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Drewl117
11/24/2016, 07:46 AM
So I did a bunch of trading and got a cube tank. 24 X 24 X 19. It has been cycling for almost a week now with 45lbs of dry rock and 35 lbs of aragonite. The tank is drilled and I have a sump and skimmer. I'm wanting to get a mantis for the cube. Is this tank big enough for a peacock or should I be looking for something else? And where is a good place to get 1?

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161124/6dc150a184823c9fd794b0a2e25e7574.jpg
That's the tank so far... any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!


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BigDaddyD1992
11/24/2016, 05:58 PM
Awesome looking tank so far! I see peacocks on liveaquaria divers den from time to time, i think it may be a seasonal thing.

Corn Fed Iowa Bred

Drewl117
11/24/2016, 06:11 PM
Ive been looking ther but not on divers den. Good idea! Thank you

nmotz
11/25/2016, 10:11 AM
I would just get on several different web sites and use their email notification option to alert you when they have a mantis in-stock. You may need to be patient if you want a Peacock, everybody wants one of those.

The tank is good, but I recommend a smaller specimen if you have the option. You'll be amazed at how much they roam around and Peacocks can grow to over 6.5" I would also recommend getting a u-shaped PVC pipe for a burrow. The burrow is probably the most important feature of a Peacock tank. The other species will just burrow into the rock or in the sand, but Peacocks are too big to do that effectively in the home aquarium.

I made these videos that have an example of a PVC burrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27ejOxSlTQY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NNNaiRmtAA

Long, shallow tanks are normally preferred for Peacocks but you can certainly succeed with a cube tank. A lot of mantis shrimp owners have a 40 gallon breeder. But I would say having a decent water volume is most important because you want to maintain stability. IMO, it's pretty tough to run a Peacock tank under 30 gallons although many people successfully run 29G cube tanks.

serenity
11/25/2016, 10:28 AM
A good friend of mine got 2 clear 90's and a small piece of clear between the 90's buried under the sand and could go under his stand and look at his Mantis. Just an idea.


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Drewl117
11/25/2016, 02:06 PM
I would just get on several different web sites and use their email notification option to alert you when they have a mantis in-stock. You may need to be patient if you want a Peacock, everybody wants one of those.

The tank is good, but I recommend a smaller specimen if you have the option. You'll be amazed at how much they roam around and Peacocks can grow to over 6.5" I would also recommend getting a u-shaped PVC pipe for a burrow. The burrow is probably the most important feature of a Peacock tank. The other species will just burrow into the rock or in the sand, but Peacocks are too big to do that effectively in the home aquarium.

I made these videos that have an example of a PVC burrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27ejOxSlTQY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NNNaiRmtAA

Long, shallow tanks are normally preferred for Peacocks but you can certainly succeed with a cube tank. A lot of mantis shrimp owners have a 40 gallon breeder. But I would say having a decent water volume is most important because you want to maintain stability. IMO, it's pretty tough to run a Peacock tank under 30 gallons although many people successfully run 29G cube tanks.

Thank you for all the info and great videos! I will go get some pvc and build a burrow for him. Is the U shape the best for them? I think I will start out with a 2" pvc so it can be used for a while. My tank with the sump is about 55 gallons and I also have a nwb110 octopus skimmer in there. Also what temp do you keep the tank at?
Thanks again

Drewl117
12/03/2016, 07:30 AM
Is there an easy way to see if a peacock is male or female? I'm going to look at a couple 3" peacocks today.

nmotz
12/04/2016, 03:13 PM
I keep my tank at about 78-79F.

Look just beneath the last pair of legs for two small "sticks" if it is a male. Also many Peacock females seem to be more olive colored while the males are a brighter green. Not sure if it's like that with every specimen though.

Drewl117
12/04/2016, 10:01 PM
Ok great... thank you!

Drewl117
12/11/2016, 06:46 PM
So I ended up getting a female peacock from an lfs. She's about 4-5 inches and looks very healthy. She went right to work on building a burrow and keeps moving rubble into it. I had a few snails and hermits in the tank and she seems to get 2 a day. There is also a little dottyback in there and they hang out together all the time. It's cool to see them work on the burrow together and they stay in there together at night too! What an amazing creature!

