rock to make the rockscape a little more than a pile of similar rocks. I ended up using about 25 lbs of the BRS reefsaver rock and 13 lbs of the live rock. It would be hard to squeeze more in there. The stuff that I used was the most porous rock of the bunch.

 

The first thing was to engineer a mantis habitat that he would hopefully use. On the largest piece of live rock that was to be at the bottom of the tank, I drilled out three 5/8" holes that all converged in the center of the rock. I then drilled up from the bottom to create a cavity large enough to hold Chuck. He can decide which holes he prefers, but his choices of entrances are limited to the front of the tank and the most visible side of the tank. He can also choose to burrow down in the middle of that rock and create an entrance between the two main support rocks.

 

Building a mantis home:

 

A perfect sized hole for Chuck.

 

Hollowing out the inside of the rock to create a nice burrow with a total of three entrances/exits.

 

Another hole:

 

Here's the finished rockscape:

 

From the right side:

 

From the left side:

 

Here are two of the entrances... a little hard to see, but there are two holes.

 

This will be one of Chuck's new roommates. This is Ahnie, a timneh African Grey. (Dory is the other, a Congo African Grey). They should be interesting companions:

 

Now the tank gets to do it's own thing and cycle. I was originally planning to cycle it with ammonia, but since I'm jump starting it with some really nice live rock, I'm using 1/4 cube of mysis shrimp in a media bag. That should get things rolling.

 

On top of the live sand, I'm also using Nite-Out II.

 

Once the tank cycles, I'll add some clean up crew and assess how things are going. I already know he doesn't bother with dwarf cerith snails, so they'll be a large part of the clean up crew. I'll also probably add some nassarius snails since the one that's been in there with him is still alive. Once I'm comfortable that the tank is fully cycled and stable, I'll figure out how to get Chuck out of the 7.5 gallon tank without getting myself or him injured.

[Islandoftiki]

The first rockscape wasn't working for us, so we did some shuffling. Not final yet, but working on it.

 

 

[albertthiel]

The first rockscape wasn't working for us, so we did some shuffling. Not final yet, but working on it.

 

Yes scaping can indeed be time consuming till you find the arrangement you like ...

[Islandoftiki]

First inhabitant spotted! A bristle worm!

 

[Spirofucci]

Nice mantis house! He's gonna love it.

 

Also, cool birds! I had a dwarf Macaw for almost 25 years.

[albertthiel]

First inhabitant spotted! A bristle worm!

 

 

Yep that figures ... always 1st

[Islandoftiki]

Ok, I settled on a light last night and ordered it. The tank is only 21" wide, so that narrowed down the field real fast. All 24" fixtures were out.

 

So, my ultimate choice was the 20 Inch 4x18 Watt AquaticLife T5 HO Light Fixture w/ 2 Lunar LEDs.

 

One of the main reasons I went with this fixture is that I liked the range of bulbs that it came with. This is very similar to what my 10 gallon has, although its 24 watts less, total. Should work well for a mushroom garden. I was thinking about using a pair of smaller LED fixtures, but I'm really not a fan of the shimmer effect.

 

Bulbs:

(2) 18" T5 HO 18W 420/460 Lamps

(1) 18" T5 HO 18W 700+ Lamp

(1) 18" T5 HO 18W Purple Lamp

(2) 1W Lunar LED`s

 

It should be here in a couple days, although I don't need it right away, it will give me a chance to get everything set up before the the mantis goes in the tank. I have a couple discosoma mushrooms in my 10 gallon that are kind of in the back of the tank and hard to see. I'll rob those out of there and see what else I can turn up from some of the local club members.

[Islandoftiki]

Man, tank cycling is boring stuff. Nothing new to report, so here's a picture of a fuzzy bunny...

 

[Islandoftiki]

I lied. Something exciting did happen!

 

[Islandoftiki]

And...

 

A mystery. Found one of his dactyls (the things they use to strike prey with) laying in the bottom of the tank. I looked him over carefully and he appears to have both dactyls fully in tact, and there's no signs that he molted. Who knows...

 

The bulbous part on the right is the part that actually makes contact when striking an object. The point part on the left is normally folded up and not used. It's kind of vestigial. If he were a spearer mantis, he would have a set of barbed hooks where that pointy bit is. They can unfold it and stab something apparently, but it's rarely done.

