Purple Spot (smithii) mantis Potential Build

[TheDragonsReef]

It’s been 6 days and he is settling in super well. At first he made himself a little cave within my rock on the left but he couldn’t really make a full burrow I think so about 2 days ago he started hanging out in the PVC on the right side of the tank and has made that home base. He’s eaten 1 clam on a half shell, 2 astrea snails, and taken frozen mysis/krill from my turkey baster as well. My long term plan is to keep as many snails in there as I can and then feed him frozen every few days. I want to try and get some sort of sealed clam so he has to actually break it open, what should I look for at the market to make sure it’s safe?
All in all tank itself is doing well, most of my corals look great. My blue mushroom isn’t looking the best ever but I think it’s just too much light. Problem is that I epoxied it in place really well and I don’t think I’ll be able to get it off .
the new zoas I got at the same time as the mantis are settling in really well and are fully open normally now, I’m super pleased with how they’re doing.

Looking good, my only concern with keeping alot of snails in there is mine seems to kill anything that goes in the tank even if hes not hungry. If he sees it, its dead. So just monitor his behavior and watch your nutrient levels if you go that route. Make sure hes not leaving dead ones laying around.

 

[Hadla]

You don’t know what those snails say to him...

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

Looking good, my only concern with keeping alot of snails in there is mine seems to kill anything that goes in the tank even if hes not hungry. If he sees it, its dead. So just monitor his behavior and watch your nutrient levels if you go that route. Make sure hes not leaving dead ones laying around.

Yeah I’ve heard this before but it’s good to be reminded. I’ll keep an eye on nutrients and see how it goes. So far I don’t think he’s done too too much to the excess snails.
In other updates he’s been moving the rubble rock around a ton the past few days

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

I think my mantis is molting. Today he was very active and was carrying a lot of things around. Now, he has closed up both ends of the 1 inch PVC cave. Hoping for a successful 1st molt I’ve decided not to do a water change during this since I’ve heard it can be stressful.

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

False alarm hes since unblocked them, changes what’s blocking them, then unblocked them again. I’m not sure what he’s up to

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

He did end up going into a molt, today is day 4. I’m about to be out of town tho for a few weeks but my friend is gonna keep an eye on him. This is his first molt with me so hopefully things go well He was moving around a small shell yesterday tk better block the front so he’s still alive so that’s good

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

Update: I’m back from my vacation and my mantis is doing amazing, I’ve fed him two clams now (idk how much he got to eat while I was gone) and for the most part the tank is doing well. I figured out my cyano issues were from my water level being too high, so the flow wasn’t right. I’m planning on upgrading the tank filtration to the InTank media basket for chamber one and installing the little plug for the hole in the back. I may also upgrade the return pump and add a Nero 3 but I’m not sure that’s necessary since the cyano is gone so I’ll hold off on that for now. I do need to glue down my newer zoas better tho, 3 of them got moved/knocked off, 2 of which were my faves but they’re still open so I’m sure they’ll be fine. I also wanna get a blasto soon so I might do that all at once. A water change is certainly in order and will be coming right up tomorrow. My Tiktok video got much shot of him than my photos from yesterday

 

[Brady4000]

Awesome!! Mantis build thread!! Following.

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

Wow it’s been a Minute since I’ve been on here, sorry for the absence. A lot has happened with the tank, I’ve lost some corals but everything is doing well for the most part. I’ve also been battling Cyano which caused the coral loss. My mantis is doing great tho!
I also got a mangrove and some Dragons Breath macroalgae and an unknown macro, as well as an AI Nero 3

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

Update time: he’s stolen not one but now 2 blastomussa corals. I’m not sure what the fascination is, I’m thinking the skeleton because he’s left softies such as zoas and shrooms alone the entire time I’ve had him.

he’s also been Super active the past week or so and has been much less shy. It kinda happened overnight, it’s been over a month since his last molt and I haven’t made any changes or added anything other than the occasional set of astrea snails for him to hunt and eat. That’s been his main diet, along with some clam on a half shells and frozen conkles. Overall he seems to be doing well and I suspect he might be preparing for another molt as he is experimenting with boarding up his burrow, which apparently is what my blasto corals are good for hes also been up on the rock work which he’s never really done before.

