will this tank work for a mantis?

[Danyal]

i'm planning to have a tank made out of 1/4 inch acrylic 24"x24"x12"(29.92gal) for a mantis shrimp and fish combo (blue damsel or royol gramma). i plan on about 20 or 30lbs of live rock a 2" sand bed, 120 watts of DIY flouresent lights, two DIY skimmers and an LED moonlight strip and about 600gph moving through powerheads. any ball park ranges on how much it will cost me to have the tank built?

[Danyal]

i just found a perfect aquarium(except for the 1/4" acrylic) on a corner in a guy's drive way next to a pile of other aquariums and supplies that are all going to the dump, i get to have anything i want out of the pile as long as i don't make a mess! just saved lots of money which will got towards lr. but will the tank work or not?

[Danyal]

the tank is 24"x20"x11", 22.85 gallons and 1/8" thick glass. will this work for a mantis?

[Danyal]

come on any thoughts at all???

[rwhhunt]

Should be awesome for a mantis! The tank is nice a long with plenty of floor space. You probably want to find a shallow water species that can handle the bright lighting with such a low ceiling. I really like the smithii's very colorful and can't break acrylic....lets see some pics of how progress is going

[Danyal]

the 1/8" glass part has me and several others on wetwebfotos.com worried. anything i can do to make it stronger?

[ReefGeekster]

Originally posted by Danyal
the 1/8" glass part has me and several others on wetwebfotos.com worried. anything i can do to make it stronger?

Though rare that a mantis will crack or break the glass it can happen.
If it sees something out side the tank it wants to get at, like if you had another tank sitting right next to it with a tasty fish swimming by or if the mantis is freaked out it can start whacking the glass.

Though a lot of people house mantis shrimps in glass and once the mantis has made a house and is comfortable in it's setting the likely hood of a glass breakage decreases. But the potential is always there.

[rwhhunt]

Dr Roy suggest 7-8 mm glass should be fine for a smasher... With such a big tank, unless you provoke him, I doubt he will attack the glass. You could always go with a spearer like a P. ciliata and avoid the problem all together..

[B33FST3W]

I would go with acrilic instead of glass. just today my mantis tried to smash a feeder shrimp and missed and hit my acrilic. So even if he is not provoked he can still hit the glass and i dont think it would take much to break 1/8" glass.

[ReefGeekster]

Originally posted by B33FST3W
I would go with acrylic instead of glass. just today my mantis tried to smash a feeder shrimp and missed and hit my acrylic. So even if he is not provoked he can still hit the glass and I don't think it would take much to break 1/8" glass.

That's right the most common glass breakage is due to the Mantis chasing a prey and smashing the glass, I feed mine Silversides using a stainless hemostat no live prey.

Anyone try feeding a live steamer clam to a Peacock?

[Danyal]

my concerns aren't so much the mantis breaking it(still a worry though) my concerns are a rock rolling over and breaking it, doesn't matter any more, mom squashed my dream of a mantis with her "no saltwater tanks!!!" response without listening to what i have to say, a pac man frog is going to this tank and i'm going to buy a similar one and transfer my brackish tank into it.