First salt tank (Peacock mantis shrimp)

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BLUElobster99

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I've decided to dive into the saltwater hobby. I've kept freshwater tanks fro years but the mantis shrimps really got me interested in Salt. My LFS guys said he could order me one. I was hoping to find a smaller specimen becuae I've been told that these guys have a short life span. I was planning on keeping the mantis in a 20 gallon (glass not acrylic) with a lot of live rock. Google has been able to answer the majority of my questions about the shrimp but I had trouble finding certain information. All the sites say not to worry about water perimeters. But like I said, this is my first salt tank so I have no idea what is considered average water perimeters. I plan on using RO water. Do I just add the salt mix? Or do I add a buffer and salt? What water chemistry should I be aiming for here? Any suggestions on what brands I should get would also be appreciated. My second question is what to feed it. Do I need to get live food? Do I need to get seafood from a grocery store? Or would that mantis be happy with a particular brand of fish or invert food? My last question is what filtration should I get. Do I need to get a protein skimmer? I have a bunch of Aquaclear HOBs laying around. I think I have a 20 and 30 but I'm not sure. Or would I be better off with a canister filter? Specific models and brands please :)

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Sorry for the essay I just don't want to screw up my first attempt at saltwater

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1 - Water parameters - Shoot for 0 ammonia / nitrites and as close to 0 nitrates and phosphates as you can get. pH around 8.1. The other parameters don't really matter as long as you don't have coral

2 - Salt - Just mix the salt with the water. RO/DI water is better, but RO will work. Instant Ocean is a pretty standard salt brand to use. It should have everything you need.

3 - Food - Food from the store would be best. Particularly something like clams that it can bash into pieces but shrimp will work as well.

4 - Live rock is the filtration for your tank. Approximately 1 lb + of rock per gallon of water is sufficient.

5 - Flow - Shoot for 10x-40x the tank volume per hour in flow. It doesn't matter what you use, but most people use powerheads. The hydor koralia are probably the most popular value brand. However, your aquaclear filters will work just fine. Be careful tho, I've seen videos where a mantis shrimp decided it didn't like a filter in the tank and decided it would look better in more pieces. On that note, a metal heater would be a good choice.
 
Thanks for the quick response. My hob is pretty old so I wouldn't be too upset with the mantis if he decided to smash it to pieces . And I actually use a Hydor in my FW tank and I've had no issues so I'll probably go for one of those.

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Mebbid has you pretty much covered on the aspects he discussed. I've done a bit of research as well since it is one of the items on my list in the future. With over 400 species out there, it's a lot of info to dissect but the basics are fairly common. I have seen contradictory info on them but would tend to go with the caution side vs the risk side.

By this, I would choose to go with a 30 or 40 over a 20g. Most importantly because smaller tanks can go from good to bad to worse much more quickly and unnoticed than a larger tank. Also with choosing a tank, I would suggest the idea of acrylic over glass for a few reasons. I understand cost is usually a big factor involved, so if it is glass, at least line the bottom below the sand with a piece of acrylic just as a precaution. Here's a link for pros and cons of each if you haven't looked. http://www.tankterrors.com/acrylic-vs-glass-aquariums-fish-tanks-which-is-better-pros-cons/

Chances are it will be a green or clown mantis your LFS can get a hold of. Neither will grow super large but if it winds up being a zebra species, it could grow to 15".

Looking forward to what you wind up going and please keep us posted !!!


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How much would a 30g acrylic cost me? And where might I find one?

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And are you recommending acrylic due to the possibility that the mantis will smash a glass tank or just in general

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Mantis shrimp are not actually shrimp but stomatopods. That being said the water quality should be kept similar to keeping other fragile inverts like shrimp. Mebbid already pointed out 0,0 and 0 for ammo, Trites and nitrates. Mantis are quite messy so you'll need to keep up weekly wcs and make sure the tank is cycled. These guys are highly predatory and have phenomenal eyesight. Like close to best in the animal kingdom. If you're getting a peacock you'll need a bigger tank than a 30 IMO. They get huge.


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How much would a 30g acrylic cost me? And where might I find one?

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And are you recommending acrylic due to the possibility that the mantis will smash a glass tank or just in general

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Here's a link to a manufacturer. I've never personally dealt with them but plan on it for my mantis and 300g build. I've never heard a bad word about them or their tanks, and we all know that good news travels fast and bad news faster. I would stick with them just for tanks as I believe other things may be cheaper elsewhere. Maybe someone else can offer another supplier that has experience in purchases.

I say acrylic simply for the strength side of it and no other reason.

Edit : forgot link, d'oh !!! http://www.glasscages.com/


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My mistake, they do ship to NJ. They just don't have a delivery point (which would be cheaper) so I would need to call or email them to get an estimate.

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I think what I might do is see if my lfs guy could order a 40 for me (though I would have to see what brand and for how much $) I think if he can get me a good brand and there's not a huge price difference from what I can get online I'll give the business to my lfs

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I think what I might do is see if my lfs guy could order a 40 for me (though I would have to see what brand and for how much $) I think if he can get me a good brand and there's not a huge price difference from what I can get online I'll give the business to my lfs

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Good thought. He may be able to do that and something I didn't think of. Possibly a little cheaper as a wholesaler/distributor. Could be a win/win on both sides.


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Ok so i got a 50g becuase my brother had a 50 stand already... But when I went outside with the hose and started to clean it out I noticed a really bad smell and that the water was full of suds.. I thought the suds might have been from the water pressure but they stayed for a long time so I sprayed some water on my hands and it had a really bad chemical smell... So I concluded at this point that there was something in the hose so I poured the water out and got a bucket of tap water and added some decloronator and scrubbed the tank by hand... If there really was some chemical in the hose is the tank still OK to use? I know that mantis shrimps are very sensitive to chemicals. But I do plan to cycle the tank which would mean a bunch of water changes. If I cleaned the tank with decloronator tap water and do several water changes before I put the mantis in will the mantis be ok? I might be over reacting but I want to be safe

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Ok so i got a 50g becuase my brother had a 50 stand already... But when I went outside with the hose and started to clean it out I noticed a really bad smell and that the water was full of suds.. I thought the suds might have been from the water pressure but they stayed for a long time so I sprayed some water on my hands and it had a really bad chemical smell... So I concluded at this point that there was something in the hose so I poured the water out and got a bucket of tap water and added some decloronator and scrubbed the tank by hand... If there really was some chemical in the hose is the tank still OK to use? I know that mantis shrimps are very sensitive to chemicals. But I do plan to cycle the tank which would mean a bunch of water changes. If I cleaned the tank with decloronator tap water and do several water changes before I put the mantis in will the mantis be ok? I might be over reacting but I want to be safe

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The tank will be fine, glass and silicone wont absorb stuff. Just be sure to clean it thoroughly.
 
vinegar and water, then rinsed well usually works great. can't wait for this build


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A lot of people have told me to put a sheet of acrylic on the bottom of the tank in case the mantis burrows and decides to smash the bottom.. Is that overkill or should I be fine?

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I'm going to go to home Depot tonight to get another hose (probably one labeled as drinking water safe) and I thought I might pick a piece of acrylic up while I'm there. Would this piece of acrylic work? I pretty sure the tank is 36L and 18W so that piece should cover most of the bottom

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And as for cleaning the tank.. I found some vinegar that my mother uses for cleaning floors ect. Will that be sufficient?

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