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

Another update already? Yup. Let’s get into it.

he finally got me today. I was doing a water change and was rearranging some rocks after rescuing my blasto (we will see if it makes it) from his burrow and I lost track of where he was, went to grab a rock and bam! He smashed at my hand. I can’t remember if he got my hand, I think he got my finger. It didn’t hurt, it Moreso was just a quick pressure that spooked me rather than anything. It took virtually no time for me to not be able to tell where he got me, I don’t think it’s even going to bruise. Note, this is Not a peacock mantis, but it is a sign that smaller smashers just don’t produce enough force to pose a threat to you.

a few hours after the water change and he’s exploring among the rock work and has already visited the relocated frag rack.

 

[nmotz]

One thing I love about Smithiis is their hardiness. You just don’t have to work as hard on the tank and you can have a very small tank too. i had one a long time ago but the tank was too large. He just got lost in it. I also didn’t have him very long because I ended up moving. He has great coloration but hadn’t become very adventurous by the time we parted ways.

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

Well it’s officially 2022 and my tank is now officially 1 year old! While I’ve had some failures, lost some corals and a macro, overall I’m very proud of the tank and myself. Being this is my first ever saltwater tank, there’s gonna be losses. My having to leave for multiple weeks at a time occasionally has also heavily contributed to my loss with mushrooms specifically and my sun coral. But, overall, I still have several healthy zoa colonies and a mushroom. I blame both my blastos on my mantis who insists on breaking them off and using them in his burrow.
In 2022 I want to stay more on top of water changes (I fell behind a few times) and setup a small fuge in the back chamber. I’d also like to upgrade from the stock filtration on the Evo to the InTank Chamber kit.
My mantis is very reclusive when I get my phone out so I don’t have my photos of him, but I got some good videos on my Tiktok (Stephthefish)
All in all, this tank changed a lot in 2021 and I’m excited to see where it goes in 2022.

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

Well it’s officially 2022 and my tank is now officially 1 year old! While I’ve had some failures, lost some corals and a macro, overall I’m very proud of the tank and myself. Being this is my first ever saltwater tank, there’s gonna be losses. My having to leave for multiple weeks at a time occasionally has also heavily contributed to my loss with mushrooms specifically and my sun coral. But, overall, I still have several healthy zoa colonies and a mushroom. I blame both my blastos on my mantis who insists on breaking them off and using them in his burrow.
In 2022 I want to stay more on top of water changes (I fell behind a few times) and setup a small fuge in the back chamber. I’d also like to upgrade from the stock filtration on the Evo to the InTank Chamber kit.
My mantis is very reclusive when I get my phone out so I don’t have my photos of him, but I got some good videos on my Tiktok (Stephthefish)
All in all, this tank changed a lot in 2021 and I’m excited to see where it goes in 2022.

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

I knew it had been a minute since I’ve been on here but I didn’t realize it had been That long

long story short got super busy with college, work, and an internship, and was losing the battle to hair algae Bad. Then, had to move so I gave my rock and my mantis shrimp to the LFS I worked at so I could move the tank, set it back up, then go pick it back up. Of course, nothing ever goes quite as smoothly as we plan.

In the move I cracked the corner of the tank pretty badly, so I had to toss it and got a UNS 60A which is a 20 gallon AIO tank with 45 degree seams and high quality glass. Got that tank last week and had water and the rock I took with me in it last Wednesday. Got the mantis shrimp this weekend. Coral wise, I’m more or less starting over, the rock I left with my LFS that I just got back had some zoas on it, they may recover but it’ll likely be a while. I did get a small zoa frag yesterday as well that should perk up soon after dip and transit.

The purple spot mantis shrimp is doing great, very personable from his burrow today already.
I have some of the original sand as well as some bahama oolite from Carib sea. Using my AI Prime and Nero 3 as well from the original tank. I do have an Eshopps nano protein skimmer coming later this week and will be setting up chaeto in the back chamber as well to help with nutrient export.
I’m still very tempted to try a damsel, especially now that it’s a bigger tank. I really want a clown but I don’t want to buy an expensive fish in case it goes sideways, and I’m a big fan of the fancier clownfish.

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

Clearly it’s been a long time since I updated on here so the mantis did pass back in may, which was pretty much exactly 2 years after I got him so I expected it. Fun fact they Love to eat urchins (learned that the expensive way) and I’ll be ending this thread here and making a different one for the tank moving forward since I won’t be keeping a mantis shrimp again for a while. I’ve caught the coral bug and the algae issues with the mantis shrimp just made it too difficult, but I’ll be keeping a mantis again someday, just not for a few more years.