two mantis?

[Alto]

I seem to have taken to adopting mantis shrimp from people who would rather just toss them out...anyway I made a coworker of mine promise to bring it to me instead of killing it by boiling his rock..... sheesh. I explained how to trap it etc, so he will try. So on to my question. The only tank I have right now is a 6 gallon eclipse system with an 18watt PC retrofit, with a few corals... and a green mantis I saved just about two weeks ago from certain death. Can I put the two mantis together in this tank? If I make sure they have seperate burrows will they coexist or will the still clash? I would like to save them both, but dont think I can set up another tank.... Any opinions would be welcome.

[jedimpt]

Keep us posted on what happens. I too have a 6g eclipse that I moving my mantis to and I wanted to add a 2nd little bugger. Thanks.

[instinkt]

I would say no. I'm fairly new to all this, but from what I've read, this wouldn't be a good idea. Plus, I had one small mantis for a while, then got another larger one, and put him in with the smaller one temporarily while I waited to get my new tank. Well, a few hours later I noticed the smaller one on his back in the corner of the tank. On closer inspection, I noticed little smash marks in his shell. He hadn't been eaten, just beaten to death. This may just be because he was smaller, but I'd assume that two same size ones would conflict.
Btw, my tank is also a 6g.

[Gonodactylus]

Big risk assuming that you have gonodactlids. Even if they coexist for awhile, eventually one will molt and will be killed by the other. The only way this sometimes works is if there is lots of space, many cavities of different sizes, and different sized animals. Species that generally remain in cavities most of the time such as many protosquillids (Haptosquilla, etc.) do better coexisting, but it is still risky in a 6 gal.

Roy