Need advice

[Wilf]

I've been looking at getting a Mantis Shrimp and, after some research, I've come up with a plan.

Mantis: Ideally G. Smithii, otherwise G. Viridis, G. Glabrous, G. Graphurus, N. Oerstedii, N. Wennerae, P. Ciliata or R. Hyroglypica
Depending on availability. My LFS say they can import Indonesian species, but I'm keeping my options open.

Tank: Orca TL-450, 58 litre (15.3 US Gallon) marine nano

About 7-8 Kg (16 pounds) live rock

Does this sound workable, or am I looking at a tank o' death. I really don't want to cause suffering to anything.

Also I need to sort out a few other issues:

Substrate: I read on a website that live sand is excessive, and I could get away with kiddies play sand, right or wrong?

Water: So many opinions! RO seems ideal but expensive, some suggestions that treated tap water would work or, since I live near the coast (North Sea) sea water (worried about pollution and disease with that one)

Filter: I read a lot of reviews that suggested that the filter media in the Orca is a nitrate factory, and should be replaced with LR rubble, good idea or not? Plus, would it be a good idea to rig up lighting for one of the filter compartments and add Chaeto?

Food: Frozen shrimp seems likely to be the staple, I presume that has to come from the LFS not Adsa/Walmart? I could also try catching live crabs from the sea on occasion, would cold water crabs be a good food source, and are they likely to add parasites/disease? Finally I thought it might be a good idea to get a cheap kiddies aquarium and dropping some pond/ramshorn snails in it, as a breeding colony for mantis food, would this work?

I think that's everything covered, but if I've missed anything please tell me.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Wilf

[lionbacker54]

g.smithii or n. wennerae would be fine in that setup. p.ciliata roams a lot, so would ideally be in 20g. not sure about the others.

kiddie sand is absolutely the wrong way to go. the sand serves two functions. it needs to be a chemical buffer against acidity, and it needs to host bacteria and microfauna to process ammonia, nitrites and other wastes.

kiddie sand is silica, unable to chemically buffer. it is also not a natural substrate.

i'd recommend carib-sea live aragonite. or, just plain old aragonite. with a nano system, it is important to invest in good quality substrate.

for water, RO is actually quite inexpensive if you get it from walmarts. $0.37 per gallon.

i love your filter with live rubble and chaeto idea. lighting is for this separate filter is good too. you'd probably need an oversize filter, like an aquaclear 70.

i think frozen mysis and krill would be great. i've heard grabbing crabs from the shore is bad, but one of the posters here does it all the time and hasn't had adverse effects that i know of (micstarz). aren't ramshorn snails freshwater? not a good idea to feed freshwater food sources to saltwater animals.

good luck with your set up. you are embarking on a very fun adventure. it bodes well that you've put so much thought and preparation into it already.

[Thurge]

Mantis: Ideally G. Smithii, otherwise G. Viridis, G. Glabrous, G. Graphurus, N. Oerstedii, N. Wennerae, P. Ciliata or R. Hyroglypica
Don't know anything about R.hyroglypica. The others are good choices.

Tank: Orca TL-450, 58 litre (15.3 US Gallon) marine nano
Footprint is more important than total gallons. The 15's I am used to are 12x24x12h and that is what I keep my mantis' in.

About 7-8 Kg (16 pounds) live rock
depends on the maktis you end up getting and the density of the rock. Some species like a lot of rock to roam around and others may prefer more open spaces.

Substrate: I read on a website that live sand is excessive, and I could get away with kiddies play sand, right or wrong?
Again more species dependant. Some species build their burrow in the sand, under a flat rock and others up in the rocks. The species that build sand burrows would benifit from larfer grain sizes in the sand, to make the borrow more stable.
As for the play sand, there is a type of play sand that can be used but its a PITA to find. Most play sand is silica based and that will promote Diatom growth.

Water: So many opinions! RO seems ideal but expensive, some suggestions that treated tap water would work or, since I live near the coast (North Sea) sea water (worried about pollution and disease with that one)
RO is definately best; treated tap will work; you probably want to avoid North Sea water for the reasons you listed.

Filter: I read a lot of reviews that suggested that the filter media in the Orca is a nitrate factory, and should be replaced with LR rubble, good idea or not? Plus, would it be a good idea to rig up lighting for one of the filter compartments and add Chaeto?
Don't know about the Orca filter but I pull the filter media out of my filters and fill with LR rubble. Cheato always is a nice addition if you can manage it.

Food: Frozen shrimp seems likely to be the staple, I presume that has to come from the LFS not Adsa/Walmart? I could also try catching live crabs from the sea on occasion, would cold water crabs be a good food source, and are they likely to add parasites/disease? Finally I thought it might be a good idea to get a cheap kiddies aquarium and dropping some pond/ramshorn snails in it, as a breeding colony for mantis food, would this work?
Wal Mart is fine if you get raw shrimp, you don't want them cooked. Live food is nice (infact its kind of necessary to feed live ocasionally), but yes you could introduce parasites and diseases. But then again you could do that with with stuff bought at the LFS.
Skip the fresh water stuff, there are differences from marine snails that over the long term could be detremantial to your mantis.

[Wilf]

Thanks for the advice and the prompt responses, Am going to order a tank soon, good job I've worked plenty of overtime this month!

Wilf