my first mantis

[burke77]

hello every one. i just recently went to my local pet store and ordered a mantis shrimp. the owner of the store dosent know what kind his suppler has but he said there usally pretty colorful and he would get me the most colorful one they got. im assuming that im getting a peacock. So heres my question i have a 55 gal tank i have one snowflake moray and a few expendable damsels. i am going to partition off one side of my tank for a few days to force the mantis to make his borrow on the oppisite side of my moray do you think this will work out or is having a eel and a killer shrimp together the dumbest idea ive had?

[oceanparadise1]

im tagging along this is a good ?

[block head]

far from an expert , but mantis + fish = a gamble .a peacock could dump your eel.

[oceanparadise1]

lol block head i love your occupation!

[Joel A]

Depending on size of eel and mantis, the eel could probably gobble up the mantis as well.

I would advise against it personally.

[TrappedMetal]

Yup, imo if the mantis is big enough to avoid being eaten it's likely to be a risk, if it's too small to be a risk it's likely to get eaten!
Snowflake moray's arent the cleverest of things, with their really poor eyesight they could soon run into trouble.

[justinl]

Large mantids have been known to kill much larger eels than themselves. Small mantids are probably on the menu for a snowflake since it eats small crustaceans in the wild. I wouldn't risk it.

Do not assume you will be getting a peacock unless you are buying from a seller that has a good reputation in selling well ID'd mantids... doesn't sound like what you got.

Is the divider temporary or permanent? If temporary, then I might say that the strategy might work in a large tank... like 400 gal or so. In a 55g, there's no point in even trying.