Thinking about trying a school of fish w/my mantis...

[Dave Legacy]

I want to add some flavor to my 55G Mantis tank, but realistically I know that fish tankmates will almost certainly be killed and have no chance with my L. maculata. Then I got to thinking about schooling fish. Fish swim in schools as a form of protection to confuse predators, safety in numbers.

Blue Green Chromis are only a couple of dollars each. I was thinking I might try out a school of 6-10 and see how they hold up against the mantis, maybe they can seek refuge between the mangroves. If they get eaten I wouldn't be surprised.

Has anyone ever tried this before? Might it be better to establish the school of chromis before introducing the mantis?

- Dave Legacy

[Frostyeel]

If you accept that it very likely won't work and they will probably just be mantis food I say go ahead, it won't cost you much and your mantis will be happy. If you really want fish though you would have been better off with a smasher, im sure most smashers would leave chromis alone.

[Dave Legacy]

The mantis was kind of a rescue, I had been in the market for one of the small smasher species and ended up with the largest spearer species. Go figure. I'll just try it and see how it goes down.