Mantis Update

[muhakmid]

Hey I just wanted to post some pics of my mantis tank. I have had it for a little over a week. I just recently added some more rocks.

[muhakmid]

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[XxAngelzDustxX]

I've never had a Mantis but I've been reading up on them and I remember reading somewhere that it's not a good idea to have to many caves and overhangs in a Mantis tank since they are always digging, there is a good chance the rock can calapse.

I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure I got it down right. Otherwise, it looks really nice and I love the rockwork (it would be better for a reef tho) :)

[hobbzz]

Where did you get that nice peacock?

[hubris007]

no experience with mantis, but i have cracked atank and can tell you how bad that sucks. I'd at least ziptie those together if there is even an off chance he could move them or the substrate under them.

[muhakmid]

Well I don't believe peacocks really dig, and I haven't seen mine dig yet. Mine pretty much stays to his cave. I made the cave out of an old conditioner bottle and it is enclosed on all sides except for the opening so he won't be digging threw the bottle. I got my peacock at my LFS, he was $35.

[muhakmid]

Oh! and XxAngelzDustxX, I am going to plan on trying to make it a reef as much as I can. I need some corals though, but right now I have a dominoe damsel and a flamefish goby with my peacock and they seem fine.

[James0_85]

I have a dominoe damsel and a flamefish goby with my peacock and they seem fine
wouldent get too atached to thoes fish :fun2:

[Kara]

Definitely don't get attached to those fish. I have a smasher mantis also and I put damsels in the tank so that there is some movement and color. The first damsel lasted about 2 weeks before Roy ate him. The second damsel lasted about a week.

I feed Roy every other day (silversides, prawn, scallops, shrimp). So, I know he wasn't starving. With smashers I think it's a 50% chance of it eating the fish. You might have a mantis that doesn't like eating fish or it might love having fish snacks.

Check this LINK (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=124682&highlight=muddy+mudskipper) out.

[muhakmid]

Yes I do understand that he might get them. But so far he hasn't even tried for them. And anywase my fish have a lot of places to hide so they usually don't stay around the tunnel. My mantis seems really shy and doesn't even strike at anything i put in there except for crabs. What kind of mantis do you have Kara???????????

[muhakmid]

and if he does get them they were cheap so no big loss money wise.

[duckhuntboy]

In my experience (not very much) even my mantis digs around a little bit. He's a neogonodactylus wennarae (sp?) and he doesn't burrow by any means, but he always is digging out a new home underneath my PVC pipe and whatnot.

[Kara]

My mantis is (we think) Neogonodactylus oerstedii. He has his own webpage (http://www.karaquarium.com/mantis.htm) :)

I wouldn't be too worried about your mantis being shy. I'm sure after a while it will feel confortable and start to become the smashing machine he was always meant to be! Start tapping on the glass just before you feed him. He'll learn that anytime you tap on the glass, means come out! Roy comes out and greets me in the morning, when I come home at night and anytime he sees me.

Roy also does what I call the happy food dance. When I give him food, he stuffs it in his tunnel. Then he comes out and stares at me. Then does several figure eights, goes back into his house, then out again and stares at me for a few seconds. Then he goes back into his tunnel and plays with his food for a few minutes. At this point I'm usually laughing cause it's cute. I'm sure there is a reason for this behavior, but it is the funniest thing. It's almost like he's saying 'Thank you, human with good food!!'

[~SIRENA~]

Loving the aquascaping:rollface:
I would like to know how you got the rocks to stay.

[technoshaman]

On digging - My O. Scyllarus digs a lot. In her old tank which was smaller she dug constantly. In the new tank I laid a piece of PVC with upturned ends and covered it with sand and LR and she lives in it and doesn't dig.

[muhakmid]

I haven't seen my OS do any digging at all, nor do I see any places where he has dug. My mantis stays pretty confined to his tunnel. As far as the rocks I just messed with them until I got them nice and sterdy. The big one in the middle took a while but it turned out better than what I thought. Here is a pic of my OS in his tunnel.