i need advice about keeping ma peacock w/ a stingray

[soapple91]

So i need to know whether or not i should keep my mantis w/ a stingray. My tank is about 30 gallons. I have 2-3 inches of sand w/ a small amount of LR, mainly some big pieces(helps provide more space for the stingray). Anyways should i remove the stingray? Im not sure what effects the stingray may have on my mantis and i don't want to keep the stingray if it is bad for my mantis. Please let me know what you think. Thanks

Jonathan

[Pea-brain]

A 30 gallon is too small for a stingray-it'd need to be ridiculously flat to house one, and even then there isn't enough water to buffer their high nutrient levels.

That said stingrays are invert eaters and it wouldn't surprise me if someone here got eaten or killed.

Dan

[soapple91]

Well the stingray is still very young. Its maybe 6 inches from head to tail. The thing is, my mantis is afraid of it. Whenever the stingray swims by its burrow he goes in deeper to keep a distance. I feel like since the stingray has been in there its been affecting my mantis's eating habits and stuff. I was hoping if someone could just give me a straight answer on whether or not i should get rid of the stingray.

[Pea-brain]

yes, remove the stingray. It would likely chow down on the mantis if it got the chance.

Dan

[soapple91]

Aiite for sure thanks.. If u still there Dan i got another question, how can i improve my mantis's colors. He is like orange and totally not good looking lol. I was wondering if u might have some tips on how to fix that.

[Pea-brain]

Depends on the species. Do you know the species? The only species that would be consistently orange I can think of would be P. ciliata. Unless it hasn't molted in your aquarium yet, which could make it any # of species. After 1-2 molts many species will turn green under aquarium lighting, but P. ciliata adopts this color in comfortable environments. Maybe the fact that it has been stressed out by a predator could change that, or maybe if you put it in a darker environment. Generally orange and yellow morphs of P. ciliata are the most resistant to change, whereas other colored ones will generally change to fit the environment.

Dan

[soapple91]

Its a Peacock( Odontodactylus scyllarus). And as far as i know usually its supposed to have more of a blue color not orange haha.

[justinl]

colour of a given mantis is highly variable depending on the species, the individual, the lighting, the habitat quality as well as the presence or lack of predators or aggressors... in short, we need more info. Even with that info, changing the colour of a stomatopod to a specific colour/pattern is usually more complicated than what we might imagine.

[Pea-brain]

Is it really orange is just kinda orange? The females are sometimes a kind of bluish color, but males are usually darker and green. If i remember right the real orange ones are kind of rare. Unfortunately I don't think theirs much you can do...Any pics :D?

Dan

[soapple91]

Hmmm.....ill try to put up some picks of it. Its a really awkward shade of like orange...it was blueish when i first got it, but after it molted it changed. And i cant say there was really a presence of a predator when it first molted. And as far as lighting and stuff, ma tank is pretty plane right now. Im hoping to get rid of the stingray so i can give the tank a little more life w/ a lot more LR and stuff. But ill try and put up some pics of my mantis and my tank when i get the chance. Hopefully then you guys can help me find out why its such an awkward color haha.

[rwhhunt]

my first peacock was supposedly green when the fish store first got it. Then molted to the typical orangish/brown for a female. then after I made her a new larger tank with a dark burrow she eventually molted darker and darker after each molt eventually becoming a greenish blueish coloration...really pretty, however she was large and old at this point and died while I was out of town....