mcs Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Returning reefer from australia. unfortunately our local forums are a bit dead as of recent years so i thought id jump on here. So after being out of the hobby for some time i had the urge to start another mantis aquarium. But at the same time i thought why not make it a basic shallow mixed reef. So i actually started this tank many months ago. It sat around running with nothing in it and no light for months. I was waiting to find a suitable mantis shrimp. After a few months i found a mantis and another few months added in the first corals. And now we are currently just letting it age maybe adding a coral once a month or slower. Tank is set up as a peninsular with a rear filter section. Dimensions are 400Lx600Wx250H Its a pretty basic setup with a eheim compact 1000 as a return pump. 2x 50w eheim jager heaters. And a Nanobox Tide M light custom drilled so it sits lenthwise on the gooseneck. Just have a bunch of marinepure plates for filtration. Minimal rock and shallow sand bed. So this is still very early, corals will be added slowly and will try and get photos of the mantis. For anyone interested it is a gonodactylus ternatensis 4 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Always nice to see another mantis build on the site. Welcome back! 3 1 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 That's a neat-looking tank! 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Nice looking tank. Do you have any pics of the mantis? 1 Quote Link to comment
mcs Posted October 8, 2018 Author Share Posted October 8, 2018 11 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said: Always nice to see another mantis build on the site. Welcome back! Yeah there is not enough in my opinion such an underrated creature. i have kept 4 before this one. 2 unknowns, a peacock and a smithii. so far still a bit shy just pokes his/her head out to say hello. 6 hours ago, Clown79 said: Nice looking tank. Do you have any pics of the mantis? Hopefully can get some bit difficult as he/she spends most of the time in its rock pile, but I’ll persist. 1 Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Nice start! I love mantis shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment
Justind823 Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 Great tank! I'll be following along Where did you get your mantis from? 1 Quote Link to comment
mcs Posted October 9, 2018 Author Share Posted October 9, 2018 2 hours ago, Justind823 said: Great tank! I'll be following along Where did you get your mantis from? I got it from a lfs here in aus. There’s actually quite a few available at most times. Quote Link to comment
mcs Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 Here is a photo of my mantis “Saitama” best i can do at the moment till im not lazy and grab the DSLR. 3 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Not sure if it's a trick of the light, but are the meral spots of your mantis orange? If yes, then it's most likely an orange-spot mantis (G. ternatensis) and not a purple-spot mantis (G. smithii). Do you have more pics of Saitama? (I could be wrong here because lighting changes everything) Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 25 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said: Not sure if it's a trick of the light, but are the meral spots of your mantis orange? If yes, then it's most likely an orange-spot mantis (G. ternatensis) and not a purple-spot mantis (G. smithii). Do you have more pics of Saitama? (I could be wrong here because lighting changes everything) I think you are confusing this thread with a different thread here that has a smithii in it because he said it was a gonodactylus ternatensis in the first post hidden at the bottom. Cute little bugger! 2 Quote Link to comment
mcs Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 1 hour ago, Snow_Phoenix said: Not sure if it's a trick of the light, but are the meral spots of your mantis orange? If yes, then it's most likely an orange-spot mantis (G. ternatensis) and not a purple-spot mantis (G. smithii). Do you have more pics of Saitama? (I could be wrong here because lighting changes everything) If you read under the original pics i already stated it was a ternatensis never have i said smithii 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 2 hours ago, mcs said: If you read under the original pics i already stated it was a ternatensis never have i said smithii Yes, I'm very sorry - I confused you with MrSquiggle who has a smithii. Still, your mantis is very beautiful. 2 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Welcome to the community @mcs! 👋 It’s awesome to see another mantis tank getting started, such fascinating inverts! Looking forward to seeing your system grow out. 😊 1 1 Quote Link to comment
mcs Posted October 31, 2018 Author Share Posted October 31, 2018 Update time. As of saturday bought myself 4 frags of SPS to see how they go. Got; 1 x branching sps looks very similar to your green slimer in the states.1 x Pocci 1 x Pink Birdsnest which i broke so now have 2 frags. and a Green Scrolling Monti. Just a sneak peak of the Acropora for now (the day after i got it). So i will see how these go no point in a FTS as at the moment i just have the corals sitting on the sand bed getting used to the lighting. Cheers. 4 Quote Link to comment
TatorTaco Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 What a cool tank! Do you expect any struggles keeping high light demanding SPS with a mantis shrimp? I thought mantis preferred low light areas - but then again, I know they spend most of their time hiding too. Quote Link to comment
