Gonodactylus chiragra

[Nix383]

Okay so I picked up one of these guys today at my local LFS. Apparently they ordered a peacock and got this guy. It has been identified by Dr. Roy via a friend of mine about four months back as definitely being a chiragra. No one wanted it and the store owner practically gave it to me. It started building its burrow as soon as I put it in the tank and has eaten shrimp off the feeding stick already. Very bold little fellow.

My questions are: I have it in a 46 bowfront glass tank. What are the chances of it breaking the glass? Should I move it to an acrylic tank? And what is the advice on lighting with these guys? Currently have a four 39w T5lighting fixture on the tank, two white, two blue. Is this too much light for a chiragra? Is it at risk for shell rot? Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

[Calappidae]

-Chances of breaking glass are almost none.. Chiragra is one of the few capable of chipping glass.. but I bet 99% of us all don't even use acrylic..

Placing a sheet of acrylic on the bottom will prevent it from burrowing straight down.. thinking the glass is rock.. and start hitting it.

-Water quality before lighting.. if the chiragra has a burrow where it can go in complete darkness, and your water quality is up to scratch, it should be fine..

Mantis have a higher risk of getting shell rot in a mushroom only setup.. then a sps setup due to the water quality and equiptment used to maintain a sps reef.

[Nix383]

Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better. No problem with water quality, have good equipment and it is a macro algae dominated tank. And it has plenty of places for the mantis to build a burrow, be in the dark, and I put lots of rubble in the tank for it to use.

Next question, I have a couple of damsels, hermits, and astrea snails in the tank. I know the hermits are toast, but will the chiragra decimate the snail population and make short work of the damsels? Not really worried about this but just want to know what to expect.

[Calappidae]

Every mantis is different.. you can have some live in a full blown reef tank with fish and inverts.. while others attack even tiny hard to see asterinas. It's a gamble, just don't get too attached to the other livestock incase something does happen.

[M.r.ducks]

My g. Tern terminated my fish population in 2 days (1 clown, 2 green chromis, and a yellow tail damsel). The only survivor was a black & white clown. She left the hermits, snails, and peppermint shrimp alone. I moved her to her own tank.

I tried my luck again and purchased another O. clown and decided to try my luck with a peacock. "She" is only 2 inches right now but has decimated my hermits tried her hand a snail that was 2 times her size and has stared down the hermit every day. She's left the fish alone, atleast till tonight. She's been paying more attention to them and tonight took a swing at them. Wasn't much of anything but I believe eventually she'll try her luck. It's only a matter of days before she gets ahold of the peppermint. I put a small emerald crab in tonight to see if she would do anything but it escaped my tweezers of death and promptly secured its life underneath a rock till another day.

[Nix383]

I have the full blown reef in another tank with all the critters I am attached to. This tank will be strictly for the mantis so if it decimates all the other critters currently in there with it, it won't be a big deal. I was planning on ordering a wennarae mantis and then saw this one at the LFS in a tank with just gravel and one small rock. No burrow to hide in for security. He or she came up to the glass and had a staring contest with me. It won me over, especially after talking with the owner and finding out how long it had been there. I didn't find out it was a Chiragra until I texted my friend that I had picked one up and let her know where I got it from. She had considered getting it until she found out from Dr. Roy that it was a Chiragra. Anyhow I don't regret bringing him home. It has a big personality. I named it Bam Bam so I hope its a boy, lol.

[Fartin'Gary]

It's fine. I've kept all my Peacocks in glass and they have struck it on more than one occasion. Never had a problem.