Mantis tank cleanup crew?

[Islandoftiki]

So, the tank is cycling and I'm planning what to use for a clean-up crew. I already know that dwarf cerith snails seem to last pretty long with my G. Ternatensis, so I'll add some of those. The nassarius snail has also managed to survive.

How do the following critters seem to hold up in a mantis tank?

Micro Brittle Stars

Amphipods/copepods

Bristle worms

All of these things seem to have lasted just fine in my G. Viridis tank.

Anything others have had good luck with? Large turbo snails?

[Kharn]

Anything that isn't large enough to fall prey to the stomatopod itself or become a predator to the stomatopod itself, basically nothing is guaranteed...

I always aim for slightly larger HARMLESS inhabitants a.k.a snails and as for other critters that could pose a threat to the stomatopod (specifically during a molt) I keep them small but just stock more of them.

[AirportFF]

I just add a standard package from reef cleaners. Mine seems to LOVE dwarf ceriths. There's a pile of shells under his burrow. Doesn't seem to bother too many others.

[Cam H]

find the biggest turbo snail you can find and keep like 15 hermits or so in there. not advertising here but reefcleaners has some good deals on dwarf ceriths and hermits. may be ordering more stuff from them.

[Kharn]

Always be careful with hermits...

When the stomatopod is in its molt cycle its vulnerable to predation from hermits...

[Fitz19d]

Would the hermits be able to break in to a walled in mantis burrow? Or do some species of mantis like spearers not wall themselves off?

Really silly idea, maybe a person could help wall off a molting mantis. Something enough to discourage other critters, but something mantis wouldn't have a hard time getting through. (Not too serious idea, just idle musing while on the night shift.)

[khowst]

I just order the variety packs from reefcleaners. They keep the tank clean and it repsents a snack pack for her to eat and beat on. Think of it as a 2 for one. His prices are cheap enough I order decent sized pack and let her eat at will.

[Islandoftiki]

I usually order from reefcleaners because they give you so many dwarf cerith snails which my G. Viridis loves, and the G. Tern. leaves alone. However, this time, I think I'm going to give http://www.ipsf.com/ since they sell more variety, micro brittle stars, pods, worms, etc. They also have micro hermits that I would think would last a little longer like dwarf ceriths do with this guy.

[gweston]

My smithii kills all snails, even large turbos. He seems to leave my long spine urchin alone... for now. Apparent hermits aren't his favorite. But I let the snails run low, and he picked the hermits off too. He also ignored a sea hare, but I only had that for a few weeks and mostly during a molt phase.

Algae is a problem as you can imagine. I guess one option is to buy a lot of snails. Then the worry is that the snails will starve.

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[Islandoftiki]

I might put some fancy macro algaes in the main display, too.

[AirportFF]

\http://www.ipsf.com/


Been looking for micro brittle stars...thanks for the link sir