mcs Posted October 31, 2018 Author Share Posted October 31, 2018 5 hours ago, TatorTaco said: What a cool tank! Do you expect any struggles keeping high light demanding SPS with a mantis shrimp? I thought mantis preferred low light areas - but then again, I know they spend most of their time hiding too. Not a problem with this variety they are known to live on the reef flats. and thanks i still have to figure out placement and hopefully all goes well. Quote Link to comment
TatorTaco Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 Today I learned! Thanks and good luck. I cant wait to follow this. 1 Quote Link to comment
MrSquiggle Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Keen to see the adventures of Saitama! He or she is a little mantis! So cute! 1 Quote Link to comment
mcs Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 Saitama story time. So i recently caught a few crabs for saitama to eat while i was out fishing. I do this as a treat every now and then. I noticed one of the crabs out last week scurrying around the tank, so i got saitama to notice me then chased the crab towards him. next minute hits the crab and chases the it around the tank. Cant find the crab obviously crab did a Houdini and hid somewhere. But saitama was not to be deterred. He got super active and started looking all around the tank for the crab. While he was looking i noticed he actually lost one of his raptorial appendages, must of been during a molt (recently), sometimes they loose one or both. but not to be worried he will get it back in 3 - 4 molts. But then i saw the crab trying to swim up the side of the tank, so saitama rushes out from his rock grabs the crab mid water and just starts to bash the living crap out of him, which finished behind the rocks so i couldn't see the outcome. But then saitama emerges victorious with his crab in hand quickly rushing back to his hole to reap his reward. Cheers. 2 1 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 4 hours ago, mcs said: Saitama story time. So i recently caught a few crabs for saitama to eat while i was out fishing. I do this as a treat every now and then. I noticed one of the crabs out last week scurrying around the tank, so i got saitama to notice me then chased the crab towards him. next minute hits the crab and chases the it around the tank. Cant find the crab obviously crab did a Houdini and hid somewhere. But saitama was not to be deterred. He got super active and started looking all around the tank for the crab. While he was looking i noticed he actually lost one of his raptorial appendages, must of been during a molt (recently), sometimes they loose one or both. but not to be worried he will get it back in 3 - 4 molts. But then i saw the crab trying to swim up the side of the tank, so saitama rushes out from his rock grabs the crab mid water and just starts to bash the living crap out of him, which finished behind the rocks so i couldn't see the outcome. But then saitama emerges victorious with his crab in hand quickly rushing back to his hole to reap his reward. Cheers. Ha ha, you better put a PG-13 rating on that! 😅 1 2 Quote Link to comment
MrSquiggle Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 On 11/12/2018 at 6:10 PM, mcs said: Saitama story time. So i recently caught a few crabs for saitama to eat while i was out fishing. I do this as a treat every now and then. I noticed one of the crabs out last week scurrying around the tank, so i got saitama to notice me then chased the crab towards him. next minute hits the crab and chases the it around the tank. Cant find the crab obviously crab did a Houdini and hid somewhere. But saitama was not to be deterred. He got super active and started looking all around the tank for the crab. While he was looking i noticed he actually lost one of his raptorial appendages, must of been during a molt (recently), sometimes they loose one or both. but not to be worried he will get it back in 3 - 4 molts. But then i saw the crab trying to swim up the side of the tank, so saitama rushes out from his rock grabs the crab mid water and just starts to bash the living crap out of him, which finished behind the rocks so i couldn't see the outcome. But then saitama emerges victorious with his crab in hand quickly rushing back to his hole to reap his reward. Cheers. Love the update mate! 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment
mcs Posted December 29, 2018 Author Share Posted December 29, 2018 Quick update. So unfortunately my mantis shrimp has died due to a bad molt. i tend to not have the best luck it seems when it comes to mantis shrimp. I have decided to change direction and move to having a 4 striped damsel. I love this fish due to when i was a child i used to go camping with my family to various locations in Queensland. While i was away on these trips many a day was spent by me running around rock pools while at the beach. In these rockpools were always white and black damsels and ever since then i have loved these fish. 1 Quote Link to comment
MrSquiggle Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 Sorry to read of your loss mate. I love the passion for 4 striped damsels. Childhood memories! All the best in 2019 mate. Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 I'm sorry to hear about your mantis. I lost my previous mantis to a bad molt as well. Best wishes for the upcoming year. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.