Drewl117
12/11/2016, 09:49 PM
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161212/0ec633c2604657c81bd1612abcb8ef10.jpghttps://vimeo.com/195243931


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EI Gringo
12/15/2016, 05:45 AM
Good choice on going for a peacock, will look ace in there. A handful of damsels or a pair of clowns would also be excellent additions in terms of live stock.
Tank looks ace and the flush black cabinet style is my personal favourite. I'm currently building a 48"x24"x18 long wide tank for a peacock and multiple big fish with a flush black stand too :)

Drewl117
12/15/2016, 12:31 PM
Thanks, I've always liked the flush look on a stand. I'm loving the mantis too, she's a pig when it comes to snails (I think the dog likes her a little more)!

nmotz
12/15/2016, 03:09 PM
El Gringo, those are awesome dimensions for a Peacock tank, can't wait to see it!

EI Gringo
12/19/2016, 02:52 AM
I really should use this site more. The tank I am making will have a 3d background at one end and it will be mounted end on going into the room lengthways. The tank is internally sumped with a central column acting as both space for filtration and also rock work and structure. The 3d background is my interpretation of a shipwreck except it is correctly scaled so it just looks like the Hull of a ship cross sectioned. I have used dead coral pieces to create a dead reef look which I have cemented onto the structure. I'll post all the pictures once I'm done :)

EI Gringo
12/19/2016, 02:52 AM
Oh and in the background is a u shaped pvc pipe for my peacock to live in :)

EI Gringo
12/19/2016, 02:54 AM
One thing I would add is that you should make a strainer for that overflow, would hate for anything to get stuck in it, curiosity killed the cat :/

nmotz
12/19/2016, 07:22 AM
Drew, that's cool how much your dog seems to like the mantis.

El Gringo, interesting ideas for "aquascaping." Looking forward to seeing how all of that comes together.

Drewl117
12/19/2016, 08:13 AM
Ya the dog is obsessed with the mantis! She sits and stares at her al the time.

Drewl117
12/19/2016, 08:14 AM
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161219/c8668686d76e870e2ffd9c09cacd0600.jpg



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Drewl117
12/21/2016, 08:34 PM
So I got some frozen food to try, rods predator mix... she seems to love it!
https://vimeo.com/196671495


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Idoc
12/21/2016, 08:47 PM
That dog cracks me up!

schudini
01/18/2017, 05:11 PM
I didn't see it in your post, but what kind of light is that over the tank? Mantis shrimp don't need light and can have health/shell problems with too much light.

A low powered light should be fine, but anything strong enough to grow coral is probably too much for a mantis, long term.

nmotz
01/18/2017, 11:33 PM
I didn't see it in your post, but what kind of light is that over the tank? Mantis shrimp don't need light and can have health/shell problems with too much light.

A low powered light should be fine, but anything strong enough to grow coral is probably too much for a mantis, long term.

A few thoughts about this.... first, it is only applicable to deep water species like those from the genus Odontodactylus. It is true that high lighting can enhance the spread of shell rot, but it's actually poor water quality/poor nutrition that seems to contribute most to that condition. In the mantis shrimp hobby, shell rot only affects Peacocks, and a couple species of large gonodactylids.

I've had high lights over my tank for over a year and even some marine biologists run intense LEDs with success. I suppose it does decrease the margin for error. Furthermore, it can lead to some problems with reclusiveness in Peacocks. For all those reasons, I wouldn't recommend LEDs for a Peacock tank, but it can be done with success. My current tank has an awesome and active female Peacock that is enjoying her LED-lit tank.

My coral on the other hand, well, I'd rather not talk about that! :headwally:

Drewl117
01/19/2017, 04:23 PM
I am using a Ai hydra 26 on her tank but I'm only running it at 23% and it's on a 4 hour ramp set on 18-20K with a 6 hour period so it isn't to intense. So it only hits that 23% power for 2 hours a day. She just went through a successful molt and is out and about all the time! She is very active and eats a lot!

Jayreefer
01/22/2017, 11:51 AM
Glad yours is out. I got my purple spot mantis about the same time and is rarely seen, but heard consistently.

Drewl117
01/22/2017, 03:16 PM
Haha... ya mine is out and busy all the timel!