Possible manis tank - 10g?

[arnoldrew]

I can't really find a lot of info on what size tank various mantids need. I'm thinking of turning a spare 10g kit I have into a mantis tank. It has a cheap hood that you screw a standard household bulb into, so it sounds right for the low lighting conditions a mantis needs from what I've read. Would a 10g be large enough for one of the smaller smashers? I'm not looking to keep a full-grown peacock mantis in there. Could I also throw in a cheap damsel? Anybody have any more tips?

[arnoldrew]

I CANNOT believe I just became one of those people who misspell basic words in the title of their thread.

[Uael]

Good ref for tank size would be the following

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/

Click on type of mantis etc will be listed

[arnoldrew]

Good ref for tank size would be the following

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/

Click on type of mantis etc will be listed

Thank you, but I'm not sure what type of mantis I might get. I was thinking I would set up and cycle the tank, then put out the word that I'm looking for a mantis hitchhiker that someone wants to get rid of. Is there a type on that page that would be typical of hitchhikers people get on live rock?

[Nix383]

Depends on what part of the world the rock came from. A common hitchhiker in Florida live rock is Neogonodactylus wennerae which would be a good fit for your tank from what I have read. No personal experience as I am a newbie to Mantis shrimps myself.

[Calappidae]

G. smithii, N. wrennerae, G. viridis (I don't think O. havanensis..), and G. chiragra; which can break glass, are the only commonly sold ones that come to mind that can fit in a 10g

The damsel has a 50/50 chance of living. It all depends on the indivigual stomatopod's personality.

[arnoldrew]

Also, could I keep any type of coral in there? I know mushrooms don't need MUCH light, but is a household bulb enough?

[Islandoftiki]

Also, could I keep any type of coral in there? I know mushrooms don't need MUCH light, but is a household bulb enough?

A household bulb might work if you wanted to grow algae, but you're not going to find the right light spectrum for growing corals in a household bulb.

I'd suggest at the very least a marine T5 HO setup. You'll end up wanting to upgrade later, so I'd invest in a good quality LED setup to start and save money in the long run.

[Fartin'Gary]

I have used a low quality LED light on shrooms successfully. Its not the best but it worked. It was one of those clip on LED's from Amazon. I ended up using two. You don't want a Havanensis or Chiragra for a ten. The Havenensis requires excellent water quality and more room and the Chiragra will out grow it eventually. A twenty would be better for those.

[Calappidae]

Shrooms need some serious skill to kill.. I had them growing under 4 year old bulbs designed for plants.. (I honestly don't know how they grew and lived..)

[arnoldrew]

A household bulb might work if you wanted to grow algae, but you're not going to find the right light spectrum for growing corals in a household bulb.

I'd suggest at the very least a marine T5 HO setup. You'll end up wanting to upgrade later, so I'd invest in a good quality LED setup to start and save money in the long run.

I appreciate the advice, but I really can't spend money on this thing. My wife is sick of me spending "fish money" and I can make this tank as I have it now for free. Besides, I thought mantises don't like bright light?

[Fartin'Gary]

I appreciate the advice, but I really can't spend money on this thing. My wife is sick of me spending "fish money" and I can make this tank as I have it now for free. Besides, I thought mantises don't like bright light?

That is not true for all. Just the ones that live deeper in the ocean. There are many intertidal species that are used to bright light and rapidly changing water parameters that live near shore or rocky tide pools. What matters most is water cleanliness.

Go to the closet and point at her shoe collection when she complains about the fish tank :rollface:

[arnoldrew]

That is not true for all. Just the ones that live deeper in the ocean. There are many intertidal species that are used to bright light and rapidly changing water parameters that live near shore or rocky tide pools. What matters most is water cleanliness.

Go to the closet and point at her shoe collection when she complains about the fish tank :rollface:

She's not as much into shoes as she is into buying stupid, useless "decorating" things to hang on the walls. :D

[Fartin'Gary]

She's not as much into shoes as she is into buying stupid, useless "decorating" things to hang on the walls. :D

There you go. No more wicker balls in a bowl the coffee table hahaha

[Calappidae]

Oh boi, hope she doesn't jump on here like somebody else's wife just recently did :lolspin:

But yeah, if it has plenty of shady, and dark places to go then lighting shouldn't be an issue if your water quality is up-to-scratch.

[Kharn]

It's easy to want 1 species of Stomatopod, not so easy obtaining that species...

If there is one thing I will personally never do again...it's go CHEAP on a small nano stand a lone tank, I went cheap in the past spent maybe $200 all up and it turned to soup in a month, killed everything but a clam and thankfully not the Stomatopod...

