Office Mantis Tank

[rnhrtfan]

I am thinking of doing a mantis tank for my office and never done one... first question is 10 gallon large enough? and second what equipment is necessary to keep one? lighting, filtration ect....

[micstarz]

It depends on what species you're planning on getting. Smaller species like Neogonodactylus wennerae and some gonodactylids will work in a 10 gallon providing sufficient filtration is used.

[rnhrtfan]

What size for the larger species? and type of filtration? I am looking for something fairly low maintenance as I am out of the office sometimes three days a week and there is no one here that I feel will be able to keep it up.

[lionbacker54]

a peacock would need 29g or larger. p.ciliata should have 20g or larger. most would say that footprint is much more important than height.

as for filtration, i've had good success with biological filtration (live rock, deep sand bed with live sand) and flow at least twice that of the tank size (for example, a 55g tank with 110g/hr flow).

if you want a low maintenance tank, the most important thing is patience in setting it up and keeping the bioload low. if you can wait a couple months, you get all the different colonies of bacteria established so they can efficiently process all the wastes.

[rnhrtfan]

I am leaning toward a smithii right now as I only have a limited space and thinking I can do one of these in a 15 or maybe a 20.... but a 20 would be pushing it.....

[barnabus's gimp]

I would recommend a small Odontodactylus specie, they seems to be pretty interactive and hardy as well. I was thinking about getting one for my 26, lionbacker is right, its really the footprint and amount of sand and rock that's in there, I want to get a peacock but I might have to get a bigger tank.

[lionbacker54]

smithii would be fine in a 10 or 15 gallon