Mantis on Vacation

[J2FcM]

So, lets say you had an 8 gallon nano with a mantis shrimp in it, and the mantis goes on a 3 or 4 day vacation... what kind of cleaning crew pets would you get to clean up algae, and other pest growths (aptasia) quickly within that vacation time?

[TrappedMetal]

http://www.reefexotics.com/aiptasia_x.jpg
This with a big algae scraper then a larger water change!

[justinl]

you want to treat for pests while you're away on vacation? with the fact that it is an 8g nano?! wrong time to be battling aiptasia. you want to be there to do water changes and intervene in the treatment as necessary.

If it were me, Id say 3-4 days is a perfectly fine time to just ignore it completely. no feeding. no more new additions.

[djchristone]

eh i think you misread what he said.
the mantis would go on vacation :)

why not just stock it with clean up crew for the few days he's out of there and then just let him back in :) but just out of curiosity, where would he be held?

[J2FcM]

the Mantis would be put in the back of the nano tank... she has bashed a 1 way exit hole into the back, and will occasionally make her way inside and troll around in the back. I catch her by putting shrimp in a water battle and just closing the lid on her.

I figured I could buy a cleaning crew (whatever that should consist of for lil grey algae trees and aiptasia), let them go to work for 3-4 days then bring the mantis back in to either haev some fine dining... or I'd just sell the cleaning crew on Craigslist or put them in my friends tank.

Just figured it would be a change of pace and more interesting (maybe natural?) way of cleaning the tank.

[justinl]

haha, yikes my bad. apparently peppermints sometimes eat aiptasia. You have to get them hungry though. otherwise, sails and hermits imo.

But looking at the bigger picture, this is just a short term solution. You might clean the tank and make it look pretty for now, but you are not addressing the root of the problem. How old is the tank? is it just going through the new tank stages of random algal blooms that will eventually disappear? or is there something wrong with your maintenance of the tank, like using tap water for changes instead of RO/DI? maybe media in the tak that isn't being changed regularly enough... etc etc

[J2FcM]

the tank i believe spent 8 months in a garage (setup) with 8 hours of light. Now it has been in my room for about 3 months, so it gets moderate indirect sunlight (i make sure it doesnt get direct), and then usually 5:30pm till midnight lighting.
There is a big snail in their along with the mantis.
Water is got from stores, no tap water.
Aiptasia has always been around, but now I am noticeing little miniature "grey roots" growing off stuff. some sort of grey algae I assume. maybe tiny grey trees is a better description than roots.

[justinl]

little grey trees could be anything from hyroids to sponges to plain old detritus. a good pic would help. Is the store water new? or is it old water they siphon out of their own tanks? if the lfs is giving you their manky old water that would explain a lot. how bad is your algae growth anyways that it has forced you to kick out the mantis for a while, while you go ape-poop on the display? again, pics.

[J2FcM]

I'll get pics.
Its not that bad... but my Mantis has been getting antesy and looks like she's gunna go in the filter area of the bio cube, so I just figured if a small cleaning crew could clean it out while she is stuck in the back again --- that she'd have food for when I catch her and toss her in the main area.