any bright ideas?

[jraker]

my old 10 gallon QT tank is no longer in use. i am looking to do something cool with it. my ideas

1) do nothing. leave it for emergency

2) put a pygmy frogfish in it. a small reef. anyone have experience with pygmy frogfish?

3) nps tank?

4) taking suggestions


thanks in advance

[Bent]

I vote small mantis.

[jraker]

thanks, i never considered that, but i think my LFS might have one. any special requirements? i know they burrow, so how deep of a sandbed should i have?

also, what species would you consider?

[Bent]

I would personally go with G. Smithii in a tank that size. They stay small and are relatively pretty for the small smashers. 3.5" i think is the max length.

They do burrow, but you can also set up some PVC tunnel systems and cover them. Check out some of the mantis tanks the guys have in the mantis section here and youll get some good ideas.

As with any smasher in a thin paned non-tempered tank, I would put some kind of padding on the bottom of the tank because they can break the bottom glass digging around. The reports of smashers busting the front glass is ludicris to me, but in the wild when digging around, the mantis will bust shells and things that are in his way, so its only natural that he would try to bust the bottom when he thinks theres something in the way.

Just look around at the different species and make sure you know which one your getting because some of them can get pretty good size, too big for a 10g.


On an unrelated note, you could also try to find a E. Aphroditis that someone wants to get rid of and just keep a mucky sand bed in the tank. Theres a youtube video floating around of a guy feeding one that he named Smaug. Pretty cool. Like something out of a horror movie.

edit:
here ya go. Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fukLzoyOxs

edit 2:
heres a nice smithii so you can see what they are like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koa2s2DJ_ew

[ericarenee]

use it to raise pods to feed your fish..

[jraker]

wow. mantis are fascinating creatures.

how would a pod farm work? so you just throw in some macroalgae then pour in a bottle of pods?

i could always do a brackish tank for dwarf puffers or some fiddler crabs