[Islandoftiki]

Ok, I just got home and ripped open the box with the lighting unit in it.

 

It looks very nice! Well built. I love the fact that it has a built-in timer with three channels... White, blue, and moon lighting.

 

 

 

Here it is on top of the tank:

 

 

 

And just for fun, here's what it'll look like when it's on:

 

 

While I was assembling it, I tried it out on my 10 gallon tank to compare the color to my ATI bulbs and it's pretty close. The white bulb is maybe a little whiter than the Geissman midday bulb, but otherwise, it gives the corals good coloring. I think I'll be happy with the stock bulbs that it came with.

[Islandoftiki]

As of this evening, the ammonia level was down to .02 ppm, so I'm going to spike it back up to .4 ppm. The cycle seems to be going quicker than I expected, probably the 12 lbs of cured live rock I mixed in with the dry rock is responsible for that.

[Islandoftiki]

In the process of mixing up about 20 gallons of saltwater for the big water change after the tank finishes cycling. Ammonia dropped from .4 ppm to .02 ppm over night, I think we're getting close. I'll run a full Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate test this evening to see where the cycle is at.

 

While I was cleaning the buckets for fresh RO/DI water, Chuck came out to watch...

[Islandoftiki]

Ran a batch of tests to see where the new tank is in it's cycle.

 

Ammo: 1.5 mg/l

Nitrite: Off the chart

Nitrate: 40ppm

 

So, about the middle of the cycle, I'd say. I now have 20 gallons of saltwater mixed up and ready to go when the ammonia and nitrites hit zero.

 

Chuck watched as I ran the tests, presumably he was making sure I didn't make any mistakes.

 

 

[Looselyhuman]

That is one nice looking mantis.

[Lalani]

Love that mantis.

[Islandoftiki]

For a little mental enrichment, I gave Chuck an empty snail shell packed full of scallops and frozen enriched mysis shrimp. He managed to empty it without breaking it open! Clever boy!

 

[Looselyhuman]

Lol. The way you describe it, I could imagine it on the menu at a fancy restaurant. Just add some breadcrumbs and parmesan to the mix, bake at 400 for 10 minutes, drizzle with garlic butter... In fact, I'm hungry.

[Islandoftiki]

Lol. The way you describe it, I could imagine it on the menu at a fancy restaurant. Just add some breadcrumbs and parmesan to the mix, bake at 400 for 10 minutes, drizzle with garlic butter... In fact, I'm hungry.

 

Let me put it this way, Chuck eats the same kind of seafood that we eat.

 

Well, we don't eat mysis shrimp, but he does get the benefit of our mostly pescatarian diet.

[Spirofucci]

Way cool!!!

 

So I take it this guy's not sensitive to light like the peacocks are????

[Islandoftiki]

Way cool!!!

 

So I take it this guy's not sensitive to light like the peacocks are????

 

Dr. Caldwell has noted shell rot on G. Ternatensis in older males, but these guys live in live branching corals in shallow reef conditions, usually pocillopora. The lighting I'm using won't be bright enough to grow SPS, so he should be good. He's been living the past couple years in a sump with chaeto and no real place to make a burrow. I suspect he'll be fine. He'll will have a dark burrow to live in. General consensus in the mantis community is that this will be an awesome tank for him.

 

By comparison, the Peacock mantis that has so much trouble with shell rot is a deep water species and is not exposed to bright lighting on a normal basis. This is why most peacock tanks are unlighted.

Edited December 3, 2012 by Islandoftiki

[Spirofucci]

Dr. Caldwell has noted shell rot on G. Ternatensis in older males, but these guys live in live branching corals in shallow reef conditions, usually pocillopora. The lighting I'm using won't be bright enough to grow SPS, so he should be good. He's been living the past couple years in a sump with chaeto and no real place to make a burrow. I suspect he'll be fine. He'll will have a dark burrow to live in. General consensus in the mantis community is that this will be an awesome tank for him.

 

By comparison, the Peacock mantis that has so much trouble with shell rot is a deep water species and is not exposed to bright lighting on a normal basis. This is why most peacock tanks are unlighted.

 

Thanks for the info! Mantis have to be one of the coolest animals. I'd really like to have one some day.