I think Islandoftiki is a bit of a 'Nano-Nut', his small stand alone systems are very impressive but I think he will tell you that even he had to spend $500 at least to ensure he knew the small systems would remain stable in the long run.

Large tanks 100L+ are SOOOOOOOOOO easy to run and maintain...I cannot stress this enough, all of mine 'systems' are at least 150L+ and I have never had a problem with parameters no matter how much they eat (granted that 1/3rd to 1/2 of each system is a Refugium with Live Rock, DSB and loads of Macro algae.

If I ever go down the nano path again I won't look at corals I'll only look at decorative algaes, they come in many shapes, sizes and colors, I have a really tough one growing on my PVC DIY Burrows rite now, its a welcome site, small really tough bright red algae that goes fluro orange/red under blue LEDs only.

At least with a Macro forest one can be more confident in the tanks parameters specifically inside a nano.

Just my opinions/experiences/views/etc.

[Islandoftiki]

My opinion on nano tanks (and all of mine are nano or pico tanks) is that when you say that you just don't have a lot of money to put into the tank, then you probably should just skip it.

Yes, you can do a low tech tank that might be ok if you have perfect husbandry practices and pay a lot of attention to the tank on a daily basis, but you'll probably get tired of the extra maintenance and attention required if you don't have all of the bells and whistles.

Things like keeping the water topped off on a 10 gallon tank and maintaining salinity without an expensive ATO is a challenge. Probably requiring two top-offs a day if the relative humidity is low.

Anyhow, mantis shrimp are fun, nano tanks are fun, you can probably get by for cheap, but I don't think you'll be happy with it in the long run, and the mantis probably won't be too happy either.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade or say you shouldn't do it, but I've run several low tech nano tanks and ended up breaking them all down after 6-8 months. It's just a lot of hassle. That's my personal opinion.

[Fartin'Gary]

I have a 40gal and right now during winter top off is very frequent. It's got me looking into auto fillers because its' a pita.

[arnoldrew]

My opinion on nano tanks (and all of mine are nano or pico tanks) is that when you say that you just don't have a lot of money to put into the tank, then you probably should just skip it.

Yes, you can do a low tech tank that might be ok if you have perfect husbandry practices and pay a lot of attention to the tank on a daily basis, but you'll probably get tired of the extra maintenance and attention required if you don't have all of the bells and whistles.

Things like keeping the water topped off on a 10 gallon tank and maintaining salinity without an expensive ATO is a challenge. Probably requiring two top-offs a day if the relative humidity is low.

Anyhow, mantis shrimp are fun, nano tanks are fun, you can probably get by for cheap, but I don't think you'll be happy with it in the long run, and the mantis probably won't be too happy either.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade or say you shouldn't do it, but I've run several low tech nano tanks and ended up breaking them all down after 6-8 months. It's just a lot of hassle. That's my personal opinion.

Ew...I forgot about topoffs. That alone is really making me reconsider.

[Calappidae]

Not sure if I'm doing something right or wrong.. but I haven't had to top off my 10 g for 3 weeks.. It's different for everybody I guess..

I just got a refractometer as a precaution and my hydrometer was pretty accurate..

Maybe it has something to do with the region we're in and where water evaporates the most.. that and lighting (but then again I got a ridiculously strong fixture over the 10 g only a couple inches above the water line..)

Come to think of it my 2 gallon was pretty easy to take care of also when that was up...it over heated but that was it. It was easier then my 29 when that was running at the time.. both are gone now :/

[Islandoftiki]

Well, you can reduce evaporation by covering the tank, but then you lose most of your gas exchange... unless you have a skimmer. My 25 gallon tank is covered and has very low evaporation, but it has a skimmer. I can go two days without topping that tank off.

My new 30 gallon tank has the Tunze ATO from my 10 gallon on it when I combined everything from the 10 gallon and 20 gallon into the 30.

The old 10 gallon tank was a pain to keep topped up until I got the ATO. It was also a challenge to fit an ATO to the tank because of the limited space.

My 2 gallon tank which usually only needs topping up every two to three days has required daily top-offs since the weather has been so cold and dry here. That tank is about 60% covered with a hole in the middle of the cover for lighting and gas exchange.

My old 7 gallon pest crab tank was so annoying to keep topped up that I sold it.

[Calappidae]

I never cover my tanks due to the decrease in PAR from the cover blocking the light.

I never really thought about the gas exchange but either way that's not an issue for me.

All my skimmers crashed and weren't ever on the nanos (even though I need them..badly... phosphates are a huge problem in my 10)