Blue linkia sea star with mantis shrimp?

[BLUElobster99]

I will be aquiring a peacock mantis within the next month. I was talking to my LFS guy and he said that he has heard that sea stars have been successfully kept with mantis shrimp. This is my first salt tank (I've maintained fw tanks for the past few years) and I don't want to get in over my head. But I've always loved the color of the linkia stars and I'd love to have one.

So my two questions are

1) will a mantis shrimp coexist with a sea star

2) can a linkia sea star be successfully cared for by a beginner saltwater aquarist

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[Mebbid]

Very unlikely to both.

 

[Sniperhank]

Linkia are extremely difficult to care for. To the point where we aren't exactly sure what they eat.
If a mantis had one of these easy meals in the tank, it would take it in a heartbeat.

 

[bribo12]

Linkia are extremely difficult to care for. To the point where we aren't exactly sure what they eat.
If a mantis had one of these easy meals in the tank, it would take it in a heartbeat.

+1
An expert animal for sure. I only ever attempt one in a huge tank that was well over a couple years old. For every success story with these guys there are hundreds of deaths.


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[treemanone2003]

1.) Mantis should be a species only tank without any other fish or invertebrates. As well, unless it's an extremely large tank it should only be one per tank. Even with a mated pair, both need plenty of their own space in order to live peacefully.

2.) Highly unlikely for a beginner.


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[BLUElobster99]

Ok.... *cry

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[BigRedsReefs10]

Rule of thumb for owning a mantis, only put things in the tank that you don't mind loosing. They are predators and if the opportunity presents itself they will hunt. I think a hardy open water swimmer like a chromis/damsel and lots of cool macros is how I'd go for this tank.

Edit: being that this is your first sw tank I thought I'd lay out what I think would be a good plan after the cycle. Get a fish (blue reef chromis would be my personal recxonendation, bold personality, active, and tough) and let him stabilize your tank for 5-6 months before you add the mantis. During this time you should focus on getting the basics of sw down, mixing water, matching params, maintaining stable params/element levels as mantis are very sensitive to swings in water. Decide wether you want to just go rocks or add corals/macros (again nothing you'd mind loosing because the mantis will re-decorate for you ) and get them where your happy before you introduce the mantis (wouldn't want to put my hands in mantis tanks very often). And then go get the star of the tank

 

[JonathanG]

Personally I'd skip using a live fish to cycle and get a raw shrimp. No need to put a fish through a cycle.


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[bribo12]

Personally I'd skip using a live fish to cycle and get a raw shrimp. No need to put a fish through a cycle.


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I don't think anyone mentioned cycling with a fish??


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[JonathanG]

Your right I missed the "after the cycle" part of the post above mine. I should read better.


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[bribo12]

Your right I missed the "after the cycle" part of the post above mine. I should read better.


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Haha I missed that part the first time I read it too . But I know bigred isn't a fish in cycling advocate so I reread and saw the after the cycle part lol


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