Keeping a pair of mantis shrimps

[CoMMaNdeR]

Guys,

I am thinking to start a small setup for keeping a pair of mantis shrimps. What do I need? Tank size, filtration etc..

I was thinking for filtration to do only a cannister filter, no skimmer but frequent water changes. Will this be enough and did someone ever bred this species ?

Thanks

[nanoDude]

What size tank are you considering? In order to keep most mantises you will need a male/female pair and even then in a small tank they may fight. I have two five gallon mantis/reef tanks. I don't run a skimmer but do have a bag of carbon and change about one and a half gallons a week. You should check the mantis forum for breeding info.

[CoMMaNdeR]

I was thinking to do a 30gallon

[JokerGirl]

Keeping a pair of mantids in a small tank is going to be tough as usually one ends up killing the other. It all depends on what kind you are wishing to go with as well as to how big of a tank you would need. Even then it would be risky.

Breeding mantis shrimp is near impossible with what we have available to use in the hobby at this time. They never leave the larval free floating/planktonic stage because they get filtered out.

[FUA]

sounds fun to have a species tank like that

[nanoDude]

Also, be careful with glass tanks. If you get a smasher they can shatter them. I always keep my mantises in acrylic ones.

[coralreefer2110]

I second nanodude's advice on the glass tank. that was a bad day. water on the floor and a mantis laying there waiting for me.
Good luck.

[snorvich]

Agree with above. Mantis shrimp strikers have the power of a .22 calibre bullet.

[Justinandkrista]

go to mantis shrimp fourm

[Pea-brain]

Only mantis likely to break a glass tank is a 6.5"+ peacock. Only a few species can be kept sucessfully together, and those are spearers which need very deep sand beds (though not all spearers are monogamous). In order to keep 2 3" smashers together (for ex. N. wennerae) you'd need about a 50 gallon. If you want to keep a smaller mantis such as N. wennerae you only need a 5-10 gallon with some sand, some rubble, a powerhead and enough rock to burrow in. For a peacock you need a 20+ tank with more advanced filtration. Another species I'd recommend is P. ciliata which is like a spearer but very active (unlike other spearers) and much easier to care for. They need a 10-20 gallon (I'd recommend at least 15, some people say 10's are fine)

Only 3-5 species of mantis (out of over 400) have been raised sucessfully out of the planktonic. They can spend between 1 month-6 in it and it is very hard to get them eating. They are also extremely cannalistic and once they settle it takes about a year to get 1". Needless to say it is a bit more than difficult.

That said you should ask your questions on the mantis forum if you want more answers from people more experienced with mantises and check out stomatopod.com for some good mantises and check out their forum for some good info.

[CoMMaNdeR]

Thanks all of you for your great information, guys.
Does a 10g aquarium with an inside sponge filter work for these kind of animals? Or I need stronger filtration like a cannister for example!

[Pea-brain]

I you are keeping a hardier one like N. wennerae a power head and live rock along with weekly 10% water changes are all thats necessary, and you can keep them with corals if the corals are well secured (or else the mantis will decorate with them)

Dan