TJ the mantis

Bob Escher · Jan 12, 2016

Thanks Alucard

Jlentz · Jan 17, 2016

Tank mates are hit or miss. My peacock has some fish in with him that he seems to be more afraid of than anything. He does eat them from time to time though. The key is to plan on having anything that goes in the tank be mantis food.

sweat044 · Feb 9, 2016

I have mine in a biocube with cfl lighting. How long do you run your lights? I've heard that too much light can affect their shell

Alucard · Feb 9, 2016

sweat044 said:
I have mine in a biocube with cfl lighting. How long do you run your lights? I've heard that too much light can affect their shell

Depends on the mantis. If it comes from a tidal or shallow environment then there shouldn't be any issues. For example, though, the peacock mantis comes from deeper waters and can develop shell rot if exposed to high light for an extended period of time. Some people don't even keep lights on their peacock tanks and rely solely on room/day light

sweat044 · Feb 10, 2016

I have thought about that but it is in a room with not much lighting. Would running the lights 1-2 hours a night harm it? I was thinking when I feed it and then just to make sure it is okay and then it will be in darkness.

Jlentz · Feb 11, 2016

Water quality trumps light intensity from what I've read on another forum I only visit because it has an awesome mantis board. I'd not worry too much about the bio cube lights. I've got mine setup as a mixed reed but I lean heavily towards the blue end of things to try and replicate deep water.

Not to get a mantis police on you but bigger is better. 40b is a great size and probably the smallest I'd use. They are really cool to watch moving around the footprint of the tank. Mine is in a 90.

Alucard · Feb 11, 2016

Jlentz said:
Water quality trumps light intensity from what I've read on another forum I only visit because it has an awesome mantis board. I'd not worry too much about the bio cube lights. I've got mine setup as a mixed reed but I lean heavily towards the blue end of things to try and replicate deep water.

Not to get a mantis police on you but bigger is better. 40b is a great size and probably the smallest I'd use. They are really cool to watch moving around the footprint of the tank. Mine is in a 90.

Well maybe things have changed, i have been away from the aquarium life for a while. Light was what i learned was the most important. And yes i wouldn't go small for a peacock, kept mine in a 40b

sweat044 · Feb 17, 2016

Okay. I bought cooked frozen seafood mix. I've tried calamari, shrimp, mussels, and octopus. He will grab it and then brings it to the front of the tank and spits it out. HELP!!

Jlentz · Feb 18, 2016

Get raw. No knowing what they put into it when they cooked it.

I usually get a couple fresh raw shrimp, scallops, and maybe a clam from the butcher.

Also ask your LFS for a sample frozen clam.

sweat044 · Mar 2, 2016

Jlentz said:
Get raw. No knowing what they put into it when they cooked it.

I usually get a couple fresh raw shrimp, scallops, and maybe a clam from the butcher.

Also ask your LFS for a sample frozen clam.

I have tried raw shrimp and he spits it out. Has eaten all the snails and crabs that were in there. Guess I will try scallops and then clam

Jlentz · Mar 3, 2016

sweat044 said:
I have tried raw shrimp and he spits it out. Has eaten all the snails and crabs that were in there. Guess I will try scallops and then clam

They can be picky. Mine eats shrimp sometimes, raw quarter scallops are usually gobbled up. He won't touch crabs unless they get close to him.

He really likes live snails.

shse666 · Apr 3, 2016

TJ update. He molted. That went well but took a bit longer than I expected. Bigger now for sure. Very active and feeding well.
Keeping the light low. Just enough to allow the soft corals to survive. He has not chomped any of the damsels, yet.

He isn't very picky about food. Raw shrimp is a favorite and no snail or hermit it safe.

I've had it with the stupid bio cube though. The pumps are old and very difficult to extract. I don't like the metal halide lights and the curved glass is hard to clean as well. No place to run a skimmer either, so that tank is going away.

Got a brand new 75 gallon tank and a Trigger emerald sump. Hopefully it all comes together and gets wet tomorrow.

Snapshot the wife got on her iPhone yesterday

Alucard · Apr 3, 2016

Lookin good, im sure he will love the 75!

Lionfish Lair · Apr 3, 2016

Hello beautiful!

shse666 · May 1, 2016

So the dang heater in the mantis tank just EXPLODED! I heard it from the other room.
The GFCI outlet did not trip which is a bad thing. Flooded the tank with mica. I added carbon and did a water change because I don't know what else went into the water. I just got his replacement tank wet 2 hours before. Not anywhere near ready. Going to keep him in the current tank and do another water change tomorrow.

Some of the mica insulation from the heater.